January 9, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

97

are anxious in the winter to make good some of the
excessive summer losses through lack of house coal
trade.

A meeting of the Derbyshire Under-Managers’ and
Deputies’ Institute took place on Saturday, when Mr. R.
Moody (Staveley) presided. Some time ago the coal-
owners declined to meet a deputation from the institute
regarding an increase of pay and better conditions, but
suggested that deputations from each pit should meet
the respective managements. The reports were
regarded as unsatisfactory. There was a long
discussion, in the course of which the opinion
was expressed that with under-managers in member-
ship the institute was handicapped in obtaining
concessions for deputies. Although no definite resolu-
tion was passed, it was suggested that under-managers
should be courteously asked to withdraw from the
institute, and that the constitution remain solely for
deputies. Ultimately it was decided to appoint a
special committee to revise the rules to meet the wishes
of the deputies and present them at the next meeting.
The question of approaching the Derbyshire Miners’
Association with a view to an amalgamation was raised,
and it was agreed to settle the matter finally at the next
meeting.

In North Wales there is still considerable agitation
over the decision of the Court of Appeal, in regard to
the fillers’ test case, previously referred to. At a meeting
recently held, the miners’ agent (Mr. Edward Hughes)
advised all fillers to give notice, and told them not to
fill another ton of coal at any of the pits, without first
having a written agreement to the effect that the
customary wages shall in all cases be paid to them as a
class.

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

The executive council of the South Wales and Mon-
mouthshire Miners’ Federation met in Cardiff, on
Monday, and passed a resolution that, in the interests
of safety, “ the workmen of every colliery should be
given the right under section 16 of the Coal Mines Act
of 1911 to appoint where and when considered necessary
a sufficient number of workmen to make the simul-
taneous inspection of mines.” This resolution will be
forwarded to the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain
executive, with request for an endeavour to get the Act
amended in this direction.

A committee has been appointed by the workmen of
Llanerch and Abersychan to consider the question of
pithead baths.

Gwaun-cae-gurwen workmen came out on strike,
demanding the reinstatement of a dismissed surface
worker, but resumed on Monday.

It is estimated that the revised award of Lord
St. Aldwyn will improve the position of about 22,000
of the lower-paid men, adding about £70,000 a year to
their wages.

It was stated by Mr. Watts Morgan at a meeting of
Rhondda miners, on Saturday, that the Federation
executive proposed to call a conference upon the
question of safety in mines. They would discuss ways
and means of bringing about improvements in working
so as to secure if possible greater security against
accidents. The council were now engaged in drawing
up a list of suggested improvements, which in their
opinion, called for the consideration not only of the
workmen, but of the employers and the Home Office.
The conference would be called together very soon, and
an effort would be made to adopt some uniform method
of dealing with recognised dangers.

The Iron, Steel and Engineering Trades.

Mr. Joseph Cox, J.P., Darlington, has been chosen by
the men, and Mr. Walter Crook, engineer and steel-
works manager, London, by the masters, to arbitrate on
the question of the west coast furnacemen’s demand for
time and a-quarter for week-end labour.

On Friday morning seven days’ notice to terminate
contracts with workmen was posted at the Solway
Ironworks, Mary port, the property of the Workington
Iron and Steel Works, where one furnace has been
damped down for several weeks, and the men have been
on half-time.

A reduction of 23 per cent, compared with the corre-
sponding period of last year, and 7J per cent, compared
with the last ascertainment is effected in the wages of
the Cumberland blastfurnacemen by the fall of the cash
price of pig iron warrants, and the percentage remaining
above the standard is now 29. The average price
of warrants in the Glasgow markets during the quarter
ended December 31 was 69s. 0T90d. per ton; for the
preceding quarter 69s. 5‘476d.; for the corresponding
quarter of last year 81s. 9*335d.

The ascertained price of No. 3 Cleveland pig iron for
the months of the past quarter has been certified at
55s. 3’79d. per ton, as compared with 57s. 8‘08d. per ton
in the third quarter of last year. This means a reduc-
tion in blastfurnacemen’s wages of 3 per cent., which
will bring the wages from 32 per cent, above the standard
to 29 per cent, above the standard. The reduction
takes effect from January 1.

Trade Unions and Political Action.

A very important ballot is now in progress among
the trade unions in conformity with the provisions
of the Trade Union Act of last year, by which it
was made lawful to apply the funds of a trade
union to political objects if the promotion of
those objects is approved by a majority of its
members voting in secret ballot. The payments, how-
ever, must be made out of a separate fund maintained
for the purpose. The Act, it will be remembered, was
the outcome of the Osborne judgment, which pro-
nounced the compulsion to pay for political work
to be illegal when applied to unwilling members
of a trade union. The Act further provides
that contribution to the political fund shall not
be made a condition of membership of the

union. The fourteenth annual conference of the Labour
Party is to beheld in Glasgow on January 28, 29 and
30, and it will be preceded on January 27 by a special
conference on the electoral and Parliamentary policy of
the party. The Miners’ Federation have already
published the result of their ballot. The number of
voting papers issued was 500,000, and of these 476,666
were returned, 261,643 were in favour of the establish-
ment of a political fund and 194,800 against, the majority
in favour of a political fund being thus 66,843. Allowing
for boys not permitted to do so, 81 per cent, of the
members took part in the ballot.

