341 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. February 14, 1913. -of life, even though their work does not provide the last link of the chain. There was no special merit in the proverbial last straw which was illogically stated to have broken the camel’s back. Tn the course of his lecture Prof. Cadman referred to the letters which have appeared in our columns criticising the examinations for fire- men’s certificates. We are inclined to agree that there is not sufficient justification for the plea that existing firemen should receive certifi- cates <>f service, but we are not convinced that the u-e of (oal gas, instead of actual firedamp, in the examinations is not unsatisfactory and misleading. We feel sure that our readers would welcome an elucidation of this matter from Prof. Cadman. Authoritative lectures of this descrip- tion are of enormous value to colliery under- olficiah, for they cannot help but stimulate the imagination, and laise the intellectual standard of those who are strix ing to climb the ladder of the mining profession. Trade Summary. The Lo idou cc«.l tr??.ch <’u*ing the past week has been very si >w. Ly far h m -Hnold qualities. Fortunately, j o e c M.re <.fferint', but the overplus of rail- h rn^ HMbP c,>m1 Has keut rhe matket very weak. Gas cokes are I e' f’eely < ft* red, but the demand is small. Bakers* nurs Mih kcchnn c?h'lHr show a weakening tendency, and thw Debt v h -s considerably lessened the consump- tion. Man jft'ac' unng uth Wales trade, and concessions have been forthcoming to clear standing stocks. The Scottish trade generally is active. THE TEST OF SAFETY LAMPS. There has just been issued by the Home Office a further memorandum under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, dealing with the test of safety lamps. We shall give the full text of the memorandum and appendices in our next issue, in the meantime pointing out some of the material alterations. The new memorandum is substi- tuted for and embodies the’ memoranda issued in September and October, 1912, and deals with other points referred to in the circular letter sent to safety lamp manufacturers by the Home Office on December 16, 1912. The most important changes are those relating to the fees and the tests of lamp glasses. For the former inclusive fee of £20, a new temporary scale has been drawn up, which may be summarised as follows :—Lamps—each type of flame safety lamp, including glass test, £10; excluding latter, £8; each type of electric safety lamp, £8; special lamps, £3; with additional fees for tests of modifications. Glasses —for each make and size of glass, £2, with reduced fees where different sizes of the same make are submitted. This scale remains in force until the end of 1913. Ten specimens are no longer required for testing, the number being determined by the Home Office. There is a new provision for the return of lamps after testing, with the exception of two (usually) required to be detained as patterns. It will be seen that glasses may now be tested separately and a List of Approved Glasses will be instituted, similar to the List of Approved Lamps. Approved glasses will require to be stamped with a distinctive mark, the various sizes of the same make being also distinguished. The Home Office reserve the power to testing existing glasses. — PROGRESS. — Dr. Harger’s Theories Tested in America, Mr. G. A. Burrell, chemist on gas investigations at the United States Bureau of Mines, in the course of a paper read before the West Virginia Mining Institute, states that experiments which have been performed by the Bureau indicate that the oxygen percentage will, have to be reduced much below the figures mentioned by Dr. Harger to prevent all explosions. However, if all the conditions are identical, the mixture will explode less violently and less completely in proportion to the decrease of oxygen percentage. As regards carbon dioxide, it appears that so much would have to be added to prevent firedamp explosions that its use for this purpose of treating normal mine air would be precluded. From the experiments carried out at the Bureau, Mr. Burrell also concludes that oxygen in mine air at one place may be dimininished to such an extent that a miner’s lamp will not burn, but at some point beyond, a flicker of a flame made in an attempt to relight a lamp, or the flashing of an electric spark, might pre- cipitate an explosion if enough methane was present. With the apparatus used at the Bureau a lower limit of explosibility of 5’50 per cent, for methane was given, and a higher limit of 12’40 per cent. When 2’5 per cent, of CO2 was present in a mixture, an explosion followed on the methane being raised to 5’83 per cent., and, with 5 per cent, of CO2, an explosion occurred when the methane was raised to 6’25 per cent. With 10 per cent, of CO2 an explosion was obtained when the methane constituted 6 60 per cent, of the total. The author concludes that the presence of CO2 narrows the explosive limits but slightly. With 12 per cent, of oxygen and 6 per cent, of methane, a complete inflam- mation was obtained. Boring for Coal on the French Coast. At a recent meeting of the Societe de 1’Industrie Minerale, M. Breton recorded the results obtained in borings at Elinghen and Strouane, in the Pas-de-Calais. The former of these places lies on the coast about midway between Calais and Cape Grisnez, whilst the latter lies abo.ut 11 kiloms. to the south-east of Strouane. In both the coal measures have been proved. The Elinghen boring, which reached a depth of 463 m., encountered a seam of coal 90 cm. in thickness at a depth of 446 m. from the surface. It is, however, to the Strouane boring that the main interest attaches. This boring was put down in 1896 by the Societe de la Colme. The hamlet of Strouane is situated on the coast between Calais and Cape Grisnez> and is, therefore, almost directly opposite Dover on the other side of the Straits. The borings started in lower cretaceous beds of Albian and Aptian age, below which the wealden strata were passed through at a depth of 169 m., below which carboniferous rocks were entered, and a thickness of 124’2 m. of these beds was traversed, including three seams of bituminous coal, varying from 1’05 m. to 0’4 m. in thickness. The carboniferous lime- stone was encountered at a depth of 293’2 m. The quality of the coal was similar to that found in the Elinghen boring, analysis showing the following figures:— 1. 