January 3, 1913. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE LORDOH COAL TRACE. Thursday, January 2. The London coal trade for the past week has been largely overshadowed by the holidays. Only a few collieries started work before Monday last, so that the tonnage coming forward has been comparatively small. The Coal Exchange did not reassemble until Monday, and the attendance was only moderate. Business was very slow as the weather during the whole of the holidays had been unusually mild. The depot trade continues exceedingly elow, and orders from the general public are very feeble. The bulk of the merchants and factors were well provided with stock immediately prior to the holidays, and with the resumption of work and scarcity of delivery orders, everyone was anxious to clear up the loaded wagons before any siding rent or demurrage charges could accrue. The sea- borne market also showed very little activity, only a few Yorkshire coals are on sale. Fifty cargoes have entered the Thames during the week and appeared on the lists for Monday last, but none of the Durham cargoes were offering for sale. The prices remain unaltered, viz., 21s. 6d. best and 20s. 6d. seconds. Fortunately the prevailing wet weather during Christmas week led to many fires being kept going, as householders were more or less kept indoors, but the abundance of coal at the wharves and depots was more than sufficient to supply all needs, and the merchants hesitate about purchasing further stocks until the weather turns colder. Meanwhile, the holiday traffic has seriously interfered with the railway deliveries, and the whole service, as far as the coal traffic is concerned, has been disorganised. Pit prices are unchanged, but some little speculation is roused as to what the result of the present agitation for an advance in miners’ wages may mean. The question is deferred by the Conciliation Board until January 6, and meantime all wholesale quotations are firm. Steam coals have a slight tendency upwards, but the extra pressure for slacks and small nuts has considerably moderated. Current market quotations (pit mouth) : Note.—Although every care is exercised to secure accuracy, we cannot hold ourselves responsible for these prices, which are, further, subject to fluctuations. Price. Yorkshire. Wath Main best coal.................... Do. nuts........................ Birley cube Silkstone.................... Do. branch coal ...................... Do. seconds.......................... Barnsley Bed Silkstone.................. West Riding Silkstone .................. Kiveton Park Hazel .................... Per ton. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. Price. 31 Do. cobbles Do. nuts Do. hard steam ........... New Sharlston Wallsend ................ Wharncliffe Silkstone coal................ Do. Flockton Main .............. Do. Athersley house coal.......... Newton Chambers best Silk stone.......... Do. , Grange best Silkstone ... Do. Hesley Silkstone........ Do. Rockingham selected.... Do. Rockingham Silkstone ... Derbyshire. Wingfield Manor best................................. Do. large nuts.............. Do. small nuts.............. Do. kitchen coal............ West Hallam Kilburn brights............ Do. do. nuts .............. Do. London brights ............ Do. bright nuts................ Do. small nuts ................ ................ Manners Kilburn brights................ Do. do. nuts .. Shipley do. brights Do. do. nuts .. Mapperley brights...................... Do hard steam .................. Cossall Kilburn brights.................. Do. do. nuts.................... Trowell Moor brights.................... Do. do. nuts...................... Grassmoor Main coal.................... Do. Tupton ...................... Do. do. nuts.................. Clay Cross Main coal.................... Do. do. cubes .................. Do. special Derbys................ Do. house coal.................... Pilsley best blackshale .................. Do. deep house coal .................. Do. hard screened cobbles ............ Hardwick best Silk stone ................ Do. Cavendish brights.............. Do. cubes ........................ Nottinghamshire. Clifton picked hards .................... Do. small hards...................... Do. deep large steam ................ Annesley best hards .................... Do. bright cobbles ................ Linby best hards........................ Do. bright cobbles.................... Digby London brights .................. Do. cobbles .......................... Do. top hards ........................ Do. High Hazel coal.................. Best wood hard steam coal................ Do. bright cobbles ................ Hucknall Torkard main hards............ Do. do. cobbles Do. do. nuts Do. do. High Hazel H P Do. do. London brights Do. do. large nuts Do. do. bright nuts Sherwood H.P. hards.................. 