日治時期北台灣的煤礦災變

Abstract

在液體燃料和氣體燃料尚未出現或普及之前，煤炭是最主要的能源和交通運輸工具的原動力。台灣煤炭的蘊藏量和產量雖不豐富，卻是1980年代以前經濟發展過程中最重要的自產能源，也正日治時期經濟發展的原動力。台灣雖然早在17世紀已開始採掘煤炭，但一直到第一次世界大戰發生以後，在日本殖民地政府的主導之下，財閥和以基隆顏家為首的少數本土資本家共同締造了日治時期台灣煤礦業的黃金時代。煤礦業是勞力密集的產業，台灣煤礦都是深入地下，雖然搬運過程或可因機械的採用而改善，但採掘工作純賴人工。由於台灣煤層生成年代較新且地質不穩定，煤炭開採工程已日趨深部，以致通風、搬運、排水、瓦斯突出、落磐等問題日益嚴重，不時有發生危險之虞。萬一出現災變，則不但工作於地底的礦工的生命受到威脅，並且對環境造成極大的破壞，因此殖民地相關當局和新聞媒體都非常重視煤礦安全問題。本論文擬以當時的主要報紙《台灣日日新報》的報導為中心，探討煤礦災變與因應之道，以了解國家和民間社會面對非常狀況時的互動。首先略述日治時期的煤業發展軌跡，其次分析礦災的情形，再從政府、業者和輿論的角度觀察當時對此攸關環境破壞問題的反應。

Before the widespread use of natural gas and oil, coal was the princial fuel used in industry and transportation. Although there were a number of factors behind Taiwan`s industrialization, coal played an important role in the process. Taiwan has limited coal resources. Coal mining in Taiwan has a long history, but there were no large–scale production plans until the beginning of the First World War. Because coal mining is a labor–intensive industry, miners are an essential element of coal production. Safety conditions in Taiwanese mines were as bad as or worse than any in the world except China before World War II. The immediate causes of these most fatalities were floods, explosions and tunnel collapses. Because major disasters rocked the industry with some frequency, the colonial government and media paid attention to the issues of safety conditions in mines. This article will mainly use and refer to The Taiwan Daily News to research the causes of coal mine accidents and the reactions among the Authorities, proprietors and the public opinion.