856

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

April 25, 1913.

have forgotten that since then there had been the
national strike and the Minimum Wage Act. There
would be no price list at Bryn Colliery, he added,
without the clause on which he insisted. Nor would
there be a price list at some other collieries.

Mr. E. S. Williams, vice-president, stated, as proving
the necessity for their organisation, that objections
which had been laid by them against new mining
regulations proposed by the Home Secretary had been
accepted by the Mining Association of Great Britain,
who would support them when they came before the

arbitrator.

The coaltrimmers’ unions of Cardiff, Barry, and
Penarth met on Sunday, when it was stated that a large
number of the non-unionists had commenced to pay up
their arrears. Inasmuch as the accession to the union
ranks is general, the probability of a stoppage is
regarded as remote. Nevertheless, the chairman stated
that they were not going to give any undertaking against
a stoppage until they were perfectly satisfied. There
were still about 100 who had not come in. The secretary
said that he believed that this week or next they would
have attained their end and have filled up the ranks.
The employees at the Newport docks have also passed a
resolution against the prevalence of non-unionism, and
have decided to have a monthly show of cards,
commencing on May 5.

Colliery banksmen met in conference at Pontypridd,
on Saturday evening, every part of the coalfield being
represented except the anthracite. The chairman said
that, despite recent legislation increasing their responsi-
bilities, the position of banksmen was the same as it
had been 20 or even 30 years ago. Their rates varied
from 2s. lOJd. to 3s. 6d., plus percentages, for a shift of
12 hours.

An application by the workmen’s representatives
at the Conciliation Board that men employed in after-
noon and evening shifts should be allowed to work on
May 1 if they so desired, in order that they might
preserve their right to the ebonus term, was refused by
the owners.

Notices had been given terminating contracts in
the Rhondda on April 28, but the men’s agents asked
that this should be extended to April 30, and to this the
owners assented. Mr. Watts Morgan thanked them for
this concession, which, he said, would be appreciated by
the workmen ; and added that he hoped good feeling
would continue and that all the men would come inside
the Federation, so that they might continue to work
after May 1.

An arrangement was come to whereby the men
were granted three days’ holiday at Whitsun, viz., the
Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was reported to the Miners’ Federation executive
that in most districts there had been a great increase
in number of Federation members, and that in some
places very few were still outside. Owing to the adop-
tion of the badge system for Federation members in
Maesteg district, the membership is said to be higher
than ever before.

At a meeting of the Maesteg district miners on
Saturday, Mr. Vernon Hartshorn stated that, in
response to a communication from officials of the men
on strike some days previously, he had sent a telegram
to Port Talbot dockers stating that, if the dock com-
pany tried to introduce blackleg labour, he felt sure the
Maesteg miners would refuse to cut coal to be filled by
the blacklegs; also, that if any other attempt were
made to victimise members of the Dockers’ Union, he
felt sure they could rely upon the Maesteg men doing
everything in their power to resist such action.

In his speech, he further said that a number of
wage disputes were outstanding at the local [collieries,
difficulty having arisen over the rulings of the inde-
pendent chairman, which the company were trying to
apply to the higher minimum rate of wages in existence
before the Act was passed, and which were never subject
to these rules. The company, he said, were not entitled
to apply them. The rate itself was not in dispute. It
was 7s. 7Jd. per- ton, and there were about 100 disputes.
This matter had been dealt with locally, and also by the
Minimum Wage Sub-committee, and it had been before
the Coalowners’ Association. They had waited for
months, and now it was time to take action. He thought
they were likely to have some more music ” at Maesteg.
In two of the collieries alone, more than 2,000 wage
disputes had been settled since the national strike, but
these 100 cases were outstanding because of the ques-
tion of rules. It was decided to call a mass meeting in
order to consider the question. The meeting took place
on Tuesday, when it was decided to leave the question
in the hands of the workmen’s committee.

The dispute at Nixon’s pit, Mountain Ash, which
has occasioned a stoppage of several days, has been
terminated by the management deciding not to deduct
any poundage for medical officers. The men objected
to poundage being stopped for the old doctors, whilst
there was refusal to collect it in this manner for the new
doctors, their requirement being that there should be
perfect freedom.

Speaking at the annual dinner on Saturday in
Cardiff of the South Wales Branch of the National
Association of Colliery Managers, Mr. J. T. Gibbon, of
Maesteg, the president, said that the conditions of
mining are so changeable that, although he had been
a colliery manager since 1882, the difficulties he was now
called upon to face were new and strange owing to those
changed conditions. He commenced work at a colliery
raising 200 tons a day, and that was regarded as an
enormous output; whereas to-day their output was
reckoned not in hundreds but in thousands of tons.
Recent legislation bad added to their difficulties. He
could not agree with many of the things embodied in
the Acts, believing them to be quite unnecessary; yet
he was of opinion that the object aimed at was the safety
of the mines—and that, after all, was the first duty of a
manager.

Some owners paid a fair wage, and he knew of
instances where, by a system of bonuses, men were paid
as much as 22 shifts in a fortnight. But that system
should be abolished, and a fair standard wage established
in its place. The Eight Hours Act had shortened the
working time of men underground and those handling
coal from the pit to the screen, but the banksmen weie
excluded, although their duties had been increased, for
the introduction of the Act had resulted in much
speeding up—the output in some cases being increased
as much as 15 or 20 per cent. This caused additional
work for the banksmen, many of whom had to remain at
their posts for long hours without an interval for food.—
A resolution was passed calling for the support of the
general body of miners in favour- of the banksmen’s
demands.

