528

T’HE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

March 6, 1914.

getting 5s. Id. will get 5s. 5d. The machine-face men
also participate in the increase. The trammers
originally asked for 5d. increase, but this the colliers
would not agree to, and alternatively suggested 3d.

The dispute at the coke-oven works at Pinxton
Collieries came up for consideration at the monthly
council meeting of the Notts Miners’ Association on
Saturday, February 28, when Mr. G. A. Spencer
(president) was in the chair, supported by Mr. J. G.
Hancock, M.P. (agent), and the other officials. It was
reported that the branches had voted in favour of per-
mission being granted to the coke-oven employees to
hand in a fortnight’s notice with a view to obtaining
increased wages, reduced working hours and improved
conditions. The decision of the branches was endorsed
by the council.

The minimum wage question was raised at a
meeting of the Cannock Chase Miners’ Association, at
Hednesford, on Friday last, when Mr. A. Stanley, M.P.,
stated that it had been decided that the desired amend-
ments should be put into writing and submitted to the
owners, who would consider them and ultimately deal
with the matter at a meeting of the Joint District
Board. The amendments are : (a) Abolition of the two
weeks average in favour of one week; (5) increasing the
minimum for men, particularly stallmen in abnormal
places; and (c). rearrangement of the boys’ list to
include advances secured from the Conciliation Board
and to give a uniform system, thereby avoiding boys at
one colliery being paid less than at another. It was
also mentioned that the Conciliation Board was dealing
with the proposal for abolition of the 1888 basis, and
the substitution of a new basis 50 per cent, higher.

The extensive neglect of work prevailing in the
Pelsall and Cannock Chase districts culminated recently
in 11 miners being summoned by the Holly Bank
Colliery of Essington. It was pointed out that the
matter was particularly serious in the case of a colliery
of the size of Holly Bank. Damages of 10s. in respect
of each man were claimed and awarded, together with
costs. An interesting suggestion has been made in the
above districts in regard to safety, it having been
advanced that a compulsory condition of commence-
ment of employment should be that all miners must
demonstrate their knowledge of the rules applicable to
their particular classes of work.

Throughout the South Staffordshire and East
Worcestershire mining area, notices were tendered on
Saturday on behalf of colliery engine-winders and
stokers to terminate agreements in a fortnight unless
certain grievances in reference to wages are removed.
Negotiations took place between Sir Gilbert Claughton,
acting on behalf of Mr. C. Tryon (chairman of the
Coalmasters’ Association), and Aid. Harper Parker
(general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of
Engine Winders and Stokers). An agreement was
arrived at last year fixing three rates of wages for
engine-winders of 6s. 3d., 5s. 8d. and 5s. 4d. per shift. A
dispute arose at the Himley collieries, belonging to
Lord Dudley, in consequence of the management
insisting, it was alleged, upon fresh winding-enginemen
going on at the lowest rate—5s. 4d. The dispute has, how-
ever, been settled on a satisfactory basis. The terms of
settlement will be laid before meetings of the men.

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

It was reported to the meeting of Rhymney district
miners, which has a membership of about 10,000, that
cases existed where men alleged they had been dis-
charged from a colliery for making a claim for the
minimum wage; and the miners’ agent said that in any
case of this nature which could be proved, the executive
council and the whole of the Federation’s resources
would be placed at the disposal of such men.

The Federation executive decided at its meeting
last week that general “ show cards ” should take
place throughout the whole coalfield.

On March 14, the members of the South Wales
Miners’ Federation are to be balloted upon the question
of increasing their contributions to the funds.

Scotland.

The executive committee of the Lanarkshire Miners’
Association met in Glasgow on Saturday. A complaint
was submitted from members employed in the Summer-
lee Iron Company’s Braidhurst Colliery, near Motherwell,
alleging that they were compelled to sign off under the
Minimum Wage Act. It was agreed to stop the colliery
until the company abandoned this method of dealing
with wages complaints.

The miners in Howmuir pit, Cleland, belonging to
the Auchinlea Coal Company, have gone on strike.

The Iron, Steel and Engineering Trades.

Some 250 ironworkers employed at the Partington
Iron and Steel Works have struck. The men, who are
blastfurnace and coke workers, are employed on three
shifts of eight hours’ duration each, and they allege
that the wages of about 4s. to 5s. 6d. a shift are
insufficient on account of the trying character of the
work. The executive of the Blastfurnacemen’s Associa-
tion, at Workington, having come out against the
advice of their union, cannot receive support from the
association, and recommend them to allow their dispute,
which is concerned with a rearrangement of rates of
pay, to be settled apart from that affecting the coke-
workers, whose claim for recognition, it is alleged, arises
from the quarrel between the Cokeworkers’ Association
and the Steel Smelters’ Association.

