January 23, 191 J.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

207

Cannop proprietary. In all, the erection of some 300
dwellings has been mentioned.

In regard to the,water supply the East Dean District
Council has largely discharged its obligations, but in
West Dean the local authority have done nothing.
Pressure from without, both from London and the
County Council Public Health Committee, has had the
effect of inducing West Dean District Council to
provisionally approve a scheme, but its acceptance is
subject to a substantial contribution from the Treasury
of not less than one-third the total cost of it, and to the
net cost being such as will be covered by a rate not
exceeding 6d. in the £. Both the local Council, the
County Health committee, and Mr. Harry Webb, M.P.
for the Forest, have in turn, with like unsatisfactory
results, appealed to Mr. Bunciman, Commissioner
of Woods and Forests, for help, with the result that
nothing has been done. As the need is a real one, and
as headquarters pressure continues, the Gloucestershire
County Council’has empowered a deputation to wait
upon the Local Government Board regarding it. Mr.
S. J. Elsom (the chairman of West Dean Council) will
be one of the representatives. Locally as the Crown is
the chief landowner and derives large revenues from
mining operations, it is felt the refusal to make a special
contribution is a most unsatisfactory attitude to take up.

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

The Senghenydd Enquiry—State-appointed Firemen—
Newport Developments — Education Conference —
Relief Fund Balances—Prosecutions at Neath.

No general criticism has been made concerning the
findings of the Senghenydd jury, there being another
inquest—upon several Cardiff men—and also the Home
Office enquiry yet to be held, the former early in
February and the latter on January 27. The jury at
Senghenydd have returned a verdict of “ Accidental
death,” and have made certain recommendations; they
clearly absolve any person from suspicion of neglect,
but the coroner’s remarks as to electricity are of grave
importance, and have attracted close attention.

Addressing the Caerphilly district of miners, on
Monday, the agent (Mr. Hubert Jenkins) referred to
the Senghenydd inquest, and said that the evidence
went to show that the mine was properly managed and
properly inspected at the time of the explosion, and
that if such a disaster was possible in a well-managed
mine, it clearly demonstrated the highly dangerous
character of South Wales collieries. No naked light
should be allowed. The inspectorate should be
increased, for at present the inspectors could not
systematically and thoroughly inspect the mines
because the greater part of their time was taken up by
inspecting places where fatal accidents had occurred
and with attending inquests. Firemen should be paid
by the Government, and reimbursement made by the
colliery companies, and firemen, as regards their
authority, should be as independent as the present
inspectors.

The members of Cardiff Exchange have initiated a
movement to commemorate the conferment of knight-
hood upon Mr. W. J. Thomas, of the Standard Collieries,
Yorkshire. At a preliminary meeting, held at the
Exchange on Tuesday afternoon, it was decided to raise
funds for endowing a bed in Cardiff Infirmary. Major-
General Lee was elected chairman of the committee.

High hopes are entertained at Newport that during
the coming summer, when the extension of the docks is
opened, the residents will witness also other important
developments. We have referred already to the estab-
lishment of the Mannesmann Tube Company’s new
works, where probably 2,000 hands will be employed;
and the latest information is that Whitehead’s Steel
and Iron Works are likely to be removed from Tredegar
to the sea coast within Newport’s boundary. Negotia-
tions are now on foot for about 20 acres of land.
Heavy railway charges furnish one reason for removal
to the seaboard, and the firm, who at present employ
200 men, will have a position adjoining the new dock,
being bounded by the Great Western Bail way on the
other side. The undertaking at Tredegar was started
more than a century ago. It closed down in 1892, was
restarted in 1903, and has since developed a lucrative
special trade in ferro-concrete steel. The transference
of the works is viewed with much concern in Tredegar,
where their gratifying progress of recent years has
been the occasion of much advantage to the town.

A very important gathering, representing widely
different interests, takes place in Cardiff to-morrow
(Saturday) on the subject of mining education, and the
probability is that agreement will be reached, although
there may be much discussion upon details. The
conference is summoned by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff
and is really an adjournment of a previous gathering,
whereat full and free debate took place. An entirely new
mining board will be established, its powers to be only
consultative, and the representation to be from the Coal-
owners’ Association, the University College and several
public authorities. The business of the new Mining
Board will be to give effect to the idea of co-ordinating
and co-relating the work of the different authorities and.
institutions in their enterprises of mining education,
so that the coalfield shall act in this respect as a whole,
and yet each authority and institution retain complete
internal control of its own system and its staff.

Special attention will, it is understood, be directed
to the provision of increased facilities at different
centres, and the avoidance of overlapping. Also to the
interchange of views between staff and officials, the
organisation of special tours of instruction in Great
Britain and abroad, and joint action with Government
departments or in Parliament upon matters affecting
mining education; the establishment of scholarships
and subsistence allowances for students who may require

them ; and the issue of a South Wales certificate of
competency in respect of an agreed standard of efficiency
to those part-time students who cannot attend long
enough for gaining the full-time diploma or University
courses.