IHOiM AM B0LO1IAL MIES.

India.

Acquisition of Coal Lands Toy Railways.—This matter has
been considered by the Indian Mining Association, the
feeling being that all the money at the disposal of the rail-
ways was necessary to improve the inadequate transport
facilities before it was expended elsewhere. It was stated
that the Bengal Chamber of Commerce had placed the whole
matter before the Government of India in this light and had
asked what the policy of the Government of India was in
regard to the acquisition and development of coal lands by
railways. In reply, a letter from the Chamber to the
Government referred to the report of the deputation to Lord
Crewe on June 2, 1913, who then stated, “ I do not think if
a railway company desires to acquire a colliery that it is
possible to impose a veto upon a transaction of that kind
provided, of course, it is understood, that the railway merely
uses the coal for its own transport purposes, and that it does
not act as a vendor of coal in the open market,” while in a
more recent communication the Secretary of State agreed
as a matter of principle to the acquisition of coal lands by
railway. The acquisition of the Bokaro-Ramgur fields by
the Great Indian Peninsula Railway had also been favoured
by the Secretary of State. With regard to the rumoured
development of the Ramgarh property, the Government
stated that it would be impossible to prevent the develop-
ment of such collieries which had already been sanctioned.
At the same time, Government had no intention of allowing
expenditure on railway collieries to interfere with the
material improvement of open lines which were being pushed
on with all possible expedition. The committee of the
Association noted the concluding words referred to above
as being satisfactory.

Africa.

H.M. Trade Commissioner for South Africa (Sir R. Sothern
Holland) reports that, according to information received
from the Commissioner of Customs and Excise at Pretoria,
an important discovery of coal has been made near Warm-
baths at a depth of slightly more than 200 ft. The seam is
reported to be 20 ft. in thickness and of good quality.

The third annual mining exhibition, under the auspices
of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South
Africa, will be held in Johannesburg during the month of
May 1914, when it will remain open for about two weeks.
The two previous exhibitions have been visited by some-
thing like 30,000 persons, admission has been free, and no
financial gain has accrued to the society, which has
organised the exhibition solely for the purpose of bringing
to the notice of those engaged in the mining industry the
latest developments in everything likely to be used on or in
the mines of South Africa.

Natal Coal Strike.—The Times' Johannesburg corres-
spondent states: The Transvaal Miners5 Association inti-
mate that they would support the Natal coal strikers by
obtaining ballots on the Transvaal coalmines on New Year's
Day on the question of striking in sympathy. There is
unrest on some of the goldmines on account of the sym-
pathy of the men with the Natal strikers, and because
of their desire to compel non-union men to join the union.
The men at the St. George's and the Natal Navigation
Collieries came out on Wednesday evening. The Durban
coalowners have decided to send a representative to the
coalfields with a view to adjusting the differences with the
men on strike. It is confidently expected that a modus
vivendi will be arrived at. The miners demand certain
increases in pay, a reduction of hours, and the reinstate-
ment of four men who were alleged to have been victimised
because they were unionists.

Australia

The Coal Vend Case.—A Federal Parliamentary return
shows that .£17,248 represented the fees paid to counsel in
connection with the legal actions taken against the Coal
Vend, the counsel being Dr. Cullen, KC., Mr. B. R.
Wise, K.C., Mr. Shand, K.C., Mr. Starke, Mr. Bavin,
Sir Robert Finlay, K.C., Mr. C. H. Sargeant and Mr. Page.
The fees paid by the Vend have not been made public, nor
the cost, beyond payments to counsel on either side, but it
is anticipated that the total expenditure will not be less
than .£40,000.

Canada.

The Maritime Coal, Railway and Power Company, of
Nova Scotia, have recently decided to considerably extend
the underground mechanical haulage at their Joggins
Mines, and they are now installing for the main haulage
rope an endless-rope haulage gear, with rope wheel 9 ft. in
diameter, operated by a motor of 250 effective horse-power,
the rope speed being 3 miles per hour. In addition to the
afore-mentioned, six main-rope haulage gears with motors
of 25-50-horse power and two main-and-tail haulage gears,
with motors of the same size, are to be installed. The
haulage gears are being made by Messrs. M. B Wild and
Co., of Birmingham, and the electrical equipment in con-
nection with the whole of the above haulages by Messrs.
J. H. Holmes and Co., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This
scheme is being carried out according to the specification
and under the direction of Mr. William C. Mountain,
consulting engineer, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The Royal Commission on Railways has arranged to meet
again on January 15, at 2.30 p.m. The Earl of Loreburn
will preside, and evidence will be taken from the Scottish
Office and the Light Railways Commission.