An agitation is taking place among the men engaged
in the engineering trades of Sheffield for better con-
ditions. An application has been made to the employers
on behalf of 9,000 men, comprising engineers, steam-
engine makers, blacksmiths, machine - tool makers,
machine workers, pattern makers and boiler makers, for an
all-round advance of 5s. per week, an eight hours day, and
a restriction of the hours of overtime, pending the
termination of an agreement that has been in force
between the masters and men for the last five years.

Notes from the Coalfields.

[Local Correspondence.]

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

Railway Meetings and Coal Trade Developments—New
Patent Fuel Works—Port Talbot's Conveyor Belts
for Coal—Calls for More Docks—Ocean Company
Puts up Pithead Baths—Additional Tips at Barry
—Cazistic Criticism of Home Office—Mr. Joseph
Shaw on Labour and Legislation—American v. Welsh
Coal—Mr. D. A. Thomas on Colliers' Hours and
Earnings—More Miners Wanted—Three Men Killed
at Tredegar—The Temptation of Electric Lamps.

Addressing the shareholders of the Barry Company,
Lord Plymouth said that during the past year £19,875
had been expended in respect of additional coal-shipping
accommodation, as well as £9,400 for additional hydraulic
power. In connection with the new tips and machinery
they would, during the current year, spend £45,000 on
additional sidings and rolling stock, as well as £87,000
on dock equipment, the greater part of the latter item
being for coal-shipping purposes. They had bought
200 acres of land on the eastern side of the company’s
property, and had already made an agreement for the con-
struction of large patent fuel works there, and were under
negotiation with the promoters of other works. Out of
the six additional coaltips, one had already been brought
into operation.

At the meeting of the Rhymney Kailway Company,
Mr. G. L. Clark, chairman, referred to the extension of
the undertaking, rendered necessary by the growth of
the coal trade, and stated that among improvements
effected were widening and sidings at Tunnel South,
widening from Ystrad to Pwllpant, and also from
Llanishen to Heath North.

The meeting of the Brecon and Merthyr Kailway
Company, whose line carries Khymney Valley coal to
Newport, gave abundant proof of the immense develop-
ments that are in progress in that area. The chairman
said developments of the collieries were taking place
steadily at Bedwas, where the output was now about
800 tons per day, and before long they hoped it would
be five times that amount. They had entered into close
alliance with the Alexandra Docks Company at Newport,
and Lord Tredegar had accepted a seat on their board.
The docks company would be allowed to run over the
Brecon and Merthyr line, and he thought the agreement
would prove very advantageous. At a special meeting
afterwards held, sanction was given for promotion of a
Bill to acquire additional lands, and (among other
objects) to confer additional running powers over the
Bargoed branch line of the Khymney Kailway Company.
This is the line whereby the Brecon and Merthyr get
access to the upper colliery of the Khymney Iron
Company.

The report of the Gieat Western Railway Company
also shows the progress of the South Wales district, for
it refers to the scheme for the enlargement of Newport
Station, the widening of the bridge over the river Usk,
and the erection of new goods offices. An outlay of at
least £120,000 is estimated to be required during the
ensuing 12 months in South Wales for loop lines,
refnge sidings, and additional accommodation of this
character. A sum of £35,000 will be laid out at Swansea,
in addition to which new lines at Clydach, Pontardawe,
Cwmcarn, &c., are needed.

At the shareholders’ meeting of the Port Talbot Com-
pany, the chairman said that the increase of import
trade and of the patent fuel shipments at the Crown
Wharf had necessitated extension of the wharves. A
new wharf of 600 ft. would be used principally for the
steelworks. New lock gates would be ready by Easter.
In connection with the increase of their coal traffic, con-
tracts had been made for the erection of three stages for
shipment of coal by conveyor belts on the system now in
use in the north of England.

Speaking at the High Sheriff’s luncheon, Cardiff
Assizes, on Tuesday, Mr. H. Radcliffe, chief partner in
one of the largest firms of “ tramp ” steamship owners,
referred to the insufficiency of dock accommodation,
and the chairman of the Powell Duffryn Company
(Mr. J. Shaw) took up the same subject at the share-
holders’ meeting. Referring to their increased output,
he said it was difficult to get accommodation at Cardiff
Docks. He had been trying to bring pressure upon
some of the dock managers to increase their accommo-
dation ahead, so that when the larger output now in
sight did arrive, they would have the means of dealing
with it. The extension at Newport and additional tips
at Cardiff and Barry were not sufficient to meet the
need.

