456

THE COLLIEKY GUARDIAN.

February 27 1914

have no cohesive power, and the pressure on the roof
sides and floor was quite abnormal. When the water
did get into them, just before abandonment, it became
almost impossible to keep the heading open. When the
headways were stopped, No. 1 had gone 1,310 yards, and
No. 2 had reached 1,184 yards. The time occupied in
driving the headings was approximately three years.

The depth below the surface where No. 1 heading
finished was 770 yards, and it will be noticed that the
distance in the shafts from the brick clays to the Deep
coal is 330 yards approximately, so that the Deep and
Shallow coals at the point where No. 1 heading finished
must be 1,100 yards deep. Furthermore, it must be
remembered that the brick clays were still dipping, and
as the coal measures was conformable with them, they
must also be dipping. The depth of the Lower coals
going east must therefore increase, and it is probable
that where they finally flatten out the depth is between
1,150 and 1,200 yards.

The chief reasons for abandoning the headings were
as follow:—

1.	The great depth to the Lower coals.

2.	The very long length of headings that would be
required to get down to that depth.

3.	The difficulty and cost of keeping these roads
open.

4.	The difficulty and cost of working seams at such
great depths.

Discussion.

The President, in opening the discussion, said that
the author had given them an interesting account of an
enterprising undertaking which was entered upon with
scientific accuracy, and reflected credit upon the Aldridge
Colliery Company and its advisers. It was natural that
successes should be more frequently recorded than
failures; but the undertaking described by the author
had thrown light upon a development which was sure to
be taken up in the future. The company no doubt
hoped that the headings would have brought the coal
within their immediate reach, and from this point of
view it was unfortunate. The record had been placed
before them in a clear and interesting manner, and they
were much indebted to the author for it.

Mr. A. Sopwith said that, from a general point of
view, the result of driving the headings described by
Mr. Clark rather proved what appeared to be probable
from the experience gained by driving headings at
the Cannock Chase Colliery. Near the point where
these were driven, the Aldridge fault, running in a north-
westerly direction, intersected the line which, on the
Geological Survey map, marks the first of the down-
throws to the east. The headings at Cannock Chase
were driven just beyond the point where, apparently,
these faults meet. A section of this trial accompanied a
paper read at a meeting of the Institution of Mining
Engineers, held in Birmingham, which would be found
in the Transactions. On going through the fault, from
the horizon of the Deep seam at a depth of 150 yards,
the Shallow Bass and Yard seams were found, practi-
cally, in their relative positions, though dipping at a
very steep angle, but on passing the Yard coal very
confused ground was entered into, and in a length of
about 90 yards only strata representing some 200 yards
of vertical section was passed through, the whole
dipping at an angle of 70 degs. to 80 degs. A curious
thing was that a great thickness of coal was passed
through at one point, and this was made up of seams
very high up in the measures. Bed ground was then
met with, and the headings were driven until the strata
appeared to begin to flatten. One could not do more
than form an ideal section, but after carefully studying
the matter the conclusion was arrived at that the
probability was that the Deep seam would not be found
at a less depth than 1,000 yards from the surface when
the ultimate depth was reached. Without going into
geological details, the trial at Aldridge seemed to bear
similarity with that made at Cannock Chase.

Mr. Cockin thought they would agree that the whole
subject of the great eastern boundary fault was a very
interesting one, and of course that {mining district was
affected to an exceedingly great degree by those two
enormous faults on the east and on the west. He
thought what^had occurred further north might throw
some light upon the subject. At Brereton Colliery
some years ago there was a heading put through the
faults, and at a distance of 153 yards they passed into
the hunter conglomerates. At another place in a boring'
for the South Staffordshire Waterworks Company they
bored to a depth of 166 yards into the sandstone con-
glomerate beds, and then they got a bed of red and blue
marl which was supposed to be the bed of marl
which always occurred between the conglomerate
bed and the coal measures. If that was so the inference
to be drawn was that the eastern boundary fault was
lessening somewhere to the north, and that there must
be some point between Aldridge and Brindley Bank
where the coalseams could be got at a workable depth.

Mr. Hugh Johnstone said that in estimating
the depth at which the coal could be found lying at the
Warwickshire side of the eastern boundary fault he
thought Mr. Clark did not add to the depth, the
depth from the brick clay down to the deep and shallow
coal. This, of course, was based necessarily upon the
assumption that these headings struck the brick clay
near their base. He would like to ask Mr. Clark
whether he found any indication that that was the case.
Another point which would be very interesting to them
was what, roughly, was the cost of driving those long
headings as compared with boring from the surface
farther away from the fault, where probably the ground
was less likely to be disturbed.

Mr. Gbazebrook said that it was not quite clear to
him from the paper whether the faults marked on the
right-hand side of the map shown were known before
they started to drive. Were the faults known from the
Geological Survey to exist, or were they only discovered
at the time the headings were driven ?

