THE COLLIER AT HOME.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1419, 20 April 1912, Page 11

THE COLLIER AT HOME.

Though much could be 6aid of the roughnoss of the colliors (writes a correspondent of tho "Manchester Guardian") there is another sido to their character. A young friend whose homo was somo distance away was always anxious when visiting us to reach tho far sido of the town by about ten o'clock. "I always, feel safe," sho said, "if I can got in with a set of colliers coming up tor tho night. They are as good as a bodyguard." Anyone who has watched one of tho WhitMonday processions in Wigan will testify to the readiness with which theso men will givo up a good placo so that "f littlo laad" or "f littlo wench" can got an uninterrupted view of the pageant. Curious instances have come before me of tho keenness of young boys to become colliers. A poor woman was speaking to mo of her son, a boy of twelve. "He'll soon be a help," she said, "for he's high up in his standards and all ready; for work. I suggested it seemed a pity a bright lad should bo doomed to such n life. "Ee, no," she said, "he's proper wild to get deawn t' pit." Stranger still was tho caso of a boy of higher social class who ran away from school three times to work in the mines, until at last his friends gave in and let lira, go to work underground. • , _ ~ . During the coal strike in Great Britain, coal-stealing was the fashionable crime of the moment. Sometimes the coal-owner (if wo may apply that distinguished name to tho householder who holds supplies) scored at the expense of the coal-stealer. Hecentlv a lady living in a Manchester suburb'returned from a visit to find that nearlv all the coal had been taken from tho shed. But as she was contemplating her losses she noticed on the floor a purse which had evidently.been dropped by the thief. As the purse contained M in cash sho felt that it was a case of poetic justice. She has had no application tor its return. Perhaps its owner is still trying to think of a way of. connecting nimselt with the purse while dissociating himself with tho coal.. ... ■ Thoroughness was tho note of a coal robbery in a village near Jsewcastle-on-Tyne. The village constable got in two loads one day last week, ana tho next morning found his coal place empty, swept, and whitewashed. In tho coal-getting above ground illustrated in the "Manchester Guardian" the collier had what some people considered an unfair advantage. Most of the colliery owners gave permission to. people to "pick" from the tips and slag heaps, and the greater skill of the collier in detecting coal made his pickings more valuable

than those of the novice. Incidentally tho occupation gave children a now excuse for not turning up at school.