926

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

May 2, 1913.

Put shortly, the position was that the revenue balance was
lower by some £18,000, while the unexpired risk was a
little higher, and the company had had a serious set-back.
However, the connections of the company were becoming
firmly established, the bulk of business was profitable, the
goodwill was becoming more valuable, and though the
balance of revenue was insufficient to cover unexpired risk
the funds of the company were ample; and, beside, they
had the cash assets.—The report, balance sheet and the
recommendation were adopted.—Messrs. J. Field Beale,
John S. Follett, J. Farie Anderson, and W. J. Halsey,
retiring directors, were re-elected, and the auditors, Messrs.
Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths and Co. were reappointed.—The
meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman and
the board of directors. (

Lancashire Wagon Company Limited.—The report states
the profit in the half-year ended March was £3,168, and the
disposable balance is £8,614. The dividends on the cumula-
tive preference shares had previously been paid to June
1907, and from March 1909 to September last. The directors
now propose to pay the dividend for the one and three-
quarter year from June 1907 to March 1909, and also for
the last half-year, thus clearing off the arrears. Of the
balance, sums of £1,046 and £1,251 are transferred to the
reserves and £1,485 is carried forward. Up to now only the
preference dividend has been paid since the reconstruction.

Lysaght (John) Limited.—The net profits of John
Lysaght Limited for 1912 were £684,389, including £427,380
brought forward. A dividend of 10 per cent, and a bonus
of 2-\ per share are proposed, adding to the reserve £50,000
(making that fund £590,000) writing off goodwill £134,612,
placing to the workmen’s provident fund £5,000, and
carrying forward £414,776, subject to directors’ fees
£20,500).

Nobel Dynamite Trust Company Limited.—The directors
recommend a dividend for the year ending the 30th ult. at
the rate of 8 per cent., together with an additional bonus of
2 per cent., both free of tax. They further recommend the
placing of £100,000 to the reserve fund, leaving about £6,000
to be carried forward to next account.

Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company Limited.—The
directors report for the year ended DHcember 31, 1912, that
the profits for the year were 1,000,609 dols. as compared
with 1,019,392 dols. for 1911. The balance to the credit of
the profit and loss account on December 31, 1911, was
508,545 dols., which, with the profits of the year, make a
total of 1,509,154 dols. The sinking fund payment for the
year, 26,105 dols., was used in retiring the bonds of the com-
pany, the sum of 92,195 dols. was added to the reserve funds,
and the sum of 61,009 dols. expended for improvements and
betterments to plant was written off. The sum of
10,032 dols. was added to the insurance reserve. After
providing for the above transfers and payment of interest
on bonds and debenture stock, dividends on the preferred
and ordinary shares, and other charges as shown by the
accounts, the sum of 452,600 dols. remains to the credit of
the profit and loss account. Dividends at the rate of 8 per
cent, on the preferred and 6 per cent, on the common shares
of the company for the year have been paid quarterly. The
regular quarterly dividend of 2 per cent, on preferred and
1| on common shares has been declared for the first quarter
of 1913, payable April 15, to shareholders of record of
March 31, 1913.

Otis Steel Company Limited.—The report for 1912 shows
a trading profit of £116,366, compared with £96,995 for 1911.
The sum of £30,823 has been deducted from the profits and
transferred to suspense account. The sum of £20,549 has
been transferred from profit and loss account to depreciation
reserve account, and £5,776 has been written off the latter
account, being expenditure incurred upon special renewals
to the stockyard and boiler equipment. After paying
preference dividend, the directors recommend a dividend
of 1 per cent, upon the common stock, carrying forward
£11,631.

Pembrey Collieries Limited.—This private company has
been registered, with a capital of £35,000 in £10 shares, to
take over the Gwscwm Colliery, Pembrey, Carmarthen, and
to adopt an agreement with T. Evans.

Richardsons, Westgarth and Co. Limited.—The report
states that in accordance with the resolution passed at a
meeting of the ordinary shareholders, on August 30 last, the
end of the company’s financial year has been altered to
December 31 in each year, and the directors beg to submit
to the shareholders the annexed statement of accounts for
the period between August 25, 1911, and December 31,1912,
duly certified by the auditors. These accounts, after main-
taining the buildings and fixed and loose plant, at a cost of
£27,413 10s. 9d., and paying the full establishment charges
of the whole of the company’s works, show a profit of
£16,144 4s. lOd. Against this the following have to be
provided:—Interest on 44 per cent, perpetual debenture
stock from August 25, 1911, to December 31, 1912,
£21,208 12s. 2d., and directors’ fees, £2,500, leaving a debit
balance for the period of £7,564 7s. 4d. The above result,
although £22,500 better than last year, is not consistent
with the volume of work done. This is due to losses at
Middlesbrough on gas engines, and to the heavy initial
cost of the Diesel oil engines. The last of a number of
unremunerative contracts will be completed about next
June, and as subsequent work has been booked at better
prices, the directors anticipate improved results during the
current year. The directors deeply regret to have to place
on record the death of Lord Furness. Mr. W. J. Richardson
has been appointed chairman. The directors have also to
report with regret the death of Admiral Sir Archibald L.
Douglas, G.C.B, G.C.V.O.

