THE COLLIERY. GUARDIAN. ___________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 308 February 6, 1914. qualifications, whereas the whole tendency of modern mining conditions is towards the need for raising them. The mere existence of a lower grade of inspectors would tend to embarrass both their chiefs and also the mine management. The Royal Commission on Mines were opposed to the plan proposed by the Miners’ Federation, and even the new class of assistants to inspectors were recom- mended to be selected by competitive examination only from candidates previously approved by the Secretary of State. As Mr. McKenna told Mr. Brace on Wednesday, the State is raising the standard of inspection. The staff has already been increased to about one-half the size demanded by the men, and he declared that he did not believe any further safety could be secured by introducing a new class of inspector appointed by a ballot of the workmen—a view with which we are certainly in accord. It is noteworthy, in this connection, that the Ohio Mining Commission has recently issued an important report upon the prevention of accidents in mines, and has come to the conclusion that a law should be enacted requiring the employment of a safety foreman for each 25 miners, and it is proposed to invest these foremen with police powers for the purpose of maintaining the observance of regulations. It is, in fact, a proposal to establish a kind of police system below ground similar to that which is already working with gratifying results in Germany. We do not for a moment imagine that a plan of this kind would satisfy Mr. Brace in any sense. For obviously such a body of safety foremen could not be allowed to be selected by the miners themselves. It is true that we have a well-worn saying that old poachers make the best keepers, but we do not think this method is put into practice in any of our social organisations. There would, however, probably be little objection to the establishment of a corps of mine police, recruited from the ranks of the miners by an approved system of selection, based upon fitness and general competency. "With regard to the men’s point of view, it must also be remembered that section 16 of the Act already enables periodical inspections to be made by the workmen. Neither this section, nor a similar provision in the Act of 1887, has ever been seriously acted upon in this country. Various reasons have been advanced in explanation of the reluctance of miners to take up the privileges thus accorded them of participating in the effective observance of safety regulations, and some of these reasons are perfectly intelligible. We do not, however, think it is beyond the wit of man to devise means whereby this section could be made effective in the sense intended by the Act, neither can we see any insuperable difficulty in the way of amending section 102 of the Act, so as to enable the workmen to institute proceedings against the colliery officials for breaches of rules. Indeed, so far as we can see, they already have this right, provided that the consent of the Secretary of State is first obtained—a very necessary restriction to avoid vexatious and trivial complaints. With regard to the other demands formulated by the men, the main objection to them is the general inadvisability of attempting to bring all mines under the same hard-and-fast regulations, which would be to inflict unnecessary restrictions in many pits, and to iperpetuate and still further increase the evils of rigidity under which we are suffering too much already. ___________________________ A White Paper just issued contains a report on a conference between employers, operatives, and inspectors concerning safeguards for the prevention of accidents in ironfoundries, by Mr. Gerald Bellhouse, Superintending Inspector of Factories for the South-Eastern Division. Bull Goal Exports—The official return of the exports of coal from Hull for the week ending Tuesday, 27th ult., 1914, is as follows Antwerp, 456 tons; Amsterdam, 706; Abo, 115; Aalesund, 514; Austria, 720; Barcelona, 923; Bombay, 3,141; Bremen, 1,299 ; Copenhagen, 354; Chris- tiania, 1,611; Drontheim, 260; Genoa, 7,696; Ghent, 648; Guernsey, 357; Huelva, 2,067; Hoganas, 388; Harlingen, 571; Hamburg, 6,849; Kiel, 1,423; Landscrona, 1,303; Leghorn, 500; Malmo, 1,343; Newfairwater, 200; Novoros- sisk, 969; Oxelosund, 1,673 ; Rouen, 4,052; Rotterdam, 610; Sarpsburg, 280; St. Malo, 988; Stockholm, 500; Trieste, 255; total, 42,769 tons. Corresponding period 1913, total 72,012 tons. