408

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

February 20, 1914.

Broadly, it may be said that large clearances make
for safety. In the design of steam engines for textile
mill purposes, long experience and old traditions
together with the influence of the insurance companies
(possibly the latter being an important factor) have
.resulted in the adoption of a slow moving engine
equipped with the necessary precautionary devices to
reduce the risk of breakdown to the lowest possible
point. In the ordinary way, therefore, an engine having
a high degree of reliability is adopted. In internal
combustion engines, on the other hand, the traditions of
the manufacture are not as well established as in the
case of steam engines; the influence of the insurance
companies on the design of the engine has been so far
much less than in the case of steam engines, and it is
possibly largely due to these factors that the figures
given for the reliability of gas engines and other internal
combustion engines fall considerably below the standard
attained by the regular steam engine. Gas engines, in
this country, in fact, have been largely influenced in
their design by commercial and selling considerations
rather than by considerations affecting their reliability
so far as freedom from breakdown is concerned. The
general results of the selling considerations tend to
the adoption of a high speed machine, highly rated for
its size, and free from expensive complications such as
water cooling.

Choice of Power.

The foregoing characteristics which have been outlined
in reference to the principal prime movers at present in
operation do not exhaust the factors which have to be
taken into account in the choice of power for each
individual case. The particulars given indicate the
result of experience in the two general directions of
economy of fuel and reliability of running. Economy
of fuel may in one case be more important than in
another, according to situation and facilities. Where
fuel is very costly, it is, of course, worth while to adopt
greater refinements in the way of economies in the power
equipment than is the case where fuel is at a low price.
The capital cost enters largely into the question, and
mere economy in fuel may cost so much more in original
capital outlay that the interest and depreciation on the
capital will outweigh the savings of the fuel costs. The
question of reliability of continuous running, regularity
of running, and the like also become of importance
according to the nature of the case, and the decision as
to the most suitable power for any particular installation
must depend upon full consideration of the nature and
effect of the whole of the factors.

MIHIMG INSTITUTE OF SCOTLAND.

A general meeting of the Mining Institute of Scotland
was held on Saturday evening in the North British
Station Hotel, Edinburgh, Mr. James Hamilton,
president, in the chair.

Nomination of Office-bearers.

Nominations were received for vacancies in the list
of vice-presidents and councillors for the ensuing year,
and it was announced that the election would take place
at next meeting.

Messrs. Kirkpatrick and Jarvie were appointed to
audit the treasurer’s accounts for the year just closed.

Honour to Sir W. E. Garforth.

The President said that as most of the members
were aware, Dr. W. E. Garforth, the president of the
Institution of Mining Engineers, had been honoured by
the King in being created a knight, and he thought
they should not allow the opportunity to pass without
sending their cordial congratulations to him. He
proposed that it should be remitted to Mr. G. A..
Mitchell, Mr. G. L. Kerr (secretary), and himself to.
draw up a minute of appreciation and congratulation.
Mr. G. A. Mitchell seconded, and the motion was
agreed to unanimously.

The Annual Dinner.

The second annual dinner of the institute was after-
wards held, when covers were laid for a company of 140.
Mr. James Hamilton, president of the institute, occu-
pied the chair, and he was supported by Mr. R. S.
Horne, K.C.; Mr. H. P. Macmillan, K.C.; Mr. Adam
Nimmo, chairman of the Scottish Coal Trade Concilia-
tion Board ; Messrs. Wm. Walker and Robert McLaren,
H.M. inspectors of Mines ; Dr. John Horne, late of the
Geological Survey in Scotland ; Mr. James T. Forgie
(Messrs. Wm. Baird and Co.); Mr. David M. Mowat
(Summerlee Iron Company); Mr. George A. Mitchell,
Glasgow; Mr. Walter Dixon, Glasgow; Bailie Lyon,
Edinburgh ; Mr. H. M. Cadell, of Grange; Mr. 0. 0.
Reid, Cowdenbeath, president of the Scottish branch of
the National Association of Colliery Managers; Mr.
Matthew Brown and Mr. H. Gordon Fraser, presidents
of the Scottish branches of the Association of Mining
Electrical Engineers ; Mr. George Gibb (Messrs. James
Nimmo and Co.); Mr, Henry Rowan (Fife Coal Company),
and others.

After the usual loyal toasts had been honoured, the
toast of the evening, “ The Mining Institute of
Scotland,” was proposed by Mr. R. S. Horne, K.C:
Mr. Horne, in the course of an interesting speech, said the
institute had reached to-day the proud position of having
something approaching upon 700 members, and it had done
a great work for the mining industry in Scotland. It had
always struck him that the comparatively safe mines of
Scotland had been given very little consideration when
some of the legislation now on the Statute was being
passed. Legislation, he felt, which was enacted with a
regard to the particular conditions of a particular
district might, if it became a rigid law, be very unfair in
the case of many other districts. Of course, from time to
time there were great calamities which struck the imagina-
tion of everybody, and under the influence of such
calamities as these, the public mind was apt precipi-
tately to rush at entirely erroneous conclusions and to
imagine that these casualties were occurring every
fortnight or every month. Legislation made in these
circumstances was entirely unfair, if they considered the
average casualty that occurred in the industry.

