Boys in the Nova Scotia Cole Mines

  • 11-15 years old
  • Respectful but small in stature
  • From 1880-1890 percentage of boys in the mine rose from 17.1-21.5 %
  • Boys were employed because of their size to do certain tasks
  • Labour for boys was cheap
  • Halling coals
    • 14-17 years of age
    • On all fours to pull coal
  • Trappers
    • Less than 10 years old
    • Doors were made to allow ventilation into the building
  • Boys experiences in mine
    • Moves up the ladder of jobs
      • Trapper, driver, miner
    • Death in the mines
      • Explosions
  • Average pay
    • 65 cents a day
    • 50 cent less than adults
  • Provincial Workmen’s Association
    • System of “apprenticeship” to protect coal mine as a skilled labour
    • This brought the question of child labour
    • Unfair advantages were given to adults over boys due to age and not the ability to perform tasks
    • 1890 acknowledge importance of education for mining
      • Mst be older than 12
      • Ability to read
    • 1923 boys must be older than 16 to work in mines
  • Strikes
    • Boys have the power to shut down mines if they go on strike
    • Recreational Strikes
      • Ability to take time off to play sports
    • First strike was do to the payment boys were receiving for doing work
  • Boys and Alcohol
    • Drunken colliery boys were reported
    • 2 boys were jailed due to being “drunk and disorderly”
  • Free Schools Act
    • Children between 6-16 had to go to school for at least 120 days a year
      • If not parents were fined, or jailed
    • Exemptions were made to those with 12 or older with grade seven education or 13 or older with indispensable income
    • Mines
      • Boys without a grade seven education and between 12-16 were not able to work in the mines
  • Nova Scotia Mining community
    • 1888 minimum age of 12 to mine

Bibliography

Mcintosh R. (1987). The Boys in the Nova Scotian Coal Mines: 1873-1923. Acadiensis, 16(2), 35-50. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30302726