February 21, 1913. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 387 itself to the use of mineral fuel. Slow as this tendency may be, seeing that it affects such an immense popula- tion, this change has far-reaching possibilities. At present, owing to shortage of wagons, the people have great difficulty in obtaining mineral fuel for domestic use. Were greater facility given, the use of mineral fuel would extend more rapidly. The brick and tile making trade shows an ability to expand in proportion to the facility that can be given to obtain coal for baking the clay of the delta. The jute trade shows a power of expansion limited only by the amount of jute available, and it is estimated that during the current year the capacity of the Calcutta jute mills will be increased by 20 per cent. The cotton trade appears to have received a check, but its use of coal will not be less. Paper mills and miscellaneous works will continue to extend. The increase of trade will bring more shipping to the ports, and a greater demand for bunker coal. Electric power stations are being installed in many towns. It may, in fact, be expected that from the present time the expansion of India’s trade will largely depend on the facility there may be for getting coal; that there will thus be a demand for coal which will keep prices near the limit fixed by the cost of importing coal. PRICES YEAR RS.AN? 0) CM O CXI CO cp cO CM co CM CM CM CM Q Cd ip CM 4- CM CM CM CO CM 0 cij ip cb CM (0 CO co CM cw CM O) 00 co 0> CO CD CD § CD 0) CO OJ CD flO a> CO CD CD CD O O GJ O CD CM O 0J cO O 2? 4- 0 a in 0 CD co 0 CD 0 E? CD O CD e CD 0 2 5 — RS.ANS 40 345 3-14, 343 342 311 340 3-9 38 3-7 3’6 3-5 34 3 3 3 2 34 3*0 245 244 A 243 \ /\ 242 \ / 2 II \ 240 \ 2-9 \/ \ 28 V 2 7 2-6 I 2-5 2'4 2’3 2’2 __ 2' 1 I 20 ! 1 ’ T 1 Diagram showing the Average Value of Bengal Coal into Wagons (all Varieties) from 1892 to 1911. That there will be fluctuations of price in the future, as in the past, may be certain—for coal famines and high prices will restrict trade, and at the same time cause an increased output of coal and encouragement of other sources of power, such as oil and hydro-electric power, which will again enable the sources of power to overtake or get ahead of the demand for power, but the oscillations of coal prices will unquestionably be at a considerably higher level than they have hitherto reached. Institution of Mechanical Engineers. — The annual meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was held at Westminster, on the 14th inst., Mr. A. B. Ellington in the chair. The annual report showed the total membership at the end of last year was 6,160, an increase of 332 on 1912, whilst the accounts showed a balance of revenue over expenditure of .£2,895. The council submitted a scheme to establish scholarships for graduateship and associate membership, at the suggestion of a member, for a research on the amount of contraction of crucible cast steel in hardening, applied more particularly to screw threads. The president, in moving the adoption of the report, said he hoped, through the Hawkesley Memorial, meetings for distant members would be arranged from time to time in various provincial centres. The report and accounts were adopted, and the by-laws were revised in connection with the new examination scheme. Sir F. H. Donaldson was elected president for the coming year, and Lord Merthyr was elected a vice-president. THE TEST OF SAFETY LAMPS. The following memorandum has been issued by the Home Office under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, in substi- tution for the two memoranda previously issued in September and October 1912:— Memorandum. 1. A safety lamp will be required to pass the official test described in Appendix I. to this Memorandum before it is approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of the Coal Mines Act, 1911. 2. When it is desired to submit a safety lamp to the official test, an application on a form to be obtained from the Home Office should be forwarded together with the prescribed fee (see Appendix II.) to the Under- secretary of State, Home Office, Whitehall, S.W. On receipt of the necessary authority from the Home Office the required number of lamps and glasses (see Appendix I., paragraph iii.) should be forwarded, carriage paid, to Eskmeals Railway Station, Cumberland, and should be addressed— Home Office Lamp Testing Station, Eskmeals, Cumberland. In the case of flame safety lamps a statement showing the nature of the fuel and wick to be used should be sent with the lamps. Makers should supply the wicks, and they may, if they desire, supply the oil, for the testing of their own lamps. The apparatus necessary for operating the locks of lamps submitted for testing (including magnetic and compressed air locks) must, if required, be supplied by the applicant; but he should communicate with the Testing Officer to ascertain what parts (if any) of such apparatus need not be forwarded. On the conclusion of the test all the lamps except those required to be retained as patterns (usually two in number, unless modifications are submitted under paragraph 5, when the number may be greater) will be repacked and delivered free to Eskmeals Station and forwarded from there to the applicant, carriage forward, if so desired. 