Bepresentatives will come from the County Councils
of Glamorgan, Monmouthshire, Brecon, and Carmarthen,
the Councils of Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Merthyr,
and the Bhondda, the University College of South
Wales, the Coalowners’ Association, and the Colliery
Managers’ Association. Co-opted members will come
from the Home Office and the Board of Education.

There will also be representation from the South
Wales and Monmouthshire School of Mines, which has
been established by the coalowners; and it has to be
noted that during Saturday afternoon the formal
opening of this school will take place at. Treforest. The
school will be maintained by a tonnage levy of one-
tenth of a penny from the leading companies in the
coalfield, and students will be trained specially for
practical work. It will be open to young fellows of the
wage-earning class, arrangements being made for part-
time as well as full-time study.

At a meeting of the Miners’ Federation executive,
held on Wednesday, the invitation to attend Saturday’s
conference came up for discussion, and a resolution was
passed that the Federation should not be represented
then, or at any later conference; further, that they
withdraw their representatives from the South Wales
Mining Board.

The objection of the Federation executive has relation
to the School of Mines at Treforest which the coal-
owners have established, it being urged that this
institution should not be represented in the new
organisation.

One other point in regard to the proposed formation
of a central fund is as to the “ balances ” of existing
trusts. Actuarily a balance may be anticipated, and
some trust deeds are so drafted as to empower the
trustees to dispose at once of such sums as are repre-
sented by these estimates. For example, one of the
South Wales funds having an estimated surplus, hands
over 3 per cent, upon that amount to another local
similar organisation. In other cases, where the trust
deed confers no such power of immediate distribution,
it is contended that the present-day beneficiaries are
entitled to have their existing allowances increased at
the present time by the amount which an actuarial
computation would warrant. Generally, there is a
feeling that no supposed “ surplus ” should go to a
central fund, but, that the amount should be distributed
among those for whom the contributions were specifi-
cally made at the outset.

The Tylorstown Explosion Fund Committee, at their
meeting on Friday evening, had before them a motion
to consider the advisability of increasing the relief to
widows and dependants, but upon examination of the
accounts, the conclusion arrived at was that, assuming
the present beneficiaries (who are widows) live to the
age of 75—the average age at present being 61—there
would be nothing left of the fund at the end. Conse-
quently, the proposal was withdrawn.

Several prosecutions that have been undertaken at
Neath were the first under the Act of 1911. Four
horsekeepers were summoned for failing to keep a
proper record of the horses under their charge, and also
for working horses in an unfit condition. Evidence was
given that a veterinary surgeon had been employed by
the Seven Sisters Company to examine the animals, and
this gentleman denied that the horses were unfit to
work, or that the sores upon them were as bad as alleged.
The Bench decided to convict, and each man was fined
25s. including costs.

The manager was also summoned for not allowing
sufficient height and room in the workings for the
horses, so that they “rubbed”, not exercising proper
supervision over the horsekeepers in respect of their
books, and not providing a sufficient supply of water in
the working roads. For the defence it was said that the
rubbing was caused by the “squeezing” of the top and
bottom, and this had now been remedied. A fine of 20s.
and costs was imposed on the first summons, and 10s. in
another case.

Another prosecution under the Act was that at New
Tredegar, where some labourers were summoned for
raising timber in the shaft, in contravention of the Act,
which provides that no minerals, timber or coal should
be raised or lowered at the same time as persons. In
this instance again, these were the first cases to be
brought to the court, and the defendants were fined 20s.
each.

A singular question was debated on Saturday by the
Avon Valley district of miners. The Morfa Colliery
having been closed, the miners’ agent reported as to the
position of men who, under the Compensation Act, had
previously been given light work. Most of these, he
said, had been unable to find any other employment,
and the meeting decided that action should be taken in
order to test liability in regard to these men. In regard
to some of them, it was stated, the payment of com-
pensation had ceased, although they were partially
disabled for life.

A conference of South Wales miners is suggested in
order that the question of electricity in mines may be
discussed, this having come very much into prominence
on account of the evidence tendered at the Senghenydd
inquest.

International Congress of Mining, Metallurgy, Applied
Mechanics and Geology, 1915.—A meeting of the publi-
cations committee was held on Wednesday, Mr. George
Blake Walker presiding, when a tentative arrangement of
subjects for discussion was adopted. A further meeting
will be held on February 18.

Mime AMD OTHER MTES>

A powerful committee has been formed at Newcastle-on-
Tyne for the purpose of placing, in one of the public
institutions of that city, a bust of the Right Hon. Thomas
Burt, who is a resident of Newcastle, and who already has
a memorial in “ Burt Hall/" and the offices of the North-
umberland Miners’ Association. The chairman of the
committee, which includes representatives of all parties, is
Sir Henry Newton, a veteran in the public life of the north,
and chairman of the Newcastle Public Library Committee
from its beginning. Among the members are Earl Grey,
the Eirl of Durham and Lord Ridley.

Mr. Robert Dykes, retired coal merchant, Edinburgh,'
who died on September 10 last, aged 69 years, left, in
addition to real estate, personal estate in the United
Kingdom valued at £2,421.