Sanderson Brothers and Newbould Limited. — The
report for 1912 states that the net profit for the year, after
deducting interest on debentures and including £2,697
carried forward from last year, amounts to the sum of
£15,347. Out of this, £2,248 has already been paid for the
year’s dividend on the preference shares, and also interim
dividend on the ordinary shares amounting to £2,424,
leaving a net balance of £10,675 available for distribution,
and the directors recommend that same shall be dealt with
as follows:—By paying a final dividend of 3s. 6d. each on
the fully-paid shares (and also in the same ratio on the
partly-paid shares), making a total dividend after the rate
of 5 per cent, for the year, adding to the reserve fund £2,500,
and carrying forward £2,517.

Scottish Australian Mining Company* Limited.—In the
report for the six months to December 31 it is stated that

the sales of coal from the collieries amounted to 156,298 tons.
The demand in the inter-State trade during the half-year
had been good, but the output of the collieries continued to
be restricted by the difficulty of obtaining sufficient labour
for the full working of the pits. The profit amounts to
£5,073, and the directors propose to pay a dividend at the
rate of 2 j per cent, per annum, less tax, and to carry
forward £1,948.

Thornycroft (John I.) and Co. Limited.—The directors
recommend a dividend of 5 per cent, on the ordinary shares
for the past year, while £10,000 is transferred to reserve,
and £5,000 carried forward.

Tweefontein Colliery Company Limited.—Final dividend
of Is. 9d. per share on the ordinary shares, making a total
dividend for the year 1912 of 15 per cent. The dividend for
the year 1911 was 12| per cent.

Vickers Limited —The directors have allotted 740,000
ordinary shares of £1 each at a premium of 10s. per share
to holders of similar shares in the proportion of one new
share for every five now held.

Watts Brothers (Sheffield) Limited.—This private com-
pany has been registered, with a capital of £8,000 in £1
shares, to take over the business of a general engineer
carried on by E. Watts at Cambridge-street, Sheffield, as
Watts Brothers. First directors, E. Watts (permanent
chairman and managing director, subject to holding the
largest number of shares), and T. K. Shaw.

WIlians and Robinson Limited.—The report for the half-
year ended December 31, to be submitted at the meeting on
May 6, states that, after allowing £3,264 for depreciation,
£5,176 for debenture interest and £372 for the upkeep of
the Queen’s Ferry works, there is a small profit of £154.
The revised articles of association, as approved by the
shareholders at the January meetings, were confirmed by
the High Court on the 4th inst., and take effect from that
date. The managing director states that the directors are
raising additional preference capital, to which the existing
shareholders are entitled first to subscribe.

Whitehaven Haematite Iron and Steel Company Limited.
—The directors have declared a dividend of 5 per cent, per
annum upon the ordinary shares for the year ended March.
The last dividend was 2| per cent, for 1905-6.

Wishaw Coal Company (1913) Limited.—Applications
have this week been invited for 25,000 6 per cent, cumu-
lative preference shares of £1 each and 42,000 ordinary
shares of £1 each. The company has a capital of £150,000,
divided into 50,000 preference shares and 100,000 ordinary
shares. The directors are Messrs. R. D. Thomson and
R. W. Dron, of Glasgow, and W. P. Sheppard and S. P. D.
Thomson, of the Ibstock Collieries, Leicester. The registered
offices are 41, St. Vincent-street, Glasgow. The company
has been formed to acquire and extend the business carried
on by the Wishaw Coal Company Limited at Motherwell
and Glasgow. The property includes the Dalzell and
Coursington Collieries, and is estimated to contain 20,000,000
tons of coal.

ABSTRACTS OF PATENT SPECIFICATIORS
RECENTLY ACCEPTED.

772 (1913). Improvements relating to Rock Drills. G. H.
Rayner, of Grange Farm House, Carterknowle-road, Abbey-
dale, Sheffield.—The object of this invention is to provide
improvements in the valves of rock drills, such as are illus-
trated and described in prior Specifications No. 24133 of
1910 and No. 23103 of 1911, wherein the valves are caused
to move from side to side of their chambers by the
exhausting of the motive fluid through ports communicating
directly with the atmosphere, opened and closed by the
main piston or striker during its travel outwards or
inwards. The improved form of construction is peculiarly
adaptable to short-stroke machines and provides a valve
capable of passing a given quantity . of compressed air,
steam, or other fluid pressure, with a much shorter travel
than is possible with the valves illustrated in the above-
mentioned prior specifications if both valves are of the
same dimensions, thereby saving air and increasing the
number of reciprocations per minute. Fig. 1 is a view of
the improved valve and port blocks partly in section, fig. 2
is a modification of the same, fig. 3 is a longitudinal section
through the cylinder and valve chamber, fig. 4 is an end
view of the valve, and fig. 5 is a side view of the same. The
machine works as follows (see fig. 3) :—Air or steam is
admitted at /, and fills the whole of the space surrounding
the valve through the main feed port g and auxiliary feed
ports h and i. The valve is locked in the position shown, as

