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CHAPTER VIII, 
more than doubled. Conditions during the war and in the years 
immediately following it encouraged the opening of a large number 
of small mines, working for the most part inferior coal, and 
production reached a peak at 21% million tons in 1919. This was not 
passed till 1929, when a new record was made. The recent expansion 
has taken place during a period of depression, which has resulted 
in the closing down of the weaker mines, while the stronger mines, with 
improved methods of working, have increased their output. The total 
output has thus increased, while the total number of mines and workers 
has decreased, the decrease in the latter being confined to surface workers. 
All the figures given refer to the average daily numbers employed, and it is 
unfortunately impossible to give accurate figures of the actual number of 
individuals who work in the coal mines in any year. Owing to the fact 
that few miners work regularly throughout the year, the aggregate 
number of workers far exceeds the average number of workers given in 
the statistics. 
Working Conditions. 
The Indian miner is in some respects more fortunate than the 
miner in Europe. Most of the coal comes from thick seams of 10 feet 
and over, seams of less than 5 feet being rarely worked. In consequence, 
the main underground roads are generally spacious and the working 
places almost invariably allow the miner to stand upright at his work. 
As yet the mines have not reached any great depth, those of over 500 feet 
in depth being exceptional, and the lead to the working face is seldom 
anduly long. ‘As the mines develop work is carried to greater depths 
and greater distances, and, as a result, some working places are 
hot and ill-ventilated. 18,000 workers are employed in quarries, 
two-thirds of them in the Bokaro field. In this field 95%, of the 
output is mined by the railways, whose workings include an immense 
excavation where a seam 100 feet thick is worked from the surface, after re- 
moving some 60 feet of overburden. This quarry produces nearly a million 
tons a year, the largest output of any colliery in India. Inflammable 
gas is not common, and most of the mines can be safely worked with 
naked lights, while a number of the larger ones are lit by electricity. In 
most of the coalfields there is an almost complete lack of system in 
respect of mining leases. Patches of coal, which, by reason of their 
small size, cannot be worked separately except by the most primitive 
equipment, can be found in close proximity to large mines equipped with 
electric power and using machinery of the most modern kind both above 
and below ground. We recommend an examination of the Mining 
Industry Act 1926, enacted in the United Kingdom, for the purpose of 
considering how far its provisions would be to the advantage of the in- 
dustry in India in this connection 
Ventilation. 
The health conditions underground vary from mine to mine 
to a considerable extent, especially in regard to ventilation 
and sanitation. In many, probably most. cases the ventilation