ALL this fuss about a woman becoming a free miner just

shows how ridiculous and chauvinistic some men can be.

If the issue went before the courts of equal rights, free

mining would be wiped out altogether. Elaine has done

you all a favour in becoming a free miner and saved you

from extinction.

Previous to the 1833 Act, free miners had their own

mine law court for about a thousand years. It could decide

all the rules and regulations and who was eligible to

become a free miner. There was a seven years and a day

rule for anyone born outside the hundredth of St Briavels.

The court was run mainly by iron miners but during the

industrial revolution coal became king and the number of

colliers registered outnumbered the iron miners. There

was so much corruption and double dealing going on that

the government stepped in and enforced the 1833 Act

upon the free miners. It was the colliers who eventually

ruled out the seven years and one day rules due to too

many foreigners working in the collieries. At that time

they would have been outnumbered by them. If the rule

had been incorporated it would have solved the problem

caused by the closure of the maternity unit at the Dilke.

The more people who can share a right the more

right it is. You don't have the guts to take on the local

authority who are holding most of the gales illegally, but

like all bully boys you try to psychologically beat up

women instead. It is indeed sad to watch you destroy

yourselves when you could collectively be much stronger,

you just can't seem to see the wood for the trees. ­– Name

and address supplied.