The sub-commissioner for the East of Scotland reports, that after a careful consideration of all the sources of information which could assist him in the object of his inquiry, he arrives at the following conclusion:—"That the labour in the coal-mines in the Lothian and River Forth districts of Scotland is most severe, and that its severity is in many cases increased by the want of proper attention to the economy of mining operations; whence those operations, as at present carried on, are extremely unwholesome, and productive of diseases which have a manifest tendency to shorten life."[64] Mr. Walter Jarvie, manager to Mr. Cadell, of Banton, states that "in the small village of Banton there are nearly forty widows; and as the children work always on parents' behalf, it prevents them having recourse to the kirk-session for relief."[65] Elsper Thompson says, "Most of the men begin to complain at thirty to thirty-five years of age, and drop off before they get the length of forty."[66] Henry Naysmith, sixty-five years of age, collier, who says he has wrought upward of fifty years, adds that "he has been off work nearly ten years, and is much afflicted with shortness of breath: it is the bane of the colliers, and few men live to my age."[67] In North Wales, it is said that "few colliers come to the age of sixty, and but still fewer miners. This I believe to be the fact, though I met with many, both miners and colliers, who had attained the age of sixty; yet they were few compared with the number _employed_ in these branches of industry."[68] Mr. John Jones, relieving-officer for the Holywell district, "thinks they are not as long-lived as agriculturists."[69] James Jones, overman, Cyfarthfa Works, states "that the colliers are generally very healthy and strong up to the age of forty or fifty; they then often have a difficulty of breathing, and they die at younger ages than agricultural labourers or handicraftsmen."[70] Mr. John Hughes, assistant underground agent, says "they do not appear to live long after fifty or sixty years old."[71] In South Wales, the sub-commissioner reports that he "has not been able to ascertain, for want of sufficient data, the average duration of a collier's life in the counties either of Glamorgan or Monmouth, but it is admitted that such average duration is less than that of a common labourer. In the county of Pembroke, however, Mr. James Bowen, surgeon, Narbeth, in that county, informs me—"The average life of a collier is about forty; they rarely attain forty-five years of age; and in the entire population of Begelly and East Williamson, being 1163, forming, strictly speaking, a mining population, there are not six colliers of sixty years of age."