3. Lamp glasses for flame safety lamps may be submitted to the glass tests separately. When it is desired to do this an application on a form to be obtained from the Home Office should be forwarded, with the prescribed fee (see Appendix II.), as above. On receipt of the necessary authority from the Home Office the required number of glasses (see Appendix I., paragraph iii.) should be forwarded, carriage paid, to the Eskmeals Station, addressed as above. 4. An official description of every type of safety lamp or glass which passes the official tests and is approved by the Secretary of State will be published by the Home Office in the Lists of Approved Lamps and Approved Glasses. Particulars of the composition of glass will not be published or required to be stated by the maker. Every lamp of a type so approved which is supplied for use in mines to which the Act applies will be required to conform in all particulars with the official description. The description will specify in the case of each type of lamp by what manufacturer and in what factory or factories it is to be made. ! Each lamp will be required to have marked upon it in a distinct manner the name of the maker and the name by which the type is designated in the List of Approved Lamps. I Every glass of a type so approved which is supplied for use in mines to which the Act applies will be required to be of the same dimensions (within such limits of variation as may be specified in the official description), quality, and composition and made by the same i manufacturers as the samples which pass the official • tests. | Each flame safety lamp glass will be required to have i marked upon it in a distinct manner the mark by which , the approved type is designated in the List of Approved ; Glasses. 5. The official description of an approved type of lamp may be made to include variations on points of detail which do not alter the character of the lamp. If it is desired to have such variations included, full particulars should be submitted in the form of application for the test of the lamp. The Testing Officer will decide whether or not the variations constitute a new type or types of lamp which must be separately tested. 6. In the event of its being desired to submit for approval variations in a type of lamp already approved an application (specifying the variations) should be sent to the Home Office for authority to submit a lamp or lamps containing the variations to the Testing Officer, who will examine them and decide whether or not the variations are of such a nature as to render a fresh test necessary. 7. Flame safety lamp glasses of the same make (that is, made by the same manufacturer and of the same composition and quality) but of differing sizes, may be submitted for test at the same time at reduced fees as provided for in Appendix II., paragraph 8. If it is desired to take advantage of this, the application made in accordance with paragraph 3 above should give particulars of the different sizes which it is desired to submit. Each size of glass must bear a mark to distinguish it from other sizes, and these marks, with the dimensions to which they refer, will be scheduled in the List of Approved Glasses.* 8. The approval of the Secretary of State will only be given subject to revocation at any time by the Secretary of State at his discretion. The approval of a lamp or flame safety lamp glass which is not being supplied for use within one year from the date of approval will, except on special grounds to be allowed by the Secretary of State, be revoked. He also reserves the right to direct that lamps or flame safety lamp glasses in actual use in mines shall be submitted to the official test with a view to determining whether they conform in all respects to the approved type and are otherwise safe for use in mines. 9. Manufacturers and their representatives can attend at the Testing Station when their lamps are being officially tested or retested. Home Office, 6th February, 1913. APPENDIX I. (i.) The test will be carried out by an officer of the Home Office with the testing apparatus at the Home Office Lamp Testing Station at Eskmeals, Cumberland. (ii.) The lamp will be examined in respect of its general design, strength and general character of construction, and the following requirements must be met, viz.:— (1.) In the Case of Flame Safety Lamps. (a) It must be provided with double gauzes, or with some other adequate arrangement serving the same purpose. (This requirement will not come into force until the 1st January, 1914, or, for lamps now in use, until the 1st January, 1916.) A single gauze lamp with a gauze cap will not be regarded as fulfilling this requirement. Every gauze must be of steel or best charcoal-annealed iron wire (or in the case of a lamp used for surveying purposes, copper wire) of not less than 28 S.W.GL (*0148 in. in diameter) with 28 meshes to the lineal inch (784 to the square inch). * Since a source of danger lies in the use of a glass of the wrong dimensions, it is desirable, in order to avoid the accidental interchange of glasses of different dimensions, that eventually the sizes should be standardised as far as possible.