|
Methods of
Payment
| By Month |
Agents, clerk, storekeeper,
enginemen, smiths, trammers, kibble fillers,
landers, count house housekeeper. |
|
By Day, Stem, Core (shift) |
Masons, assistant smiths,
assistant carpenters, ore dressers, sundry
workers. |
|
By Quantity |
Whim drawing per
100 kibbles, sawing timber per 100 feet, weighing,
dividing and mixing ore by ton or dole, assaying
per sample. |
|
By Bargain |
Sundry work underground and on
surface. |
|
By Tut Work Contract |
Shaft sinking, development
mining (drives, raises, winzes), stoping
occasionally. |
| By Tribute Contract |
Stoping (production mining)
|
Note: If there are unfamiliar terms please click on
the Glossary page of the site
Tut Work and
Tribute
In Cornwall miners worked in a
'pare' which was a team of from two to twelve or more men, under
a leader, who made a contract with the Captain each month for
working in a specific location. This was called
Tut Work and the contract was
usually in terms of payment per fathom advanced in shaft sinking
and tunnelling. The rate per fathom would reflect the hardness
of the rock, the cross section of the excavation, the ground
conditions, location in the mine and other factors. At the end
of each month measurements were taken to the nearest inch and
recorded in the Cost Book. Charges for materials, such as
candles, gunpowder, safety fuse withdrawn from the mine stores,
would be deducted from the gross pay.
A
Tribute
contract was different in that the pare received a certain
percentage on the actual value of the ore mined and raised to
surface at a rate of so many shillings in the pound. A successful
tributer needed to "know his ground" because at the beginning of
each month 'pitches' in the orebody were put up for auction, and
the lowest bidder was given the contract.
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