Second and Final Report
of the

Royal Commission on
Mining Subsidence

Presented by the Secretary of State for Home Affairs
to Parliament by Command of His Majesty.
June, 1927.

LONDON.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 120, George Street, Edinburgh. York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff.

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or through any Bookseller.

1927

Price 1s. 3d. Net.

Cmd. 2899.

NOTE.

The estimated cost of the preparation of this Report (including the expenses of the Commission) is £3,758 8s. 2d., of which £55 represents the estimated cost of the printing and publishing of this Report, and £10 88. 2d. the cost of the printing and publishing of the Commission's First Report.

The Minutes of Evidence (subject to correction) have been published from time to time during the course of the Commission's Enquiry, and are obtainable from His Majesty's Stationery Office.

Royal Commission on Mining Subsidence

(Appointed by Royal Warrant dated 15th June, 1923.)

TERMS OF REFERENCE.

To consider the operation of the law relating to the support of the surface of the land, and of buildings or works on or under the surface, by underlying or adjacent minerals; to enquire into the extent and gravity of the damage caused by subsidence owing to the extraction of minerals and the incidence of the resulting liability; and to report what steps should be taken, by legislation or otherwise, to remedy, equitably to all persons concerned, any defects or hardships that may be found to arise in existing conditions.

MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.

*The Right Hon. Lord Blanesburgh, G.B.E., Chairman. Lieut.-Col. G. Alfred Lewis, C.M.G.

Major Sir Granville C. H. Wheler, Bart, C.B.E., M.P.
Mr. Hugh R. Buchanan.

Mr. R. Geoffrey Ellis, M.P.

Mr. Harold Jevons.

Prof. Henry Louis, M.A., D.Sc.

Mr. M. F. Maclean, J.P.

Mr. R. F. MacSwinney.

Mr. Frank B. Varley, M.P.

Mr. J. D. Wallis.

+Mr. Enoch Morrell.

Mr. James C. Welsh, M.P.

Mr. W. G. Nott-Bower, (Secretary),

Mr. G. C. North, M.C., LL.B., (Assistant Secretary).

Appointed by Royal Warrant, dated the 17th March, 1924, in place of the Right Hon. Viscount Chelmsford, G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., G.B.E., resigned.

† Appointed by Royal Warrant, dated the 17th March, 1924, in place of the Right Hon. Vernon Hartshorn, O.B.E., M.P., resigned.

Appointed by Royal Warrant, dated the 17th March, 1924, in place of the Right Hon. William Adamson, M.P., resigned.

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A 2

Introductory

The physical aspects of subsidence

...

The process described. Amount of subsidence cannot
be predicted with accuracy. Extent of draw
uncertain. Progress of scientific knowledge.

Damage may be of national concern; it may concern
only the proprietary interest. Variations in ownership
or tenure of surface and minerals respectively.
Many different types of buildings and surface works
affected.

The problem defined...

...

...

...

Principally the case of the owner of damaged property
who neither causes the damage himself, nor has any
right of support or compensation. Difficulties in-
volved in solving the problem.

The right of property in unsevered minerals. The
nature of a mining lease. The political side of the
mineral royalty question not within the purview of
the Commission. The common law right of absolute
support. In effect this also extends to buildings.
Jealous preservation of this right by the Courts.
Natural reaction in the shape of severance instru-
ments increasingly stringent against surface interest.
Two types of such instruments: (a) no right
of support, but a right to compensation, (b) no
rights at all. Effect of the Mines (Working
Facilities and Support) Act, 1923. Right of absolute
support virtually gone. Concern now is not with
the restoration of a specific property right, but with
the allocation of a pecuniary burden.

General Review of the damage caused by subsidence
Two main classes of surface property affected, (a)
local authority &c., works, (b) houses and other
buildings. Nature of claims. Description of visits
to South Wales and Scotland. General impression
of damage.

Surface without rights of support or compensation Instruments of severance completely destructive of surface owners' rights not uncommon, but by no means universal. They may, as result of 1923 Act, gradually become obsolete. The evil does, however, exist.

...

Methods of mitigating subsidence damage
Prevention better than cure. Three methods described
in evidence: (i) hydraulic stowage, and more
scientific methods of mining; (ii) Scientific surface
lay-out; (iii) precautions in building construction.
Hydraulic stowage generally impracticable. Town
planning and scientific lay-out. Building construc-
tion cement mortar, steel framework, concrete
rafts. Extra cost involved. Importance of building
byelaws. Summary.

:

...

...

...

General review of the evidence on the main problem-
Classification of interests
Much information in the evidence as regards individual
interests, but little consideration of the problem as a
whole. Three classes of surface interests.

Class I.-Agricultural land: The National interest
No necessary conflict here between surface and mineral
worker or owner, but rather between mineral worker
and the State. Reference to Doncaster area.

Class II. Local authorities, &c.: The Mining Code ...
The Code described. Origin of the Support of Sewers
Act, 1883. The 40 yards limit. Inadequacy of this
limit in modern conditions of deep mining. Elements
of value in the Code. No reason for restricting its
benefits to a limited class of works. Prescribed dis-
tance might, for purposes of notice, be increased to
one half the depth of the seam. Right under Code
to require minerals to be left unworked on payment
of compensation is now mainly illusory. The Code
and the common law right of support. New Moss
Colliery and Howley Park cases. Resulting anomaly,
removed in case of railways, still remains in regard
to statutory water undertakings and certain works of
Local Authorities. Negotiations recommended with
a view to amending legislation. The claims of Local
Authorities and Statutory Companies to full com-
pensation for damage without further payment.
Reasons why these claims cannot be accepted. But
right to prohibit or restrict working of minerals
under Part I of 1923 Act should be extended to Local
Authorities and statutory undertakers to whom Code
applies. Town Planning Schemes: Local Author-
ities should have right of access to Colliery plans.
Claims of statutory Tramways, Electricity and Gas
undertakers rejected.

Class III. The private owner: An analysis

...

Re-statement of circumstances in which grievances arise. Extent of the damage. Ignorance as to absence of rights in relation to support. Genuine hardship in case of smaller structures. Summary of position, and reasons for legislative interference in case of existing small houses in favour of private owners and occupiers. No alteration in case of other buildings. The question of future houses

...

...

Considerations leading to decision to make no recommendation in that direction

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