The President, in replying, remarked that this was
only the second annual dinner of the Mining Institute
of Scotland, although it had been in existence for
36 years. That, he thought, was very good evidence of
the fact that the institute did not specially devote itself
to the social side of life. Mining at the time of the
institute’s formation had its centre in the west; but
nowadays there appeared to be a disposition on the part
of mining men in the East of Scotland to congratulate
themselves on the fact that the time was coming when
the centre of the mining industry in Scotland would be
transferred from the west to the east. Personally, he
was not quite so sure of that. When they remembered
that the Lothians were only producing about a tenth
part of the output in Scotland, and when they considered,
further, the limited area which the coalfield of the
Lothians covered, they would see that if the output from
the West of Scotland decreased, it would be rather a
difficult job for the East of Scotland to take its place.
As a matter of fact, he doubted whether Fife and the
Lothians combined could really take the place that had
hitherto been filled by the West of Scotland. The
problems of the East of Scotland coalfields were very
difficult. A great part of the coal was lying under the
Forth, and lying, too, at probably the greatest depth of
any coalseams in the country. Furthermore, there was
a very limited coastline from which to work. Proceeding,
Mr. Hamilton said if they went back to the five years
ending 1857, they found that the death-rate per million
tons of output was I0T5 in Scotland ; while for the five
years ending 1907 it had been reduced to 4’61. That,
he thought, spoke eloquently for the success which
had attended their efforts. It was well known, of
course, that the prices of coal had gone up; but he
thought when they took into consideration higher
wages and increased cost of materials, it would be
found that they were producing coal just as cheap
to-day as when fuel was sold at a low price, especially
when they recalled that the seams were deeper and
much thinner, which necessarily made them more
expensive to work. The institute, along with the
Institution of Mining Engineers, was now endeavouring
to obtain a charter with the object of putting the
federated institutes in a better position in many ways,
not only for the benefit of the members but for the
benefit of the industry as a whole. With such a standing
they might be able to have a better say in the matter of
legislation than they presently had, and, moreover, it
would probably be advantageous in other directions.
The possession of such a charter no doubt would involve
a certain amount of expenditure, but they hoped to be
in a position to meet that largely through the kindness
of their friends, the coalmasters. They made applica-
tion to these gentlemen and had asked them to acknow-
ledge in this tangible form the benefit they had received
from the work of the institute, and he was glad to say
that there was a splendid response to that appeal. He
took, therefore, this opportunity of publicly thanking
the coalowners, on behalf of the members of the
institute, for the manner in which they had responded
to this call made upon them.

Mr. H, P. Macmillan, K C., said he rose to propose
the toast of “ The Mineral Industries of Scotland,” and
he did so with considerable embarrassment. In the first
place, what was a mineral ? It had been his fortune to
spend many hours—not uninteresting hours—in the
investigation of that question, and the result was he had
not the faintest idea what a mineral was. He had beard
the most eminent men and mineralogists state on
oath that coal was not a mineral, shale was not a
mineral, and that ironstone was not a mineral. He
really wondered after all that what was leit. For the
purposes of the toast, however, he was going to take the
exceedingly safe definition which the House of Lords
had adopted—namely, that a mineral was something
which was called a mineral in the vernacular of the
mining world, commercial men and mineowners. After
all. the mining industry was the fundamental industry
of Scotland. It was the mineral industry which had,
indeed, made Scotland what it was. It was quite true
that the mining industry had had a considerable dose of
legislation recently. Indeed, someone told him not long
ago that in consequence of the enormous number of
offences which could be brought against the mine
manager nowadays it was necessary to have two managers
for every pit—one to remain in prison while the other
looked after the business. He was not going to say
much about legislation except this, that he thought the
time had come when they might get a little bit of a rest
with a view to seeing how they got on with what they
had already got.

Mr. Adam Nimmo, chairman of the Scottish Coal
Trade Conciliation Board, in replying, said he should
like to take this opportunity—as in some degree
representing the mineral industries of Scotland—of
testifying to the great value which they all attached to
the Mining Institute of Scotland. She had certainly
encouraged greatly scientific research in their midst;
She had promoted enquiry in regard to the most efficient
mining methods they could adopt, and she had developed
an esprit de corps which had been most helpful indeed to
them in carrying on their undertakings. Speaking on
behalf of those whom he represented in the industry,
he could say that it had been a great pleasure to them
to make the contribution they had done towards the
organisation of the institution’s central offices in
London. It would be the desire of everyone who had
the best interests of the coal trade of Scotland at heart
to support in every possible way an institution so
valuable as the Mining Institute of Scotland.