Two colliery cases came before the Tredegar
County Court on Tuesday. One affected the all-night
hauliers in the employ of Messrs. John Lancaster and
Co. The plaintiff claimed 3d. per day for 114 days, the
difference between 4s. 3d. per shift and 4s., to which
latter figure payment had been reduced. The defendants
submitted that conditions had arisen justifying the
reduction of rate. The judge, however, held that as the
night hauliers were being paid 4s. 3d. at the time of
Lord St. Aldwyn’s award, that rate had to be main-
tained, and he therefore gave judgment for the plaintiff.

The second case arose in connection with Powell’s
Tillery Company, two colliers claiming payment for
repairing props. Evidence was tendered that for
several years the plaintiffs had been paid 5d. for-
repairing props whenever necessary ; but this was denied
on behalf of the defendants, for whom it was contended
that no payment was ever made unless definite instruc-
tions for repair were given by the management. His
Honour held that as the price-list made provision of
payment for new flats, payment should be made in
proportion for repairing ; and he assessed the price at
4d. instead of 5d. as claimed.

The death of Dr. Elliott, professor of engineering
on the South Wales College, Cardiff, was not unexpected,
for he has long been laid aside with illness. It took
place on Monday at Porthcawl. He had held the
position for nearly 13 years, and in Jannary of this year
was elected president of the South Wales Institute of
Engineers.

Considerably over 100 tin-plate mills are idle, and
during the current week stocks having been worked
out, large numbers of tin-house men have been added to
the millmen who had to stand off. In works where
some mills are stopped and others have kept going, the
work is divided so as to distribute the opportunity
amongst the employees. Up to the present it is the mill-
men who have suffered most. A satisfactory feature,
however, is that American orders are being stimulated
by the low prices, and in addition to the 70,000 boxes
ordered by the Standard Oil Company, another order
of considerably over 20,000 boxes is also in sight.

In Swansea, on Saturday, representatives of two or
three trade unions of men employed in the tin-plate
trade considered the problem of the stoppages. A
resolution was come to, seeking a meeting with the
employers with the object of getting the feeling of the
meeting put into practical operation.

OBITUARY.

We regret to announce the death, which occurred at
Newton, Porthcawl, on Monday, of Mr. Archibald
Campbell Elliott, D.Sc., M.Inst.O.E., of 2, Plasturton
Avenue, Cardiff, professor of engineering at the
University College, Cardiff, at the age of 52. Deceased
was born in Glasgow, and was educated at the
Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, obtaining his
D.Sc. at Edinburgh in 1888. In 1880 he gained the
Cleland gold medal. He was pupil and subsequently
assistant in the engineering department of the Glasgow
and South Western Railway 1876-1881. In 1884 he

-

The Late Prof. A. C. Elliott, M.Inst.C.E.

From a photograph appearing in the Proceedings
of the South Wales Institute of Engineers.

was assistant to Sir William Thompson, afterwards
Lord Kelvin, and Prof. Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S.,
M.Inst.C.E., engineers for the Commercial Cable
Company’s undertaking. Mr. Elliott occupied the post
of assistant to the professor of engineering in the
University of Edinburgh from 1885 to 1890, when he
was appointed to the chair of engineering at Cardiff.
He served as member of the Royal Commission on
Accidents to Railway Servants in 1899.

At the time of his death Prof. Elliott was president
of the South Wales Institute of Engineers, and earlier in
the present year delivered a highly suggestive address
on the future utilisation of our coal supplies.

The sudden death has occupied at Bangalore of Sir Apcar
Alexander Apcar, K.C.S I., at the age of 62, one of the best
known and most popular of the merchant princes of
Calcutta. The Apcar family is of Armenian origin, and
settled in Bengal early in the 19th century. Sir Alexander
took a prominent part in the work of the Bengal Chamber
of Commerce, of which he was vice-president in 1903 and
president from 1904 to 1907. He represented the Chamber
on the Bengal Legislative Council during the greater part
of this period, and on the Supreme Legislature from 1906
to 1909, and for many years he was one of its representatives
on the Port Trust. He was created a C.S I. in 1905, and
was advanced to knighthood of the Order on the occasion
of the Royal Durbar at Delhi. He was unmarried, and the
headship of the firm now passes to his surviving uncle,
Mr. Twomey Apcar.

The death has occurred of Mr. Gustav W. Wolff, the
founder of the famous shipbuilding firm of Harland and
Wolff.

Mr. Thomas M. Wylie, the cashier for the Consett Iron
Company Limited, died suddenly at his residence,
St. Cuthbert’s Terrace, Benfieldside, on Monday night.
The deceased gentleman, who was 62 years of age, entered
the Consett Company’s offices as a clerk over 40 years ago,
and was appointed cashier on the demise of Mr. J. Tilley,
of Blackhill, 10 years ago. Previously, Mr. Wylie had
charge of the stores department. He is survived by a
widow and two sons.

The death of Mr. George Beard took place on Sunday at
his residence, 58, Queen’s Drive, Crossbill, Glasgow. He
was a director of Messrs. Smith and M Lean Limited, iron
and steel manufacturers and makers of galvanised and
corrugated sheets. Mr. Beard came to Scotland 31 years
ago to manage the sheet-rolling mills of the firm at
Gartcosh, and took a prominent part in the formation of
the West of Scotland Iron and Steel Institute, of which he