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION IN COALMINES.

A Digest of Evidence before the Committee.

(Continued from page 44.)

Mr. GEORGE KNOX.

Mr. George Knox, principal of the Mining School
in Wales, gave evidence on June 11, 1913. In the first
place he put before the Committee the lines on which he
thought further investigation should be conducted.

Lines of Research.

These were first of all the affinity for oxygen which
coal is ’known to have, and the power of conductivity of
heat. If that subject was gone into in combination with
the geological subject and the composition of coal, a
combined research might be of a great deal more value
than the individual research now being carried on
by various people on a small scale. Even freshly-exposed
coal, i.e., coal dug at the face and transported directly
to the surface, if experimented upon, does not oxidise
anything so rapidly as the same type of coal treated in
the same way underground. The small experiments
which witness had carried out in connection with the
Arley mine in Wigan, gave exactly the same result that
Taffanel got with his experiments some years ago, that
the speed of oxidation varied from about 1 to 3. The
oxygen absorbed was three times as great underground
as it was at the surface. The initial heating might in
some way be due to the composition of the coal itself
through bacterial and fermenting actions. Dr. Harger
seemed to think, from the results of his experiments, that
some bacterial action may still be going on in a mine.
Of course that could not account for heating beyond
about 60 degs. Cent., because they died off at that
period.

Then the second point was the relative inflammability
of coals and the nature of the gases produced before
ignition takes place. He thought the relative propor-
tion of humic substances in coal had a great deal to do
with the point at which they would spontaneously ignite.

The third point was the temperature at which the
oxidation becomes destructive. That seemed a very
important point with regard to the time when very
drastic action should be taken in sealing off or in other
ways dealing with a likely gob fire.

Then another point was the moisture content of the
various coals and its effect as an oxidising agent. That
affected the inflammability, witness thought, as much
as the other point mentioned with regard to the amount
of humic acid or human constituents in coal. He
admitted that it was important, in determining what is
the relative moisture in coals, to know whether there
are any hydrocarbons given off in the process of the
analysis being taken which might be deceptive. That
is something which kindles at a very low temperature.
Witness said he regarded the moisture content as an
important point, because oxidation seemed to be more
rapid with coals having a very high percentage of
hygroscopic moisture. He added that the analyses
ought to be standardised—that is to say, they should
all be done by the same person, or group of persons, and
on the same basis.

A further point was the temperature and humidity of
the air in various parts of the mine, and he proposed
that they should be taken regularly over a long period,
and an enquiry made as to their action as oxidising
agents. All these points really ought to be grouped
together as being work that could be jointly done by a
body of men representing the chemical side, the mining
side and the geological side. If the information which
has been provided by men like Mr. Lomax in the
microscopic examination of coals is at the disposal of a
good chemist, that would be much more useful than by
merely discussing things separately. A chemist, and
particularly a chemist who has been working on these
lines like Dr. Haldane, could make more use of Mr.
Lomax’s help, working jointly together, than anything
they could get from Mr. Lomax.

The Release of Compression.

It was an ascertained fact that in the earlier stages of
occlusion there was no heat generated, but there was
the loss of oxygen and the loss of water, and if these
things were carefully tabulated and correlated it might
be an indication of what is happening in the occlusion
before heating commences. Witness said he did not
think it was either probable or likely that gob fires
could be avoided except by the exclusion of air. If they
could convince managers on that point it would be very
big work indeed. The last point which witness put
forward for investigation was the relation' between
subsidence crush and heating of finely-powdered coal-
dust. That, he thought, was the most important point.
He had gone to Westphalia, Silesia, and other places, to
make a study of this question, where they had had
considerable difficulty with gob fires, and where they
had introduced the method of hydraulic stowing for the
purpose of getting over their troubles. Previous to
that he had noticed in one or two districts in this
country that wherever they had a large amount of
subsidence they had a tendency to heat in coal liable to
spontaneous combustion. If they had a thick seam he
had never seen an even subsidence underground—he
meant for a period extending anything from three
months to 12 months. He had measured some of those
fractures over 2 in. wide on the surface. If they had
several seams being worked immediately after each
other the very same thing happened. In some of the
seams like that in West Fife, for instance, where they
have a very soft coal at the top and hard coal below,
they would find a fracture is simply packed full of a
sooty kind of dust, and that is where all the gob fires have
taken place. It was a question of change of load as the
strata altered from being in compression to being in
tension. All the roof which is subsiding behind on the
packs on the under side of it is in a state of tension,