88

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

January 10, 1913.

»1R1HC ASO OTHER ROTES.

Conspicuous bravery was rewarded at a large gathering
held in the Colliery Schools, Bolsover, on the 3rd inst., when
A. E. Drabble was presented by the Bolsover Colliery
Company with a marble timepiece, inscribed as follows :—
“ Presented to Albert Edward Drabble by the Bolsover
Colliery Co., in recognition of exceptional bravery shown
in rescuing W. R. Gould, at the Bolsover Colliery, on
October 1, 1912.” Gould was sitting on the limbers,
bringing two tubs up the main gate, when several large
pieces of stone fell from the roof on to the horse and into
the tubs. Gould was buried, and his light extinguished.
Without hesitation the corporal, A. E. Drabble, ran to his
assistance, and although pieces of roof, one of which
knocked out his light, continued to fall, he recovered the
boy in the dark and carried him to a place of safety.
Gould’s arm was broken, and he was suffering from shock ;
but Drabble, who is a member of the Ambulance Division,
successfully rendered first-aid.

The President of the Board of Education has appointed
an advisory council for the Science Museum. The council
will be asked to advise the Board on questions of principle
and policy arising from time to time, and to make an annual
report on their proceedings to the Board, together with any
observations on the conditions and needs of the museum
which they may think fit to make. The first members of
the council will be Sir Hugh Bell (chairman), Mr. R. Elliott
Cooper, Dr. J. J. Dobbee, Mr. W. Duddeil, Mr. E. B.
Ellington, Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, Sir Archibald Geikie,
Dr. R. T. Glazsbrook, Sir Alfred Keogh, the Right Hon. Sir
W. Mather, Sir John Murray, Sir William Ramsay, the
Right Hon. Sir Henry E. Roscoe, and Sir William H
White. The secretary will be Captain H, G. Lyons, of the
Science Museum.

An important meeting of those interested in the reorgani-
sation of Messrs. Musgrove and Sons Limited, Globe
Ironworks, Bolton, which firm has been in liquidation for
some months, was held on Monday in the Central Hall,
Bolton. Mr. William Kevan presided, and holders of
debentures to the amount of £68,000 were represented.
Mr. J. P. Garnett, acting on behalf of a number of persons
who propose to form a new company, asked for an option to
purchase the business of the present company at a certain
price. The meeting, by a large majority, authorised the
trustees to grant the option. It is understood that, under
the arrangement proposed, the owner of each .£100 worth of
stock will get £60 in debenture stock of the new company
and receive £40, plus interest, and, if the funds will allow,
a premium of 5 per cent, in cash. The works when fully
occupied employ some 3,000 men.

The second meeting in connection with the Lothians
mineworkers’ ambulance competition was held in Edin-
burgh on Saturday. The chair was occupied by Mr. W.
Walker, H.M. divisional inspector of mines. The meeting
considered the inscription proposed to be put on the shield
which Lord Murray of Elibank is giving for competition.
It was agreed to call the new organisation “ The Lothians
Mineworkers’ Ambulance League.” The following motion
was unanimously agreed to.—“That the following be
appointed a sub-committee to draw up by-laws and regula-
tions for conducting the competition; and to consider the
best means of raising the necessary sum to carry it on, and
to report to a meeting of the full committee, to be held not
later than February 1, 1913: Mr. Walker, chairman; Mr.
Morrison, St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association; Mr.
Humphries, secretary pro tem.; Messrs. Ramsay, Dornan,
Small, W. Clarke, J. Thomson, and Menzies.”

In the House of Commons on Monday, Sir Henry
Havelock-Allan asked the Home Secretary whether he had
yet received the report of the inspector who investigated
the explosion which took place at Auckland Park Colliery,
County Durham, on October 29 last. Mr. McKenna said:
" I have received a further report from the district
inspector, stating that the examination of the cable under
the large fall shows conclusively that the cable was not the
originating cause of the explosion. The origin of the
explosion remains a mystery, and I am afraid there is not
much likelihood of any further light being thrown on the
subject. I have, however, asked the Chief Inspector to visit
the mine and to review all the pits in consultation with the
district inspector and other persons who have been
investigating the matter.”

The annual dinner of the Monmouthshire Colliery
Officials’ Association will be held at the Kings’ Head Hotel,
Newport, on Saturday evening, the 25th inst., at 6.30 p m.

The seam recently struck at Snowdown has now, we are
informed, been fully exposed. It is 4 ft. 7 in. thick, bright
hard coal, the depth of‘fireclay beneath not having yet
been fully ascertained.

Important developments continue to take place in the
Cumberland iron ore district. The Ullbank Company have
found a very large body of ore by boring, and no doubt, in
the course of time, shafts will be sunk to win it. The
Whitehaven Iron and Steel Company are boring for ore on
their royalty. The Workington Iron and Steel Company
are carrying out extensive developments at their mines in
the Bigrigg district, and the Tpwnhead Mining Company
have purchased Lord Leconfield’s Clintz Pit. The pit is
situated in a rich iron ore district and it adjoins the existing
royalties of the company.