13/ 12/ 11/6 15/ 11/ 12/6 12/ 13/ 13 12 11/ 14/ 14/ 13/6 11/6 15/ 14/ 13/ 13/6 13/ !2/ 11/9 9/6 10/ 12/ 11/9 11/ 10/9 9/6 12/ 11/9 12/ 11/9 12/ 11/9 12/ 11/9 11/6 11/ 12/Q 11/ 12/ 12/6 12/ 11/9 11/ 12/6 10/6 10/ 12/6 11/6 11/6 12/ 11/ 12/ 12/ 11/3 12/ 11/3 12/ 12/ 13 14/ 12/ 11/3 12/3 11/3 Warwickshire. Griff large steam coal..................... Do. screened cobbles ................... Do. bakers’ nuts ....................... Do. loco Two Yard hards ............... Do. Ryder nuts......................... Do. do. cobbles ..................... Nuneaton steam coal ... ........................... Do. screened cobbles ............... Do. nuts........................... Haunchwood steam ..................... Do. screened cobbles............ Do. nuts ....................... Wyken steam coal ....................... Do. screened cobbles ................. Do. nuts........................................................ Exhall Ell coal spires..................... Do. large steam coal___•.................. Leicestershire. Snibston steam........................... Do. cobbles ......................... Do. nuts ........................... South Leicester steam ................... Do. cobbles or small hards.... Do. nuts ..................... Whitwick steam ......................... Do. roasters ....................... Do. cobbles ....................... Do. nuts........................... Netherseal hards ....................... Do. Eureka....................... Do. kitchen....................... Ibstock kibbles ......................... Do. large nuts ....................... Do. bakers’ nuts ..................... Do. Main nuts ....................... Do. hards ........................... Granville New Pit cobbles................. Do. Old Pit cobbles ................. North Staffordshire. Talk-o’-th’-Hill best ..................... Sneyd best, selected ..................... Do. deeps......................... Silverdale best........................... Do. cobbles ....................... Apedale best ........................... Do. seconds......................... Podmore Hall best....................... Do. seconds............ ........................ South Staffordshire {Cannock District). Walsall Wood steam coal, London brights Do. shallow one way ........ Do. deep nuts................. Cannock steam........................... Coppice deep coal ....................... Do. cobbles ......................... Do. one way......................... Do. shallow coal ..................... Cannock Chase deep main.................................. Do. Deep kitchen cobbles...... Do. best shallow main ........ Do. shallow kibbles .......... Do. best brights.............. Do. yard cobbles............... Do. yard nuts ................. Do. bakers’ nuts............... Do. screened hards.......,................ Per ton. 10/9 H/ H/ 13/6 11/6 12/6 10/9 11/ 11/ 10/9 11/ 11 10/9 n/ 11/ 12/6 10/9 10/6 10/3 10/6 10/ 10/6 10/6 10/6 10/6 10/6 10/6 17/ 12/6 10/6 10/ 10/ 9/6 10/ 9/6 11/6 10/6 13/6 14/6 14/ 1.5/ 14/ 13/6 13/ 13/6 13/ 13/ 12/ 11/6 11/ 13/ 12/ 12/ 12/ 17/ 12/ 14/ 13/6 13/ 13/6 12/6 10/3 11/ ____________________ From Menn. Dinham, Favoui and Co.’i Report. Friday, December 20.—Owing to the approaching holidays and the short supply of seaborne house coal, the market was unaltered—no sales of either Durham or Yorkshire reported. Monday, December 23.—There was no alteration in the seaborne house coal market to-day, which remained quiet with no sales reported. Monday, December 30.—Owing to the holidays, the sea- borne house coal market was quiet to-day, with no cargoes on offer. Wednesday, January 1.—There was no alteration in the seaborne house coal market, which remained quiet. Prices:— Deo. 20. Dec. 23. Dec. 30. Jan. 1. Best (Durham) .. 21/6 . .. 21/6 ... 21/6 ... 21/6 Seconds do. .. 20/6 . .. 20/6 ... 20/6 ... 20/6 Sharlston W.E. York. .. 21/6 . .. 21/6 ... 21/6 ... 21/6 No. of cargoes .. 27 . .. 34 ... 22 ... 3 _______________________ THE TIH-PLATE TRADE Liverpool. Business is very slow just now. Enquiries are few. and beyond a small hand-to-mouth trade there is very little doing. Several makers have closed down a portion of their plant. Quotations are nominally :—Coke tins : I C 14 x 20 (112 sh. 108 lb.), 15s. per box ; I C 28 x 20 (112 sh. 216 lb.). 30s. to 30s. 3d. per box ; I C 28 x 20 (56 sh. 1081b.), 15s. 4|d. to 15s. 6d. per box; I C 14 x 18f (124 sh. 110 1b.), 15s. 6d. per box; I C 14 x 191 (120 sh. 110 lb.), 15s. 6d. per box; IC 20 x 10 (225 sh. 156 lb.), 22s. to 22s. 3d. per box; I C squares and odd sizes, 15s. 6d. basis. Ternes are easy at 26s. for I C 28 x 20, and charcoal tins rule quietly steady at 17s. 6d. basis and upwards according to finish. Blackplate in pickled and close annealed quality is slow of sale. Works are quoting .£10 7s. 6d. to .£10 10s. per ton basis for rectangles in boxes. Coke wasters are in moderate request. Quotations:—CW 14 x 20, 14s. to 14s. l|d. per box; C W 28 x 20, 28s. per box; C W 14 x 18|, 13s. 9d. to 13s. 10^d. per box; C W 14 x 19|, 14s. 3d. per box; C W 20 x 10, 19s. 9d. per box —all f.o.b. Wales, less 4 per cent. _______________________ Do. hard steam Do. brights ..., Do. cobbles ..., Do. large nuts . 14/9 12/3 12/3 11/3 12/ 10/6 11/3 11/3 11/9 Safety Lamp Glasses.