Question:
Reference previous messages on the employment of women in mines, John
Richardson's "Local Historian's Encyclopedia", section R, part 5 lists
various employment acts including the 1842 Mines Act which prohibited the
employment of women and of boys under the age of 10 in the mines. It
appointed the first mines' inspectors. Many of the other quoted Acts applied
to textile mills and were concerned with laying down hours of work
particularly for children.
Answer:
But don't forget that the Coal Mines Act of 1842 only prohibited the
employment *underground* of women and boys under 10. There were a
considerable number of jobs on the pit top in which women were still
employed. For example, cleaning and sorting the coal which came up from
the miners was always traditionally undertaken by women.
While I think that the coal subsidies are simply too high and have been
paid for far too long, before you compare the mines output you should
compare the physical outlay of these mines. German mines in the Ruhr
are really deep down these days, some of them in fact several thousant
meters.
Of course it takes subsidies to make such a scheme work, and the reasons
for renewng them are much more political than economical.
The machinery used in these mines is among the most modern in the world,
but given the small size of the coal layers combined with the derp
shafts more is hardly possible.
But we are not the only ones who subsidise industries who don`t make
so much sense at the place they are. I remember rice farming in
california or the interesting prices of some prodi#ucts of the defence
industry in the US.