2. Water 2 30 ... 2’50 Volatile matter .. 36 70 ... 36’50 Fixed carbon 59’40 ... 5900 Ash 1’60 2’00 100 00 ... 100 00 The Strouane boring is on the straight line drawn from Flechinelle to the Dover Colliery, and is the only case in which coal has been reached in this part of the Pas-de-Calais. M. Leon, chief engineer of the Arras mines, in his report on the mineral industry in the Pas-de-Calais in 1904, stated that the Societe de la Colme, a research syndicate, had decided to withdraw their application for a coalmining concession in the territory of the various communes around Boulogne, because 32 more or less abortive borings had been put down in the Boulonnais, the Calaisir and Flanders, following the discovery of coal at Dover in 1891; and the Strouane boring, in the commone of Wissant, was the only one of six borings undertaken by the “ Colme ” in which coal had been reached, while the shallow depth and small area of the coal basin thus discovered fully justified the withdrawal of their claim for a concession. In the meantime nothing further has been done towards the determination of the direction in which this small basin extends. M. Breton has approached the French Government for the purpose of procuring permission to bore in the shallow areas in the Dover Straits, adjoining the French coast, where the depth of water does not exceed 10 m., but this permission was not granted. LABOUR ARD KAGE£. North of England. All the pits at Brancepeth Colliery, Durham, were idle on Monday, over 2,000 men and lads being out. An increase of 3| per cent, in miners’ wages, making 50 per cent, above the 1879 basis, was agreed upon at a meeting on Friday of the Conciliation Board for the Durham coal trade, held in Newcastle under the chair- manship of Sir Lindsay Wood. The increase will take effect next week. The new chairman of the Board of Conciliation for the Frizington and District Iron Ore Trade, Judge Taylor, has awarded the following scale of wages :— Selling-price Bargain-price. Labourers' of Miners’ wages. wages. iron ore. Per shift. Per shift. s. 8. d. 8. d. s. Under 13 5 6 .... .. 4 6 13 and under 14 5 9 .... .. 4 6 14 15 6 3 .... .. 4 9 15 >> 99 16 6 9 .... .. 5 0 16 99 99 17 7 0 .... 5 li 17 99 99 18 7 3 .... .. 5 3 18 x9 7 6 .... .. 5 6 19 99 99 20 7 9 .... .. 5 6 20 and upwards. 8 0 .... .. 5 6 Make-up to be Is. per shift less than the bargain-price then in force. The scale to be based on the average selling price (free on rail) of the iron ore invoiced during the previous three months by the firms concerned. Dr. J. Wilson, M.P., in his monthly circular to the Durham miners, gives an interesting statement of the financial position of the Durham Miners’ Association. For the last four years the roll of the association stands as follows:—1909, 100,412 full members ; 1910, 103,273 ; 1911, 111,056; 1912, 111,811. The revenue was made up as follows :—Contributions, £173,050 8s. 8d.; entrance fees, £456 0s. 5d.; interest, £10,662 9s. Id.; repayments, £245 7s. The contributions show an increase over 1911 of £5,000. The outlay was as under: Sickness and accidents, £98,665 17s. lOd. ; death benefits, £7,394 14s. 6d.; grants and donations, £195 0s. 6d.. Miners’ Federation, £3,283 6s. 8d.; compensationf £1,408 9s. 9d.; deputations, £1,631 15s. H i.; arbitra- tions and awards, £960 3s.; breakages of machinery, £9,527 16s.; relief allowance, £28,656 12-. 2d.; joint agenda, and urgency committees, £203 14s. 9d.; council meetings, £906 7s. 9d.; executive committee, £287 6<. 6d.; strikes and lock-outs, £332,360 10s. 8d. Dr. Wilson adds: “The last item in the table is instructive. We had a large fund at the end of 1911. We were approxi- mating to half a million, and as a county we we>e proud of our financial position. It implied great economy and careful management. In 1892 our funds were depleted by the strike of that year. We were not owing, but our funds were nil when we resumed work at the conclusion of that stoppage. In twenty years we had accumulated near the half million, but in three months we spent three-fourths of that sum. The question heie is, Did we get a return as a result of the minimum wage strike equal to the large sum we expended ” ? The decision of the Northumberland Coalowners’ Association with regard to the application from the Enginemen’s and Firemen’s Society for the establish- ment of a conciliation board to deal with all questions affecting wages and working conditions, has been officially made known. The coalowners, while declining to agree to the formation of a board to deal with all questions, intimate that they are prepared to agree to a board for the regulation of wages questions only. Federated Area. The Emergency Committee of the Surface Workers’ Federation, at a meeting held at Sheffield during the week-end, had before them the reply of the West York- shire Coalowners’ Association to a joint letter from the various trade unions comprising the Surface Workers’ Federation, asking for a conference. In the course of his reply, Mr. Ben Day, secretary t > the West York- shire Coalowners’Association, staged : “ 1 am instructed to inform you there are so many different sections of workmen which the signatories to that letter claim to represent, that this association does not >»e its way to meet them as a body, but if there be any grievances affecting the section of workmen which your associa- tion represents, this association will be prepared to meet separately representatives of your members to discuss such grievances.” The secretary was instructed to acknowledge the letter, and arrangements were made to hold a conference of surface workers, in Leeds, on the 22nd inst., to consider the situation. Arrangements were also made for the national conference of surface workers, which is to be held at Manchester to-morrow (Saturday). Discussing the agitation of the vaiiou* trade unions comprising the Surface Workers’ Federation in regard to wages and conditions of labour, and the refusal of