3rd. If the hours are lengthened, should there follow any increase in wages, and, if so, how much? Now, having heard and carefully considered the arguments on each side, I award, decide, and determine that it is not inconsistent with the sliding scale to discuss the question of lengthening the working hours; 2nd. that it is necessary to lengthen such hours; 3rd. that there should be an increase in the wages where the hours are lengthened. I award and decide that the working hours of all men and boys above 16 years of age shall, or may be increased in accordance with my award, that the minimum wage to be paid to the hewers shall be, when the pit works 10½ hours, 4s. 10½d.; and when the pit works 11 hours, 5s. 0½d.; and that the wages of the datal men shall be increased in strict arithmetical proportion to the wages they are earning at the time of such increase in the hours. I determine that the increased hours shall or may commence on and after the first pays after the date of this my award. As witness my hand, this 15th day of April 1878. E. J. MEYNELL. There immediately arose some dispute as to the application of the award, and he was called upon to define it, which he did in a decision given at Joint Committee on May 10th. _May 10th, 1878._ "I further award and decide that where the working hours shall be increased in accordance with my award, that the minimum wages to be paid to the miners shall be where the pit works 10 hours and a half, 4s. 10½d. and where the pit works 11 hours, 5s. 0½d. is intended to mean--that where the hewers are increased one quarter hour per shift, the county average wage shall, in that case, be considered as 4s. 10½d. instead of 4s. 8½d. as hithertofore; and where their hours are increased half-an-hour per shift, the county average wage shall be 5s. 0½d. instead of the present average of 4s. 8½d. It is also intended that the working hours of any or all classes of workmen may be increased on the payment to them of proportionate increased rates as set out in the award; and that the maximum working hours for drawing coals be 11 hours per day in day-shift pits, and double shifts proportionately."