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The earlier instalments of the three-part Dust series (1/9, 'Medical Report' and 1/10, 'Suppression Underground') examined the causes, early detection and prevention of pneumoconiosis, or dust disease. The third part tackles the most difficult problem: what to do with miners who already have the disease. Since it's essentially incurable, causing permanent damage to the lungs, the film proposes a mixture of compensation and retraining. Factories are built nearby which offer light work, and employers agree to take on a quota of disabled men. However, this will only help a relatively small percentage of ex-miners. Other initiatives include work related to mining, but in safer environments - sometimes the ex-miners' own homes, when they're too ill to work in an industrial environment. Raw materials are delivered and finished work collected for sale, and the men are able to top up their compensation. The film concludes with a call for more assistance, emphasising that these men became ill through helping Britain meet its ever-increasing demands for coal. Like many Mining Review items in this first year, it stresses the community spirit that the nationalisation of the coal industry was meant to encourage. Michael Brooke
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