Mr. C. F. Jackson thought it would add to the
interest of the paper if they could know the method of
ventilation and the method of driving the headings—
whether compressed air, electric drills, or just ordinary
hand work.

The President, before proposing a vote of thanks to
Mr. Clark, said he would like to ask if any analyses had
been made of the salt water referred to in the paper.
This was not the first paper Mr. Bernard Clark had
contributed, and he knew he was voicing the feeling of
the meeting when he stated that they were always
interested in contributions from his pen. He had great
pleasure in proposing a very hearty vote of thanks to
Mr. Bernard Clark for his paper.

Mr. J. T. Browne, in seconding the vote of thanks,
said the paper presented a type of which they would be
glad to have more. The progress made was approxi-
mately 9 yards per week, and it would be interesting to
know whether mechanical power of any kind was used
in drilling.

The vote was passed with applause.

Mr. W. F. Clark said that he had perhaps better
answer Mr. Johnstone’s question as to costs, as this was
more in his department than in his son’s. It was thought
better to drive headings, because one borehole would
have given them very little information, and their
anxiety was to know whether there was anything worth
working that would be within reach of their existing
plant. Therefore, they came to the conclusion that to
bore in that ground—some of which they knew must be
broken—would be a’very unsatisfactory way of proving
what they wanted to learn. That heading was, of course,
very costly, not on account of the heading itself, but on
account of the enormous cost of maintaining the roads.
They found, particularly in the backing out, that a great
deal of time was taken up in repairing the roads, and by
the time they got into the back again they had again to
begin the repairing. Still, though one borehole would
have cost very much less, they would have required
three or four boreholes, which would have brought the
cost to something approaching that of the headings.

Mr. Bernard Clark thanked the members for the
manner in which they had received his paper. He
thought it a very possible theory that the Deep coal
after a certain distance would probably become less deep
as they went north. The whole question, of course?
depended upon the thickness of those (so-called) per-
mian beds. The mistake they had made was in under-
estimating the thickness of these (so-called) permian
or Keele beds. No one really knew the possible thick-
ness of these beds before they started these proof
headings. Afterwards discoveries were made in
Warwickshire which, with the re-examination of the
Streetly borings and other things, proved to Dr. Walcot
Gibson, .Mr. Cunningham, and Dr. Cantrill that the
possible thickness of these so-called permian beds was
much greater than geologists and mining engineers had
previously believed it to be. The Bunter never reached
any great thickness in this neighbourhood.

He would like to refer them to the Summary of the
Geological Survey of 1911. Beferring to the Streetly
or Little Aston boring, Mr. Cunningham said, speaking
of the pebbles at the bottom of the boring, “The
majority of the pebbles are of foreign origin, even in
the last bands reached, and it is possibly legitimate
to infer that the sandstones, which in Warwickshire
contain only pebbles of local origin, lie below any
rock reached in this boring. If this is correct, the
first workable coal would be nearly 3,000 ft. down, or
possibly more.” This agreed with his own conclusion
that the Deep coal would be reached at somewhere
between 1,150 and 1,200 yards.

Mr. Johnstone had asked whether they knew the
horizon in the brick clays that they finished in. He
(Mr. Clark) considered that they did, because they
passed through the passage beds first, and then into the
brick clays ; thus they knew, practically, exactly where
they were, and in his estimation of the depth of the
Deep coal, he had allowed for a certain thickness of
marl when he added 330 yards on the 770 yards. In
reply to Mr. Grazebrook’s question as to the faults
marked on the map, the only fault that was an actual
proved fault was the main eastern boundary fault, as
proved in the workings. The others were merely those
marked on the map of the Geological Survey. Whether
some of them existed or not, it was rather difficult to
say, but certainly they did find a fault which might be
connected up to the one marked on the map as the
Gainsborough fault.

As regards the ventilation and the method of driving
the headings, crosscuts were put in about every 120
yards, and they used compressed air at 70 lb. pressure
with the ordinary Flottmann hammer drills. The com-
pressed air helped the ventilation considerably, but very
little gas was found. With regard to the salt water, he
regretted that it was never analysed; it seemed to be
not only salt, but also very corrosive, for if a man got
some in a cut it generally resulted in a sore developing.

He regretted that no one had ventured to touch upon
the important question. which he hoped would be
brought up. and that was the existence of coal between

the South Staff ordshire and the Warwickshire coal-
fields. Much had already been said on this subject, but
most of it appeared to him to be far too optimistic.
His own opinion was that coal did lie between these two
coalfields, but bv far the greatest part, if not all of it,
lay at a depth of over 1,150 yards. To sink shafts to
such depths through such measures as they would have
to encounter would entail enormous capital expense,
and he believed that it would be many years, if ever,
before minerals were being worked from this area.

MIHE IfflAHAGERS ARD SURVEYORS’
EXAMINATIONS

Successful Candidates.

