January 24, 1913. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 197 include in their district the Wath-upon-Dearne Urban District which is in the Rotherham Union area, and a small portion of Billingley and of Darfield, in the Barnsley rural areas, as well as the whole of the parishes of Barnburgh and Adwick-on-Dearne. Tickhill is to be asked to join in the scheme to form the No. 3 district, which contains 5,000 odd acres. No. 4 district will ba the remaining portion of the rural district of Doncaster, and it was decided to town plan these in areas as may be found most expedient and convenient. All the applications are to go in to the Local ^Government Board as near as possible at the sama time, and the schemes will run on concurrently, as far as practicable. The Mayor of Doncaster will call another Mansion House conference as soon as the surveyors are ready with their schemes. The thousands of miners employed at the extensive collieries of Messrs. Newton, Chambers and Co., who are members of the Thorncliffe and Rockingham Permanent Relief Society, may congratulate themselves on belonging to one of the finest funds in the country. At a meeting held recently at Chapeltown, it was decided that, on and after January 1, the following increased benefits should be paid:—Temporary disablement of member, 15s. per week instead of 12s. The maximum period of this benefit is 26 weeks. Allowance of 3s. per week to each child of a member accidentally killed to be continued until the child reaches the age of 14, instead of 13, as at present. The increases are to be paid with the approval of Mr. F. G. P. Neison, actuary, who presented a very interesting report. The accumulated capital of the society, on .September 30 last, was £45,588. The number of incumbents upon the fund at the same date was 140. Mr. Neison showed that the liabilities in respects of those incumbents amounted to £ 18,160. A special reserve of .£12,500 is kept in respect of current risks, making the total liabilities £30,660. There is thus a difference, or surplus, of £14,928, and Mr. Neison was of opinion that, in view of this position, the proposed extension of benefits might be carried out. In giving his approval to the proposed increases of benefit, Mr. Neison sounded a note of warning. As regards the temporary disablement allowances, he says the material augmentation of it will render more than ever necessary a very careful supervision of the risk to guard against undue malingering. Experience in miners’ relief funds uniformly testifies to the fact that the larger the accident allowance, the more difficult its control. In the Technological Department of the Scottish National Museum much progress has been made during the past few years in the formation of suitable collections of mining appliances in accordance with a prearranged plan and with the valuable help of one of his Majesty’s inspectors of mines. Prospecting work is illustrated in the museum collections by models, complete in every detail, of a modern diamond boring plant and by samples from the Core. Three very fine large glass models representing the Mid-Lothian coalfield, the Fife coalfield, and the Lothians shalefield have been constructed. The general arrange- ment of surface plant are shown in a large model. Owing to the necessarily small scale of this model many details could not be adequately shown, and separate models were constructed to a much larger scale to illustrate completely certain complicated parts of the surface plant. These include fine models of screening plant and washing plant. There is also displayed a large number of models illustrating the various aspects of coalmining underground. In addition to these there are large numbers of specimens illustrating the smaller appliances used in coalmining—a very fine historical collection of miners’ lamps, ranging from the flint and steel mill (the safety “lamp” of the -eighteenth century) down to the latest electric safety lamps, surveying instruments, mining tools, &c. A small collection of particular historical interest consists of a number of articles quite recently obtained from a coal pit near Stevenston, in Ayrshire, and presented to the museum by Mr. Robert Main, general manager of the Glengarnock Iron and Steel Company Limited. Among the items recovered were a wooden shovel, coal picks, a wooden bowl for ladling water, and a number of tallies or pins which, it is interesting to note, are similar to those used by