Identifier: transactionsofin6162inst (find matches)
Title: Transactions of the Institution of Mining Engineers
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Institution of Mining Engineers (Great Britain)
Subjects: Mineral industries
Publisher: Newcastle-upon-Tyne : The Institution
Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
ut it is none the less a fact thatrelatively they have been almost neglected by the Legislature. One mighttherefore expect to find that the death-rate from accidents on the railwayshad diminished much more slowly that the death-rate from accidents inthe mines. Such, however, is not the case. I have here the statistics of miningcasualties going back to 1873 (see Appendix C). When you see them inprint I think you will agree they constitute a record of progressiveimprovement which reflects the utmost credit on the Inspectors of Mines,managers, and miners. At this moment I will indicate only briefly whatthey reveal. They reveal a steady decline in the number of fatalaccidents from 1-26 per 1,000 in 1899 to 0*88 in 1920. But the railwaystatistics for the same period show an even greater decline (see AppendixD). In 1899 the death-rate from accidents on the railways was 131 per1,000 persons employed; last year it was 0*71. In other words, in the 1921-1922.) CADMAN ) -PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 287
Text Appearing After Image:
oNvsnoHx «3d SHXV3a JO a38wnw 288 TRANSACTIONS INSTITUTION OF MINING ENGINEERS. (VoL. LXII. past twenty years the falling-off in casualties lias been less pronounced inthe mines than on the railways^ though the former have been well-nighsuffocated under legislation, while the latter have escaped comparativelylightly. I believe there is a deduction which may safely be drawn from allthis. It is that hasty and inappropriate laws may easily diminish out-put without promoting safety. In spite of—or because of—theenormous mass of legislation which has been dumped upon them, theowners, managers, and miners have not succeeded in cutting down thedeath-rate as fast proportionately as the relatively unencumbered owners,managers, and workmen of the railways. On the other hand, a part, Ithink myself a considerable part, of the reduction in output per manis directly traceable to superfluous and badly-devised laws. They havecast a blight over the industry; they clog its operations; they retard

Note About Images