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. The Editor is not responsible either for the statements made, or the opinions expressed by correspondents. All communications must be authenticated by the name and address of the sender, whether for publication or not. No notice can be taken of anonymous communi- cations. As replies to questions are only given by way of published answers to correspondents, and not by letter, stamped addressed envelopes are not required to be sent. FLME v. ELECTRIC SAFETY LAMPS. Sir,—I notice in your issue of the 30th ult. a letter from a Mr. E. A. Hailwood respecting an oil safety lamp designed by his firm, which he states gives a guaranteed candle-power varying from 1T% to 1T%. I happen to have seen one of these lamps, which appears to be precisely similar to the lamp patented by Mr. Clifford about 1893, and which was going to create quite a sensation ; but very little was heard of this, one reason being, I believe, that the breaking of the internal glass cannot be overcome—in fact, the lamp I have seen was suffering from this defect. Seeing that this “new” lamp mentioned by Mr. Hailwood is, to say the least of it, 21 years old and has never been extensively adopted, it does not appear, therefore, to be worth mentioning. February 3, 1914. One who Knows. Sir,—Mr. Hailwood’s letter of the 28th ult. appears to me to be so one-sided that I doubt if it is necessary to advocate the electric lamp side. I was at a colliery a few days ago and saw a number of very dirty flame and electric lamps returned, side by side after use, to the lamp-cabin, and I took rough comparative photometric tests of the candle-power as they were. The electric lamps gave approximately over four times the candle-power of the flame lamps. I do not understand upon what grounds Mr. Hailwood questions the Government tests, and maintenance of the standard candle-power. H. F. Joel. 79, Finsbury-pavement, Moorgate-street, London, E.C., February 3, 1914. Sir,—With reference to the remarks of your corre- spondent, Mr. Playfair, in your issue of the 23rd ult., respecting the candle-power of a flame safety lamp, and his statement that not more than 1-candle power light could be obtained from such a lamp for 10 hours burning without the use of a reflector even with a constant pickering of the wick, we would like to support your correspondent “ Positive ” in his assertion to the contrary, and we enclose herein a copy of the result of a comparative test made on the candle-power of various lamps, which clearly proves that such a candle-power is obtainable, as the figures given in the report of tests are averaged over a period of 10 hours, and we think that everyone is aware that the fluctuations in a lamp burning naphtha are practically nil. We would further state that with modifications lately carried out we have been successful in still further increasing the candle- power of our lamps. R. Cremer, Director, The Cremer Lamp and Engineering 32, York-place, Company Limited. Leeds, February 4, 1914. ________ Mining Department, The University, Leeds, May 4, 1911. I have carried out preliminary comparative tests as to the illuminating power of various lamps. The lamps were burning paraffin, except in the case of the Wolf and Cromer lamps (in which benzine was used). The Davy lamp is taken as a standard of comparison:— Candle-power. 1. Davy lamp, round wick........... 1'00 ... 0 200 2. Clanny unshielded, round wick ... 3’27 ... 0 654 3. Marsaut (A and B) single gauze, flat wick ........................ 3 25 ... 0650 4. Marsaut (N) double burner, round wick 4'41 ... 0 882 5. Wolf double gauzes, flat wick ..... 4 40 ... 0’880 6. Cremer double gauzes, flat wick, lower air inlet closed................. 4 97 ... 0 994 7. Cremer lower air inlet open....... 5 58 ... 1T16 The photometer used was of the Bunsen type, of a modern pattern. The flames were standardised as to height in each case. (Signed) David Bowen, F.G.S., M.lnst.Min.E. (London and America), &c., Acting Professor of Mining at Leeds University. Lamps 1 and 2 were unshielded, 3 to 7 shielded. WTOTC E1CIIEERS AID THE SURVEYORS’ INSTITUTION. Sir,—With reference to the correspondence which appeared in your paper on the above subject, last winter, we desire so say that, by invitation, we attended before the education committee of the Surveyors’ Institution to explain our views as to the desirability of forming a subdivision of the institution to meet the requirements of mining engineers and.surveyors. We are pleased to say that the decision of the council has been favourable, and we enclose herewith a notice which has been issued by them for publication. The council are engaged in drawing up a syllabus of subjects for examination, and this will be published at an early date. We understand that the council are willing to consider applications from leading men in the profession for election without examination ; such applications should be addressed to the secretary, Surveyors’ Institution, 