KILLING- THE MINERS.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 23, 11 August 1911, Page 18

KILLING- THE MINERS.

■ALARMING STATISTICS. The Australian apologists for the wholesale slaughter of minors, will no doubt seize with avidity upon a report by Prci'esor James C. Roberts, ot tho Federal Bureau cf Mines, United States, upon' mining disasters in the great "Republic of the West (y.sys ".Harrier Daily Truth"). According to this authority, thirty thousand men (30.000) have been killed in the -coal mines of the United' States :n the last, twenty years, and many moTe tlumstands maimed or seriously injured. Prof. Roberts did not give-the relating to metalliferous minrig, lut he stated that at least throe ir.iiiors aye killed in America to one n\ any other country. Perhaps our readers n -II remember that the TJnder-SeiM-etriry for Mines seized upon this n'.elo/ucholy i-.v:t to extenuate tho Broken Hill 'r.ine. owners when tlie A.M.A. cf the way the men along the line of lodo were being killed and criypk'd. We rejoice that there is not quite so much ruthless industrial murder as in America, but "Barrier Daily Truth" will not be content until the mining conditions are made so safe that "accidents ,, will be well nigh impossible. "More than half cf the coal mine disasters in the United States are caused by falls of roof and coal." declared Professor Roberts, "and all of them* could have been prevented. In a lucid resume of the late mining accidents, the American authority sums the position in one pregnant sentence: "Most of the mine disasters could have been prevented by the .use of common fjense." This sentiment will be endorsed by all who have had practical experience of mining on the Barrier.