Not answering your query, but I am not sure what you said about List of Mines is necessarily true. Certainly in the 1920's-1940's Metalliferous Mines made quarterly returns and I think the published figures may have been an average of these returns. I seem to remember (May be wrong because I no longer have easy access to the reports) that the Annual Reports of the Secretary of Mines gives monthly coal production figures, so Collieries may have had to make monthly returns at this period. Presumably all this was covered in relevant legislation, which may answer your query as well. I don't know if the individual mine/quarry returns were destroyed or retained - if the latter they would be a very useful if huge resource. I have just seen a few copies which were retained by the mines, eg Snailbeach in the 1940's.
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From: Keith Ramsey <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sun, 13 June, 2010 13:07:08
Subject: List of Quarries
I hope Peter will allow this post as it's about quarrying rather than mining.
It's well-known that the figures for numbers of workers in the "List of Mines" relate to the numbers employed on the last payday of the year, but does anyone know if the same is true for the "List of Quarries"?
I'm new to researching the history of quarrying, but would I be right in thinking that that quarries would probably lay off workers in the winter? If so, and if the number of workers recorded are those at work at the end of December, then presumably the "List of Quarries' systematically under-records the size of the workforce. Or am I missing something obvious?
Any ideas, or recommendations for literature on the subject, will be welcomed.
Keith Ramsey
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