individual miners at the present day for marking the hutches of coal sent by them up to the surface. The annual dinner of the South Staffordshire Mining Schools Old Boys’ Society was held at the Stork Hotel, Walsall, recently. The president, Mr. W. A. Dunham, who presided, said the new Coal Mines Act set up a new certificate of competency, and in many ways profoundly affected both the character and volume of the work. They had gone through it, however, with a fair measure of satisfaction to all parties concerned. Mr. Smithurst, in replying for the toasts of the guests, said he hoped the coming year would see no more legislation in connection with mining. Prizes were presented by Mr. R. Bestwick (Aldridge) for an essay on “ Gob Heads,” and to Mr. Stuart (Longton) for essays on “ Shaft and Winding Accidents and their Preven- tion,” and “ Timbering and the Prevention of Falls.” Mr. James Henry, under-manager of Wellington Pit, Whitehaven, has been presented with a marble timepiece in recognition of his admirable, practical and painstaking efforts on their behalf in conducting the Wellington Pit ^mining class. An influentially signed fly-sheet has been circulated at Oxford, urging an alternative scheme to the proposal to grant a site in the University Parks for an engineering laboratory. The signatories say that the offer of a site, at the back of Museum-road and close to the Museum, has been secured. The sum required for its purchase is £3,000, and of this £1,000 has already been promised. The Geological Society of London will this year award its medals and funds as follow:—The Wollaston Medal to the Rev. Osmond Fisher, M.A.; the Murchison Medal to Mr. G. Barrow; the Lyell Medal to Mr. S. S. Buckman; the Bigsby Medal to Sir Thomas Henry Holland, K.C.I.E., F.R.S.; the Wollaston Fund to Mr. W. W. King; the Murchison Fund to Mr. E. E. L. Dixon, B.Sc.; the Lyell Fund to Mr. Llewellyn Treacher; the Barlow-Jameson Fund to Mr. J. B. Scrivenor, M.A., and Mr. Bernard Smith, M.A. A largely-attended meeting of the general council of Glasgow University was held on the 8th inst. in response to a requisition to consider a section of the Ordinance now before Parliament for the affiliation of the Glasgow Royal Technical College to the extent that the University should recognise classes in the college for the B.Sc. degree. The Ordinance precludes the University Court from recognising pro tanto for graduation purposes any evening courses of instruction in applied science, however advanced, conducted in the college. The Rev. Dr. John Smith, convener of the Business Committee, moved that the council petition Parliament in favour of omitting the limiting words “ during the day time.” Prof. Gibson, in moving that the words be retained, held that a special Ordinance was required to do what was suggested by the motion. The motion was carried by a large majority. THE FREIGHT MARKET. Outward chartering is still very slack on the north-east coast, the recent heavy weather being in large measure responsible. Coasting business is bsing done at from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 3d., Tyne to London, and 4s. 6d. to Hamburg. The Bay is based on 5s. 10^d. to Bordeaux, and North France on proportionate figures. The Baltic is featureless. The Mediterranean is being done at about 5s. 9d. to Genoa. At South Wales the market has been fairly active. There is an abundance of tonnage offering, but rates are, on the whole, well maintained. Plate rates are on the easy side, however. At the Clyde, business is quiet and figures unaltered. The Humber market is very dull. Homewards, there has been a good volume of chartering. Odessa advices report a firm and active market at the Black Sea, with rates on the upgrade. The port is free of ice. The Danube and Azof are firm, and inclined to advance. There is a steadier tendency in the Eastern market, and rice port rates are well maintained. At the River Plate, there is a considerable improvement in the demand for tonnage, and rates are rising. The Mediterranean and ore trades are unaltered. America is firm. Tyne to Algiers, 3,000, 9s.; 2,000, 9s. 3d.; Ancona, 3,600, 12s. 4|d. coal, option coke at 14s. 10.id*; Barcelona, 2,200, 10s. 9d.; Boucau, 2,000, 6s.; Bandholm, 1,000, 7s., phosphate ; Bordeaux, 2,500, 5s. 10£d.; Calais, 1,800, 4s. 9d.; Genoa, 1.800, 10s. 9d.; 1,800, 10s. 8d.; Hamburg, 1,100, 4s. 6d. ; Kiel, 1,300, 5s. 6d.; London, 1,500, 3s. 9d.; 2,000, 3s. 9d. ; 1,600, 3s. 6d.; 2,000,4s. l