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1931-1932 (Creation)
- Creator
- Nova Scotia. Royal Commission Respecting the Coal Mines of Nova Scotia
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Physical description
12 cm of textual records (11 folders)
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Administrative history
The second Nova Scotia Royal Commission Respecting the Coal Mines of Nova Scotia was created by Order in Council on January 25, 1932. This time it was precipitated by the financial insolvency of Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) and their contract request for a 12.3% wage reduction. Sir Andrew Rae Duncan, British expert in coal industry regulation, was again appointed chairperson, and was joined again by Reverend Hugh P. MacPherson, President of Saint Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS as co-commissioner. The third commissioner was new, Professor John W. MacMillan, a Presbyterian minister, Chair of Christian Sociology at University of Toronto’s Victoria College and active in the Christian social gospel movement. The Commission’s mandate was broader than the first royal commission of 1925, as it was to investigate any and all matters relevant to the coal mining industry in the province in addition to the miners’ living and working conditions and the factors affecting costs of production, transportation, distribution, and marketing of coal and its by-products. The Royal Commission held hearings in Sydney, Springhill, New Glasgow, Halifax and in Montreal, PQ where 85 witnesses presented their views. As in the 1925 commission, they focused their attention on the main operator of coal mines in Nova Scotia, the Dominion Steel & Coal Corporation. They looked at the efficiency of different mines (in terms of geology and extractability) and made suggestions for amalgamations and closures to make the industry more cost-effective. It submitted its final report to Government on February 18, 1932 and then disbanded.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Fonds consists of exhibits (documents) submitted from Supervisors of Schools in Glace Bay and New Waterford, from Local No. 26 of the Union of Mine Workers of America, and from Dominion Steel & Coal Corporation (1932); written briefs or submissions (1932); research reports from William A. Armour for the Royal Commission (1932); a partial draft of the final report (1932?); correspondence to the Commissioners (1932); and background research files (1931-1932).
Subjects include the terrible social conditions and poverty suffered by fully employed people; school students starving; pricing of coal, customers, and the competition in late 1920s and early 1930s; closure and amalgamation of specific mines; and municipal concerns regarding social welfare particularly in Cape Breton.
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Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Transferred from the Nova Scotia Government.
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Imposed by archivist.
Language of material
- English
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Availability of other formats
The final report is also available online on the Nova Scotia Legislative Library website. https://legcat.gov.ns.ca/search~S0
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Copyright held by the Province of Nova Scotia (crown).
Copyright in briefs held by individual or group submitting.
See Nova Scotia Archives’ Services page for information on copying, reproduction, and use of materials.
Finding aids
Associated materials
See also Report of the Royal Commission Respecting the Coal Mines of Nova Scotia (Halifax: Minister of Public Works & Mines, King’s Printer, 1932) in Nova Scotia Archives Library (reference number: V/F v.47 #11.)
See also the 1925 Royal Commission Respecting the Coal Mines of the Province of Nova Scotia fonds (Reference number: RG 44 Volume 1 File 5, File 17 to 30, and Microfilm #3897 to #3899.