—Mr. William Best, of Morley, Yorks, writes to inform us that Messrs. Bests Contract Com- pany, miners’ safety lamp manufacturers, Morley, Yorks, have been appointed sole agents for the use and sale of the Belgian Glass Company’s D.S./4 lamp glasses, to which we referred in our issue of the 27th ult., and that prices and particulars of tests may be obtained from them. LABOUR AHO WAGES. North of England. Owing to an unusual dispute between the management and the men at Ellington Colliery, Northumberland, the colliery was laid idle on the 30th ult. For many years past it has been a custom throughout the county for representatives of the men to be present at the quarterly drawing of the cavils for working places. The last quarter having been due to terminate on Saturday, the cavils were drawn at the colliery office in the usual course on the 26th, but, owing to a misunderstanding as to the time fixed, none of the representatives of the men were present. As a result the men declined to accept the allocation of working places which was made on the drawing, and they refused to go to work at the new places, demanding a new cavilling. It was stated that the manager of the colliery declined to negotiate with the men until they had started work— a course to which the men would not consent. Owing to a grievance as to their fire coals not being delivered at the proper time, the coal hewers employed in the Hutton, Low Main, and Harvey seams of Messrs. Walter Scott’s Limited East Hetton or Kelloe Colliery (Durham) declined to go down the pit on the 30th ult. The men contend that some of their loads of coal are from 10 days to a fortnight overdue, while the quality, they allege, is not what it should be. The result was made public on Saturday of the Northumberland miners’ proxy voting on the resolution carried at a recent special council meeting that a campaign against the three-shift system should take place in the county, followed by a ballot as to whether a strike shall take place. The proxy vote, in which one vote is cast for 50 members, only shows a majority of 320 to 279 in favour of the council’s proposal. The county voting result on a number of questions discussed at the ordinary council meeting has also been made known, and this shows majorities in favour of obtaining revision of the district rules under the Minimum Wage Act; of seeking an eight-hour day and a minimum wage for surface workers, and a basis wage for coal-cutters; but the county is against proposals to increase the wages of night-shift hewers, to limit the length of council meetings, and reduce the notice for terminating hiring from 14 to seven days. The Cleveland mineowners met the Cleveland miners’ representatives in Middlesbrough, on the 23rd ult., to further consider the rates paid to surfacemen and lads employed at the Cleveland ironstone mines. A settle- ment of the question was effected, the owners conceding an advance in the base rates to able-bodied datal work- men. With regard to the boys, a scale of rates applicable to different ages was agreed to. The advance dates from Monday last, the 30th ult. A special meeting to consider the wages of surface workers was held on Tuesday under the auspices of the Durham Coal Trade Conciliation Board, ac the Coal Trade Office, Newcastle, under the presidency of Sir Lindsay Wood, Bart. The employers made an offer of advances to the various grades of workers; and this offer will be submitted to the men and considered by them. The annual meeting of the Durham County Colliery Enginemen’s Association was held on the 26th ult. at Durham, Mr. George Peart, of Bishop Auckland, pre- siding. The agent (Mr. W. B. Charlton) in his report expressed pleasure at the fact that the wages of a large number of the members were higher now than at any period since the commencement of their association. Mr. George Peart was re-appointed president for next year. The quarterly meeting of the Cleveland Miners’ and Quarrymen’s Association was held at Middlesbrough this week. After hearing a lengthy report by Mr. W. Stephens, the general treasurer and organiser, on the subject of the employment of non-unionists in the mines and quarries, the council adopted a resolution to the effect that they should use every means to induce the few non-unionists employed at the mines to become members of the association, and failing success in that direction by peaceful means, the association was pledged to press the matter, even to the extent of handing in notices at the mines and quarries affected. The council decided to give three months’ notice for the termination of Sir Robert Romer’s award under the Minimum Wage Act, with a view to the amendment of existing rules and regulations. It was also decided to endeavour to secure deletion of the clause in the Act which orders that after a man had finished his shift 16 hours must elapse before he could return to work in the mine. The council further ordered that a request should be made to the employers that eight hours should constitute a shift for all enginemen, boilerminders, firemen, Ac., 'who are now working 12-hour shifts. The education committee was