It is announced that the realisation of the assets of the
Thames Ironworks Company has so far proceeded that a
sum of about £250,000 is available for distribution. The
nominal amount of the first debentures is £200,000, but
nearly three years’ interest is in arrear, so that some
£212,000 is necessary to clear off this debenture debt. Any
surplus is divisible amongst the holders of the second
debentures.

Mr. B. Lloyd-Evans read a paper at the meeting of the
Nottingham Society of Engineers, held at the Welbeck
Hotel, Nottingham, on January 14, on the Brush-Lj angstrom
steam turbine—a type of machine which, it is claimed, has
obtained efficiency several per cent, higher than any other
design of turbo-generator.

An important test case of interest to coal traders was
decided in the Hull Police Court last week by the Hull
stipendiary magistrate (Mr. J. G. Hay Halkett). The case
was brought under the Merchant Shipping Act; and the
question at issue was whether ships’ firemen are expected
to trim coal on steamers in foreign ports during their
working hours without extra pay. The general secretary
of the Seamen’s Union gave evidence for the defence to the
effect that it had been a standing custom for 21 years to
pay ships’ firemen 6d. per ton extra for trimming coal in
the ship’s time and no contract was necessary, as it was an
established custom. The stipendiary magistrate convicted
the defendants and said they should have done the work
and made their point of grievance on reaching home. It
was evident that there was no obvious custom established,
and seamen could not be permitted to refuse to carry out
orders because they thought they were not bound to do.
Each defendant would have to pay the costs of the court,
4s. 9d. each.

Mr. Edward Jackson, having been elected to a seat on the
board of the Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Company,
is relinquishing the position of general manager of the
company, and is being succeeded by Mr. Herbert E. Allen.

Erith’s Engineering Company Limited, 70, Gracechurch-
street, London, are installing at the Ashbury works at
Manchester of the Metropolitan Carriage Wagon and
Finance Company Limited, an Erith’s heater-softener, no-
lime process, 10,000 gals, hourly capacity. This is a repeat
order, similar to the Erith’s heater-softener used for six
years at the Saltley works at Birmingham of the same
company; the latter has recently been extended and fitted
with Erith’s recorder, showing the duty on daily charts.
In each case, fuel is saved by recovering waste heat from
the exhaust of steam hammers, and the hard water is treated
with waste heat and soda-ash, so that boilers are kept free
from scale and corrosion at minimum cost, no lime being
necessary in Erith’s patent heater-softener.

At the last of a special series of three dinners given by
the London Society at the Waldorf Hotel on Tuesday, in
discussing “ London of the Future,” Sir William Ramsay
said an ideal way of warming a room was to heat the carpet
by electricity. Before this system could come into general
use, however, they must have cheap electricity. If it could
be generated at the coalmines and sent out on a vast scale
it could be supplied at half a farthing a unit. In the
meantime, as it was not possible to prevent the use of open
coal fires, which had much to do with the smoke nuisance,
these might be taxed.

In the matter of the Prested Miners Gas Indicating
Electric Lamp Company Limited, Elthorne-road, Upper
Holloway, N., accounts have been lodged showing liabilities
£2,347, against assets £1,779, and a deficiency of £18,896
with regard to contributories. The failure of the company
is attributed by the directors to the lamp being too
expensive to be commercially profitable.

A general outline of the tentative draft of the anti-trust
legislation has been prepared by the majority members of
the United States House Judiciary Committee, for action
by the full committee, and to be the subject of conference.
President Wilson announced that Bills would cover, first,
interlocking directorates ; secondly, trade relations and
prices ; and thirdly, injunction proceedings and damage
suits by individuals.

At students’ meetings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
on Fridays, January 23 and 30, at 8 p.m., lectures on “ The
Testing of Materials for Use in Engineering Construction,”
will be given by E. W. Monkhouse, M.A , M.Inst.C.E.

Orders have been received during the early days of 1914
by Messrs. Edward Bennis and Co. Limited, of Little
Hulton, Bolton, for their stokers, compressed air furnaces,
conveyors, &c,from the following amongst others:—The
South Wales Portland Cement and Lime Company Limited,
Lower Penarth, Cardiff; Messrs. Daniel Doncaster and Sons
Limited, iron and steel manufacturers, Sheffield ; The
Bengal and North Western ■ Railway Company ; The
Wolverhampton Corrugated Iron Company Limited,
Mersey Ironworks, Ellesmere Port; The Stanton Ironworks
Company’s Collieries Limited, Teversal, near Mansfield;
Messrs. Richard Evans and Co. Limited, Golborne Colliery,
near Wigan; The Lofthouse Colliery Limited, Lofthouse
Colliery; The Ackton Hall Colliery Company, Featherstone,
near Pontefract; Liedschendam Power Station, Holland,
Many of these are repeat orders.

At a council meeting of the British Electrical and Allied
Manufacturers’ Association held at King’s House, Kingsway,
on the 15th inst., the following firms were elected members of
the association:—Bray, Markham and Reiss Limited; W.
T. Glover and Co. Limited; Siemens Brothers and Co. Ltd.

The City and Guilds of London Institute has now
returned to Gresham College, Basinghall - street, E.C.,
which will be in future the address of its head office.