A trade correspondent learns from reliable sources that
the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which has its head-
quarters in Manchester, and comprises some 1,400 or 1,500
retail societies, is thinking of acquiring coalmines of its
own. The annual turnover of the C.W.S. in coal amounts
to no less than £700,000.

A local correspondent says rumours have been revived to
the effect that a Wigan firm contemplate taking over
certain colliery properties in the neighbourhood of Hindley.
In the adjoining township of Westhoughton the West-
houghton Coal and Cannel Company are carrying out
improvements on the surface and below.

On December 21, at the Grand Temperance Hotel,
Swansea, Mr. J. W. Evans, manager, Garngooh Collieries,
Penllergaw, was presented with an illuminated address and
a suitably-inscribed silver-mounted walking stick. The
presentation was made by the proprietors and officials to
mark their appreciation of *his services as instructor of a
class of firemen, to enable the latter to obtain their firemen’s
certificates, at the examination held in accordance with the
provisions of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, and in which all
were successful.

We are informed that Mr. Lee Murray has been appointed
to the seat on the board of directors of Messrs. Bruce
Peebles and Co. Limited, recently vacated by Mr. Chas. H.
McEuen. Mr. S. E. Bastow and Mr. J. II. Bunting have
been appointed joint managers in the place of Mr. Murray,
who has retired from the position of general manager of
the company.

A social gathering of the employees of F. Reddaway and
Co. Limited, was held recently, at the Co-operative Hall,
Pendleton, to celebrate the coming of age of Mr. Harold
Reddaway. There were about 700 employees present,
including representatives from the branch houses at London
Glasgow, Birmingham, Sheffield, Halifax, Newcastle-on-
Tyne, and South Wales. An interesting feature of the
proceedings was the presentation to Mr. Harold Reddaway
of a valuable dressing case, which was made by Mr. W.
Marson on behalf of the employees.

At a meeting of the South Staffordshire Mines Drainage
Commissioners, at Dudley, Mr. J. T. Homer, who presided,
said the pumping for the four weeks ending December 27
had been very heavy, being an increase of over three million
gallons per 24 hours compared with that for the corres-
ponding period last year. He moved that every occupier of
a mine within the drainage area be required to make a
return of the number of acres of mine occupied by him, and
the number of tons of mineral raised by him during the
half-year ended December 31 last. It was resolved, in
accordance with the provisions of an award of the arbitrators
dated December 18, that a drainage rate for one year, from
January 1, payable in two half-yearly instalments, be
assessed and levied upon all occupiers of mines within the
northern portion of the Old Hill district, with certain
exceptions, of 3d. per ton upon fireclay and limestone, and 7d.
per ton upon ironstone, coal, slack and other minerals.

Coal was reached in No. 2 shaft at Askern Main Colliery
last week. The sinkers have still some months’ work in
hand, as it is intended to sink to the Haigh Moor seam in
this shaft.

A site for the proposed rescue station for the collieries in
the Doncaster district has been chosen at Wheatley. The
station will be built and run jointly by the various local
colliery companies. Men will receive a thorough training
in ambulance work, and in all the latest methods of coping
with an urgent call to the scene of disaster. The Brods-
worth and Bentley pits have taken a leading part in the
movement, and other collieries identified with the scheme
include Bulcroft, Yorkshire Main, Askern, and Hatfield.
The rescue station will be at the junction of Wentworth-
road and Wheatley-lane, on a site | acre in extent. The
observation hall will measure 55 ft. by 26 ft., and there will
be all the necessary apparatus and galleries for practising
rescue work. There will be a committee room 22 ft. by 19 ft.,
chambers for single men, caretaker’s quarters, including
living rooms and bedrooms. The front portion cf the
building will be two storeys high.

A large company of officials and workmen of the Priory
Colliery, Blantyre, belonging to Messrs. William Baird and
Co., recently met and made a presentation to Mr. John
Laurie, on the occasion of his retiral from the position of
manager. Mr. Laurie has been in the employment of the
firm for 36 years.

Many of the Scotch colliery companies have been placing
orders in Staffordshire for surface haulage endless chains.
Trade is good and the collieries are renewing equipment,
also introducing best-class plant. A Brierley Hill chain
firm has just forwarded an endless chain, approximately a
mile in length, to a Glasgow colliery. Each link has a
diameter of of an inch, and was tested to a stress of 5f
tons. The chain is hand-wrought and weighed 12 tons. It
is to be used for hauling tubs of coal up an incline half a
mile in length, leading from the pithead to the railway
siding for loading. Some time ago the same chain firm—
Messrs. Noah Bloomer and Sons, Brierley Hill—made a
surface haulage endless chain for a West of Scotland
colliery, with || in. diameter links, and about a mile and
an eighth long, and lately they sent to Manila a hauling
chain, 335 fathoms long, made of bar iron, If in. thick,
and weighing 16 tons.

