ABSTRACT
The Bill to regulate the metalliferous mining industries received Royal assent on 10 August 1872, and came into operation on the first day of January the following year. With the exception of underground quarries, the jurisdiction of the Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act embraced all mine workings that were currently excluded under colliery law and operated on a similar geographical basis. The Act was a far cry from Kinnaird’s original proposals in 1865. Not only was it based upon the Committee’s erroneous conclusions surrounding the cause of miners’ phthisis it also resembled colliery regulation without reference to the wide variation in risk between the two sectors (see Table 6.2). Although regulation would undoubtedly improve conditions, it was unlikely to significantly reduce the incidence of miners’ phthisis the primary cause of high rates of occupational mortality amongst the metalliferous miners.