12, Great George-street, Westminster, S.W. W. H. Galletly (Messrs. Pope and Pearson Limited, Normanton), T. A. O’Donahite (Birmingham, formerly Wigan). February 3, 1914. ________ The Surveyors’ Institution. The council have decided to fall in with representa- tions which they have received from mining surveyors in different parts of Great Britain, in favour of an additional subdivision of the institution examinations being established to meet the requirements of that branch of the profession. They have reason to believe that by thus enabling mining surveyors to possess the qualification attaching to membership of a professional society, obtained after a searching examination test, they will meet a want which has long been felt. The drawing up of the syllabus has been referred to the education committee of the institution, and in addressing thsmselves to their work they will endeavour to set up an examination which will be accepted by the Home Secretary as satisfying the requirements of sections 20 and 21 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911. Particulars as to the time and place of the examina- tion will be published in due course. ____________________________ North of England., The question of whether the minimum wage is to be considered in the light of a maximum in some circum- stances has been raised by the Newbiggin miners. Some 16 men at the colliery claim to be paid more than the minimum because of what they call the abnormal condition of their working places. Some “troubles” have recently shown themselves in the strata, and it is in respect of these that the men claim extra pay. The matter is under negotiation between the union and the management. A dispute arose about a month ago between the putters and the management of the Cramlington Coal Company’s Burradon and Weetslade “Lizzie ” pits, as a result of which the pits were idle some days. The question at issue was as to whether the putters should change their places in the pits apart from the cavilling, the management asking that this should be done to meet cases of exigency. The putters, however, claimed that such a practice would mean in effect the pooling of their earnings with a view to preventing any of the putters needing to have additional pay to bring them up to the minimum. The matter has been under the con- sideration of the representatives of both sides, by whom it was mutually agreed to send it for settlement to the Joint Committee. Federated ’ Area. It is stated that the Yorkshire Miners’ Association have resolved to contest seven seats in the West Riding of Yorkshire at the next election. The constituencies selected are: Doncaster, Rotherham, Wakefield, Morley, Osgoldcross, Holmfirth, and Barnsley, all of which are at present represented by Liberals. It has not yet been stated who will contest the different constitu- encies, but the seven selected members of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association are :—Messrs. S. Roebuck, W. Lunn, H. Burns, E. Hough, J. Guest, T. W. Grundy, J. Potts. A question of considerable current moment in the Cannock Chase coalfield is that of neglect of work, and the matter was referred to at a meeting of the Cannock Chase Miners’ Council, on Friday, when it was urged that statements as to the extent of absence were exaggerated. The prevailing high rate of sickness was advanced as accounting for the large number of absentees, and it was mentioned that in the case of one colliery of no large size, the books showed 73 men away through sickness and accident, whilst in one village 30 to 40 men in the prime of life had died in the past six weeks. The fact which cannot be denied, however, is that a large number of the younger miners on Cannock Chase invariably play on Mondays when trade is brisk. A typical example may be taken from one of the pits of the Cannock Chase Colliery Company. A man with a few shillings in his pocket recently commenced work on a Monday, but he came out of the pit at half-day time, presumably in order to spend his money. Moreover, at the meeting in question it was stated that the doctors had declared that they had never before had to contend with such extensive sickness, but an experience of one doctor on Cannock Chase is rather illuminating. On visiting a miner’s abode to attend one of the occupants he asked a miner if he were ill. The reply was in the negative, and that if he could work four days a week he desired no more. In view of the actual conditions, the following statement of Mr. Albert Stanley, M.P., at the above meeting, is of interest:— “ Whilst we do not defend the men or excuse them for neglecting their work when there is work for them, we do dissent from these grossly exaggerated state- ments appearing in the public Press.”