HC Deb 29 October 1902 vol 113 cc1068-70
MR. CAINE

To ask the Secretary of: State for the Colonies, in view of the number of British miners who are looking to South Africa for employment, whether he will publish a summary of the regulations and laws now in force in the Transvaal and Orange States affecting working miners, including a statement of the intentions of the Government with regard to the future regulation of mining labour, especially with regard to the use of rock drills.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) A copy of the hon. Member's Question will be sent to the Governor, who will be asked to furnish a report on the subject.

MR. CAINE

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if his attention has been drawn to the growing number of disputes between mine owners and working miners in the Rand, resulting in strikes on the part of the miners and, as in the case of the Village Main Reef, lockouts on the part of the mine owners; if he is aware that most of these disputes have reference to matters affecting the health and safety of the miners: and will he consider the desirability of creating a Board of Arbitration for the settlement of these, disputes.

MR. CAINE

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can state the number of cases which have occurred of miners' phthisis, with the deaths resulting therefrom, from the re-opening of the mines after the war to some recent date: what number of these are Europeans, and what number native, and what has been the average number of European and native miners employed on the Rand during each month of the period covered.

MR. CAINE

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if his attention has been called to the discontent prevailing among British miners in the Rand in consequence of the attempt on the part of several mine managers to compel miners to take over and work three rock drills instead of two as heretofore; if he is aware that this attempt has resulted in a strike on the part of the miners where this change is being enforced, and that a deputation of Rand miners waited upon Lord Milner to ask him to constitute a Board of Arbitration, but without effect: and, in view of the death rate from miners' phthisis in Johannesburg, and the fact that miuners return home to this country incapacitated by this disease, will he state what action the Transvaal Administration propose to take in the matter.

MR. CAINE

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if it is the intention of the Governor of the Transvaal to appoint a commission to inquire into miners' phthisis; has such commission been yet appointed; if so, what is its composition; will it contain representatives of the working miners; and will he state the substance of the references for its consideration.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) I propose to answer the four Ques- tions of the hon. Member together, as they are all connected with the same subject, and I need hardly say that I am fully alive to the importance of all matters affecting the health and safety of the miners. As I informed the hon. Member on the 21 st instant, I am in communication with Lord Milner on the subject of the alleged prevalence of miner's phthisis, but at present I possess neither statistics nor the other information for which the hon. Member has asked. I will, however, address further inquiries to Lord Milner on these matters.