THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14,1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 109, 14 February 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14,1872.

The frequency of serious and fatal accidents on the Held of late has called very general attention to the necessity of an Accident Fund being established

amongst the miners. Mining is a dangerous occupation, and no one can calculate on being exempt from casunlity even where every care and precaution are exorcised. A hen accidents occur here under the present state of tilings, and unfortunately they occur very often, the sufferer is, in nine cases out of ten. left destitute, and in the majority of instances lias a wife and

I family ; ami thus, he is not only sttbI jeeteii to the bodily pain caused by the ! accident, hut is also tortured by mental | anxiety as to the condit'on of those depen- ! dantupou him. It is true that tiro public j usually comes forward liberally on such occasions, and the Thames Hospital is ready to afford gratuitous relief at all times—so far as its means and accommodation allow, —but it is humiliating

to a riglit-niiiulfitl-d«tin to.rccoivc clKirity when lie ought' to obtain all the assistance lie requires as a right and not as a favour}*' If the miners would all join together and subscribe the sum of sixpence per week each, a fund would he raised .sufficient to meet all casualitics likely to arise. Taking the number of working miners here at three thousand —which is a very low average—£7s per week would lie raised by this means alone, and any miner being hurt or rendered unfit for work by serious illness would know that he had a fund to fall hack upon, his share of which he had a right, to claim, and his recovery would not he retarded by anxiety as regarded his family or by a sense of humiliating depcndance on the charity of others for himself or for them. Every one almost knows how mental composure contributes to the recovery of a patient, and it is especially so in cases of a shock to the system resulting from accident. Doubtless many of the miners already belonging to friendly societies, bnt many again do not. All we think ought to join in the movement suggested by our correspondent signing himself “ Miner” in to-day’s issue. The great majority will never miss sixpence a-week—it is hut a pint of beer per week less for non-abstainers, and as for tce-totallcrs, they can afford the amount all the better, because they ai - e teetotallers. The benefit that would result from the establishment of such a fund on a broad basis, and managed by a committee chosen by the miners from amongst themselves, can hardly be over-estimated. The public ought not to he called to relieved every ease of accident, although when they are called upon, it is their Christian duty to respond. Many a working man may have sensitive and fine feelings under a rough exterior, and it cannot be hut galling to such a man to have to seek eleemosynary assistance. In this ease as in almost all others, union is strength. We earnestly commend a careful consideration of our correspondent’s letter to all the working men on the field. If they will only take it up the necessary details can easily be arranged to complete the organization which ought, as far as possible to he in the hands of the miners themselves. In cases where patients arc treated at their own houses, in most instances the doctor’s bill is a very serious item added to the expenses which have to be met out of £2 per week, which is about the average of miners’ wages, but sixpence a-week could scarcely be missed, and we believe would be cheerfully paid by a very large number, if not by all, when the benefits are clearly pointed out. We shorn! like to hear of employers of labor and mine managers generally calling their men together, and pointing out the desirability if not necessity of co-opcrat-ing together for the object we have stated, not in any spirit of dictation, but from a conviction that is one of the great wants of the place, at the present time. We trust wo shall not have so many accidents to record in future as we have for the past few weeks, but in view of an increasing population, and an extended area opened for mining purposes we cannot hope to be exempt from casnalilics altogether : indeed such a happy state of tilings can hardly be looked for in any community, certainly not in a mining one. With every precaution there will always be a percentage of casual ities. To provide for them will not certainly tend to increase their number. The means we have suggested are simple; they are within the reach of almost every man, and their adoption would confer very general benefit. Our correspondent points out that in the Old Country and in America most trades have these sick funds ; and why should not. the most important business here—that of mining—be without a similar organization? Now that this subject lias been brought forward prominently we hope that it will be at once taken up, and be eminently successful.