Mr. John Rivers, under-manager of Thornley No. 1 pit,
has been the recipient of handsome presents from the
deputies and others whom he recently prepared for the
examinations under the new Mines Act. The presents
consisted of a handsome gold-mounted umbrella and silver-
mounted walking stick for Mr. Rivers, and a gold brooch
for Mrs. Rivers.

Mr. William Newton, of Welland House, High-street,
Spalding, well-known throughout the district as a colliery
agent, who died on September 7 last, aged 65 years, left
estate of the gross value of £13,618 0s. lOd. of which
£1,991 Is. Id. is net personalty.

At Newcastle, on the 30th ult., Mr. William Barnes,
general secretary, and Mr. George Robson, general treasurer
of the Northumberland and Durham Miners’ Permanent
Relief Fund, were presented, by the general committee of the
fund, with gold medallions, suitably inscribed, as a mark of
appreciation of their services on the occasion of the society’s
jubilee celebrations.

Messrs. Marchbank and Bainbridge, coal merchants,
colliery agents, and shipbrokers, Exchange-buildings,
Quayside, Newcastle-on-Tyne, intimate that they have
taken into partnership Mr. Dan. Stonehouse. Mr. Stone-
house has been for upwards of 27 years with the firm of
Joseph Walton, colliery owner and coal merchant, of
Middlesbrough and Newcastle, acting during the last 10
years as manager of his Newcastle house.

At the monthly meeting of the Wolverhampton Education
Committee last week a report was presented of a conference
between the Wolverhampton Technical Sub-committee and
the Education Sub-committee for South Staffordshire, held
to consider the question of the advisability or otherwise of
co-operating in the erection of a new technical school
proposed to be erected in Wolverhampton. At the conference
the following resolution was passed:—“ That this conference
recommends to its respective authorities joint action
between the county borough of Wolverhampton and the
county of Stafford in the provision of new buildings and
equipment for technical education.”

A very long connection with the Denaby Main Collieries
was brought to a conclusion on Christmas Eve. Mr. John
Soar, who has been under-manager for nearly 30 years,
finished his services. Mr. Soar is over 70 years of age, and
is now going into retirement. He is succeeded by Mr. Geo.
Mills, assistant under-manager.

Considerable improvements have been effected at Thris-
lington Colliery, West Cornforth, where an entirely new
heapstead has been erected to replace the one destroyed by
fire 13 months ago. The new pit heap has been constructed
by Messrs. Head, Wrightson and Co., Thornaby, and is of
iron girder work, the foundations being set in concrete.
The colliery is owned by the North Bitchburn Coal
Company, who purchased it about two years before the fire
took place, and the estimated cost of the improvements
effected is roughly about £50,000. A new winding-engine
house has been erected, and the old engine replaced by a
Bradley and Craven double horizontal engine. The steam
generating plant is also new, four Babcock and Wilcox and
a Lancashire boiler having been installed. The chimneys
from the boiler fires have been raised 40 ft. There is also
a new Luhrig washer capable of dealing with 1,000 tons
daily, while the pit heap equipment is expected to be
sufficient for a daily output of 2,000 tons. The present
output is about 400 tons each day, about the same as it was
before the fire. Two seams are now worked, the Busty, at
a depth of 100 fathoms, and the Harvey, which is connected
with the former by a drift. The Brockwell seam is stated
to be 50 fathoms below the Busty, and it is contemplated
that the output will be increased greatly by working it.
About 30 by-product ovens, owned by the company, are
situated within | mile or so of the pit, and provision has
been made to erect an overhead trolley railway to convey
the coals from the pit to the ovens, while the erection of a
large hopper in which to store reserve stocks of coals for
the ovens, in case of stoppages, breakdowns, &c., is con-
templated. The mason and concrete work about the new
heapstead, which is illuminated by electricity, has been
carried out by Mr. Jos. Denham, contractor, Coundon, the
whole of the work being performed under the capable
supervision of Mr. T. Heslop, agent for the North Bitchburn
Coal Company• Mr. Frank Widdas, manager of the colliery ;
and the resident engineer, Mr. J. B. Plummer.

At an enquiry in Dunfermline Sheriff Court, into the
death of James Meldrum, drawer, who met his death in
No. 1 Dalbeath Pit of the Fife Coal Company, by being
struck by a runaway hutch in a gravity incline, the opinion
was expressed by the jury that the use of a “ jock ” would
hot have tended in any way to avert the accident.

At Hanley County Court on the 18th ult., before his
Honour Judge Ruegg, K.C., an action was heard which had
been originally entered as one for “ goods sold and delivered,”
but now took the form of damages for breach of contract,
The parties to the action were John Howard Keele, Town
Hall Chambers, Stoke, and the defendants Messrs. Bakewell
and Butterworth, Shelton Wharf, coal merchants. On
March 14 plaintiff entered into an agreement to supply to
the defendants two or three hundred tons of fine washed
slack at 5s. per ton. Defendant began to deliver the slack
at Ellesmere Port to the order of the defendants two days
after the agreement. On March 19 plaintiff received a