Other toasts were “ H.M. Inspectors of Mines,” pro-
posed by Mr. D. M. Mowat and acknowledged by
Mr. Wm. Walker, chief inspector of mines for the
Scotland division ; “ Kindred Institutions,” proposed
by Mr. H. M. Cadell, of Grange, and replied to by
Dr. John Horne, formerly of the Geological Survey
in Scotland, and Mr. C. C. Reid, Cowdenbeath, president
of the Scottish branch of the National Association of
Colliery Managers; and “ The Chairman,” proposed by
Mr. J. T. Forgie.

The arrangements for the function, which were very
successful, were carried out with much completeness by
Mr. G. L. Kerr, secretary.

Lomoi TOIL TOMI.

Thursday, February 19.

The London coal trade for the past week has shown a
little more activity, and buying has been slightly better, but
at very low prices. Factors have not yet taken to any
distinct purchasing, from the simple fact that they are still
handicapped with somewhat heavy stocks on hand which
are in many cases causing them considerable difficulty to
dispose of, and if reports are correct, have in many instances
been cleared at a loss rather than incur further siding rent
charges. The merchants who have overbought themselves
during the rush of last month, have entered the ranks of
sellers and are competing one with another, so that the
chances of colliery representatives are very meagre, unless
they are prepared to sacrifice the price very considerably,
and this they are pointedly refraining from doing, as it is
felt on all sides that the winter is not yet at an end, and
with a return to colder weather the prices and the demand
may speedily recover themselves. The London depots are
still short of stock, but merchants are chary of putting more
into stock whilst the present uncertainty in the trade
continues. The present position is one of great perplexity,
for on the one hand there are rumours of a shortage of coal
on account of the critical outlook amongst the miners in the
Rotherham district, by which some 10,000 miners are on
strike. Both the owners and the men are equally firm, and
in the meantime very little coal from the district is coming
forward inro London. On the other hand, whilst the depot
trade is so quiet, merchants are exceedingly careful about
putting more coal into stock whilst the pit prices remain so
high. London gas companies are reported to have bought
very large quantities of German coal, in one case returned
as 1,000,000 tons. The two principal gas companies
in London buy annually about 3,f 00,000 tons, so that
1,000,000 tons less will affect the Durham supplies some-
what seriously. The Egyptian State B always. are
enquiring for about 360,000 tons of Welsh coal, and
about 250,000 tons of Durham coal, to be shipped over
the next six months. Some of this we understand is new
business, so the shipping trade bids fair to continue fairly
busy this summer again. The launch cf the last Thames
ship took place last week. It was a vessel built for the
Turkish Government, but the failure of the Thames Iron-
works adds a melancholy interest to this final launch. The
Kent coal is slowly, but steadily, progressing. The railway
companies near and the local coal merchants have all tried
the coal with varying results, but on Wednesday last the
first freight shipped is reported from Sandwich Haven to
Hammersmith by barge. The seaborne market continues
somewhat dull, but the official quotations are the same—
viz., 21s. 6d. for best Wallsend and 20s. 6d. for seconds.
Yoikshire qualities are, however, the only ones offering on
the marker, and they are quoted at Sharlston Wallsend 22s.
and Sharlston Main at 20s. 6d. The Durham vessels arriv-
ing are all sold under contract. Thirty cargoes are entered
as arriving for Monday’s market and eight for Wednesday’s.
Railborne qualities are exceedingly quiet. The actual
figures taken are frequently Is. 6d. to 2s. below the colliery
quotation's, and the lower figures are frequently the result
of factors and merchants tailing over each other in their
anxiety to lessen the accumulated holdings. The steam
coal market is steady. Best qualities are firm, but seconds
are weaker. Bakers’ nuts are also selling freely, but all
qualities of household fuel are moving very slowly.

from MesoFB;	Md Oo.’g

Friday, February 13.—There was no alteration in the
seaborne house coal market to-day, which remained very
quiet, with no sales made. Best Durham 21s. 6d., seconds
Durham 20s. 6d., Sharlston WE. (Yorks) 22s., Sharlston
Main (Yorks) 20s. 6d; Cargoes 17.

Monday, February 16 —There was a slight improvement
in the tone of the seaborne house coal market to-day, but
no cargoes of either Durham or Yorkshire on offer. Best
Durham 21s. 6d., seconds Durham 20s. 6d., Sharlston W.E.
(Yorks) 22s., Sharlston Main (Yorks) 20s. 6d. Cargoes 30.

Wednesday, February 18.—The seaborne house coal market
was rather quiet to-day, no cargoes being on offer. Best
Durham 21s. 6d., seconds Durham 20s. 6d., Sharlston W.E.
(Yorks) 22s., Sharlston Main (Yorks) 20s. 6d. Cargoes 8.