The following is a list o successful candidates at the
examination held by the Board for Mining Examinations on
November 25, 26 and 27, 1913:—

For a First-class Certificate of Competency as Manager of a
Mine —Messrs. Peter Anderson, William Ernest Avery,
Henry Bayfield, Percy Bell, George Buchan, Albert Richard
Buffrey, William Chapman, Mortimer Croudace, David
John Davies, George Henry Edwards, Oscar Fisher, Samuel
Cecil Haigh, George Edward Harrison, Thomas Ernest
Howl, Fred Bernard Kerridge, James Lee, Thomas Lomas,
John McKenzie, Charlie Sharpe Magee, Michael Cleeve
Martyn, Thomas Mason, William Thomas Molyneux,
Norman Cecil Parry, John Potter, Charles Potts, Frederick
William Pyatt, Sydney Rayner, John Rhodes, Richard
Grainger Richardson, Marshall Robson, Joseph Severs,
John Taylor Shaw, Charles Sydney Smith, William Henry
Stothard, Charles Cragoe Tailack, Hugh Rhys Tallis,
Gomer Thomas, William Morgan Thomas, Cyril Vernon
Walters, Albert Henry Williams, William Arthur Willis
and Robert Lindsay Wood.

For a Second-class Certificate as Under-manager of a Mine:—
Messrs. James Allcock, William Armstrong, Henry Aston
Henry Athersmith, Hugh Barr, Ernest Betteridge, Walter
Black, Harry Booth, John Champion, Thomas Wilfrid
Charlesworth, John Charlton, Robert Henry Clark, Peter
Corrigan, Andrew Cusack, Benjamin Davies, Joseph Dixon
(Ashington), Richard Jestyn Edwards, Thomas Foster,
George William Glover, John Brown Graham, Thomas
Charles G wynne, George Hanson, Hubert Hinchliff e,
Thomas Howson, John Lloyd Hughes, Peter Hunter,
William Jones, William Lawrie, William Brooks Liddell,
Joseph Henry Lloyd, David McAlpine, William Malcolm,
Richard Moyer Marshall, Richard Melling, Joseph Wain-
wright Millington, Thomas Edward Parker, Henry Pashley,
John Rainford, Thomas William Rees, Frederick Rhodes,
Arthur Riley, John Robson, Joseph Rodman, James Russell,
Thornton, sen., Christopher Simpson, John Henry Spence,
John Cecil Stapleton, Thomas Sylvester, jun., William
Thompson, Frederick Tomlin, John Scott Towle, James
Walker, Peter Walker, James Watt, Ernest Weightman,
Robert Weir, Wilhelm Levi Whittle, and Stanley Wood.

For a Certificate of Qualification as Surveyor of Mines: —
Messrs. Walter William Adam, Gilbert Ivor Adkins
Frederick James Aspinall, William Ernest Avery, Clifford
Beevers, George Henry Austin Bell, Rees Harold Bevan,
Harold Percy Boot, George Godfrey Bourne, Vernon
Richard Brice, James Brown Campbell, Joseph Cooke, Percy
Davis, John Edward England, Robert Bowden Fisher,
James Fullarton, William Ralph Goodacre, Alan Euryn
Griffith, John George Harrison, Thomas Daniel Herbert,
John Alvan Hill, Albert Hook, William Rowland James,
Arthur Mansel Morgan, Daniel Morgan, Richard Callaway
Morgan, Henry Cyril Pecker, George Henry Reynolds, John
Rhodes, Sydney George Rigden, Joseph Norman Roberts,
John Shenton, Henry Picard Smith, John Lyne Vachell,
Alfred Pocock Veale, Henry James Walters, Arthur
William Warburton, and Idris James Williams.

Partnerships Dissolved.—The London Gazette announces
the dissolution of the following partnerships :—J. Denham
and H. V. Davies, engineers and contractors, Newport,
Monmouthshire, under the style of Joseph Denham; J. W.
Fitton and T. Jackson, coal merchants, at Hyde-road, West
Gorton, and Hyde-road Railway Sidings, Manchester, under
the style of J. W. Fitton and Co.

Firemen’s Grievances.—To lay before Mr. R. A. S.
Redmayne, the Chief Inspector of Mines, certain disabilities
under which they suffer in their calling as the men
responsible for the safety of coalmines, a deputation from
the General Federation of Firemen, Examiners, and
Deputies’ Associations of Great Britain was received at the
Home Office on the 19th inst. Among the subjects discussed
was the position of the assistant firemen, examiners, or
deputies. Mr. F. Kean Smith, of Yorkshire, explained
that there is a growing tendency to appoint these
assistants, and the Federation contend that where such
assistants are necessary they should be fully qualified
men of equal status with the firemen and examiners proper.
Mr. J. W. Sumnail, of North Staffordshire, voiced a request
that the examinations for the fireman’s certificate should
be held twice in the year, that all applicants should be
22 years of age, should have had five years’ practical
experience underground, and should by a viva voce examina-
tion show that they possess a knowledge of mining in
general. Mr. Redmayne promised the fullest considera-
tion.