net

f-'G2



A Scottish Chairman on the Minimum Wage.—Speaking
at the annual meeting of the United Collieries Limited in
Glasgow, Mr. Montague F. Maclean said it might surprise
many that, after such a stubborn fight, more had not
been heard of the Minimum Wage Act, but the explana-
tion of this was to be found in the good trade conditions
prevailing, which had enabled miners’ wages to rise to
such a point that the question of the minimum was at
present in the background. When, however, the tide
turned, as it inevitably would do, and prices and wages
had to come down, he was afraid that the minimum wage
would be very much to the fore, and it might yet be found
that this hasty act of legislation would, in some districts
at any rate, become as unpopular as the Eight Hours Act
had proved to be. It was interesting to note that miners'
wages in Scotland had during the past nine months been
raised more often and more substantially than in any other
district in the United Kingdom, and that to-day they were
standing at 814 per cent, above the basis of 1888 and at
21 per cent, above what they were in February last year. In
these circumstances it was difficult to account for the
emigration to the colonies, which was going on among the
cream of the miners in this country. The company could
find employment for 500 additional miners immediately if
they were forthcoming. So far as the coal trade of Scotland
was concerned, there was no reason to suppose that there
was any immediate likelihood of a recurrence of the dreary
strike of last year, which incidentally, he might mention,
represented a loss of at least £15,000 to that company, and
£54,000 in wages to their men j but the critical time would
come when trade began to fall off, prices weaken, and wages
had to come down—it was then that they should fully
appreciate and have to face the burdens which had been
imposed upon the trade by recent legislation. Nor was that
the only difficulty to face. During the past two years the
cost of materials had increased by 28 per cent.—a serious
item where the cost of production had to come down in
sympathy with prices.—A Shareholder «stated that con-
sidering that only 2d. of profit on Is. Id. was made in a boom
year, he thought some explanation was required. The
average price of coal last year had increased by 3s., and the
chairman of one of the railway companies had stated recently
that they were paying 5s. more for their coal.—Mr. R. A.
Muir, one of the directors, in reply, said he thought the
prices obtained by the company last year, and probably the
profit per ton, would compare favourably with the returns
of any of the other coal companies. As regards the increase
in prices, Sir Charles Bine Renshaw had been called in
question as regards his statement that coal had advanced
5s. per ton, and he had explained that the 5s. only referred
to a very small quantity of coal which had been bought
outside of contracts. He mentioned that for every shilling
of increase in prices, 7£d. was paid to miners and other
employees, and at least Ijd. to landlords and others.

the area under pressure at the left-hand end of the valve is
greater than that under pressure at the right-hand end, for
the receiving chamber at the right-hand end is open to
exhaust through port block d, passage fc, and exhaust port I.
The air passes through the grooves a3 formed in the end
collar of the valve (see figs. 4 and 5), through port block d’,
passage fc1, to the left of the piston o, which is driven to the
right. During the travel to the right the exhaust port I is
closed and the exhaust port V is opened. This causes a
rapid drop of pressure over the whole left-hand surface of
the valve, until the air-pressure acting on the right-hand
side of the middle collar a1 of the valve forces the valve to
the left, cutting off the supply of fluid by port g until the
valve has finished its travel to the left, when port g is
opened to admit air in quantity to the right-hand side of
the piston o. The piston then travels to the left, when a
similar cycle of operations occurs. It will be noted that in
this modified construction the auxiliary feed ports h and i
supply the air or steam to throw the valve until the main
feed port g is opened, and consequently, if the arrangement
of feed ports as shown in fig. 2 is adopted, then the main
feed at either one end or the other is not shut completely
off until the valve has come to rest, otherwise the action is
substantially the same as described for fig. 3. In this case
the main feed port also supplies the motive fluid to throw
the valve over. (Three claims.)

6898 (1912). Improvements in and relating to the Charging
and Discharging of Gas Retorts. W. E. Lake, of the firm of
Haseltine, Lake and Co., 7 and 8, Southampton-buildings,
London, Middlesex. (Communication from Riter-Conley
Manufacturing Company, No. 15, Exchange-place, Jersey
City, New Jersey, U.S.A.)—This invention relates to
apparatus for charging and discharging retorts of the kind

L*l

in which a number|of scoops containing coal are advanced
into the retort and are thereupon reversed to empty their
charge of coal into the retort. The invention has for its
object to provide improved mechanism for reversing the