Report – Robert Stagg – 1 Apr 1815

Report of the Teesdale Mines 1st April 1815



      The prospect and state of the Workings of the several Mines are in no Way materially Altered since the last Quarterly Report which may therefore be considered as the Report of the present Quarter.  We fully expected to have cut the Vein at Flakebridge during the Quarter but from the extreme hardness of the Stone in which that trial is making, the Workmen have not been able to make much progress in it, although they have been working at it without intermission. By the dialling we are within a few Yards of the Vein, I trust therefore that we shall now Reach it in a Short time.   The prospects of the Coldberry Mine, I am happy to Report, continue to be very flattering as far as the Vein has been worked into.   The prices throughout have been kept as low as is practicable, &, in particular, for the best parts of the Mines, where, as I have formerly stated, a Reduction is of the greatest Moment.   

      The Workmens earnings during the last half Year have been very moderate indeed; so much so, that a further Reduction in the Wages cannot be made under any circumstances.   Nor indeed can they be continued so low unless the price of provisions is very moderate, as the earnings, during the half Year, according to the best Calculation we can make, will not average more than at the Rate of from £30 to £35 p[er] Year for each Man which is really less than they can live upon.

      Rbt. Stagg