Note 10 — BLACK PHTHISIS,
Reading edition
To convey an impression of the nature of the labour in which the man was engaged I shall simply extract a few remarks from the evidence of the miners at this coal-work, taken by Mr Franks for the Government's Commissioners, Note 105. "At all times the air is foul, and the lamps never burn bright. The seam of coal is 24 inches, and the road only three feet high." Note 108—"Experienced colliers do not like the work, and many are touched in the breath." And in such a situation man is doomed to labour! Note 114—"Most of the men here are fashed with that trouble; Foster, Miller, Blyth, and Aitken are all clean gone in the breath together. Colliers here drop down very soon."