The Ocean Company are contemplating the erection
of pithead baths at their Treharris undertaking, and
application has been made to the Merthyr Committee
for a further supply of water, the estimate being that
about 10 gallons per head will be needed. Mr. W.
Jenkins, one of the directors of the Ocean Company,
who wrote to the committee, estimated that about 50 per
cent, of the men might at first take advantage of the
new provision.

Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., of New-
castle, have completed their new cranes alongside the
No. 2 dock at Barry, thus increasing the cranage avail-
able for discharge of pitwood, &c. It is expected they
will start work this week in the erection of new tips on
No. 1 dock, for which the foundations and lines have
already been prepared. The tips are five in number,
and will give an additional shipping power of between
one and a-half and two millions of tons per annum.

Mr. Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Powell Duffryn
Company, at the shareholders’ meeting, on Tuesday,
made a speech of special interest, largely in criticism of
labour and of Home Office action and intentions.

Referring to the colliery itself, he said that the new
Britannia pits had been sunk entirely by electricity,
power for which had been provided by the gas engines
driven by waste gases from the coke ovens, combined
with exhaust steam. These colliery works had the
unique distinction of being without a single chimney.
They had increased their capital from £1,134,375 to
£1,675,782, beause they were in a ridiculous position,
having such a small capital and such a large return.
Capitalisation came out last year at only 5s. per ton.
Labour trouble was the present difficulty that faced
them. Yet the men were earning good wages.

Another trouble, he said, was that Parliament was
no longer 'composed of business men, but of political
bagmen. A ct after Act had been passed affecting the
coal trade. The Mines Act was a curious piece of
legislation which gave the Home Office the right to
make rules. By this he assumed was meant a certain
number of clerks in that Department had the power of
an Act of Parliament, without hearing what practical
engineers had to say. They were put into the hands of
officials at the Home Office, who were without practical
experience, and of inspectors—some of whom were good
men, but some had had no experience, and some no
colliery would take on at 5s. per week. He was certain
that a great many of the rules had caused more risk and
more loss of life. Mr. Shaw added that they were taking
all possible steps to ensure safety underground, and had
found an electric lamp with which they hoped shortly
to replace all the oil lamps in their pit.

The observations of Mr. D. A. Thomas (Cambrian
Combine) upon coal trade affairs are always followed
closely, and seldom fail to evoke comment.—Parentheti-
cally, it may be mentioned that he has just left this
country for six weeks’ business tour in America, where
he has acquired coal interests both in the United States
and Canada.—Speaking at the annual meeting of share-
holders in the Combine, he described the outlook for the
coming year as distinctly encouraging. . A great propor-
tion of their large coal was under contract at Is. per ton
more than they were able to get last year. There was
little to fear from competition by oil; for although its
efficiency in steam-raising was double that of coal, its
cost was four times as great. He was much more
alarmed at the threatened competition of American coal;
for in West Virginia there were large areas of coal little
inferior to our Admiralty coal, and when the Panama
Canal was opened he had not much hope that Welsh
coal would be used there.

Probably, however, the more striking part of
Mr. Thomas’s speech was that wherein he referred to
the circumstances of the collier. He was astonished at
the astounding ignorance prevailing in this respect.
How many persons, he asked, realised that the collier
was one of the most highly-paid men, that his hours
were shorter than those of other wage-earners, and, above
all, that his employment was one of the most healthy.
The average wage of man and boy in South Wales was
more than £2 per week, the employment was regular,
and the expectation of life (taking all accidents into
account) was longer than that of other workers except
gardeners and agricultural labourers. The collier was
paid, on an average, Is. per hour for his work of eight
hours per day.

It is also worth emphasising one other statement of
Mr. Thomas—namely,.that at their Britannic Colliery
they had room for several hundreds more men, if these
were available. One thousand tons per day were now
being raised, but the colliery had been laid out for 3,000
tons per day.

In connection with the transfer of the Meiros and
Cwmciwc collieries, near Llanharran, it is anticipated
that besides developments underground, which will
furnish employment for several hundreds of additional
men, the new proprietors (namely, the Pelton Collieries,
Durham) will instal complete coking and by-product
recovery plant. At present, the No. 3 Rhondda and the
Pentre seam have been worked, and it is expected that
deeper sinkings will be ordered.

At the annual meeting of the South Wales Colliery
Officials’ Association, held in Pontypridd on Saturday, the
officers were re-elected:—President, Mr. T. Williams
(Mountain Ash); hon. treasurer, Mr. Leonard Llewellyn;
hon. secretary, Mr. W. W. Hood. A paper on rescue
work, which had been read at a previous meeting by
Mr. S. W. Richards, was discussed, and another on
analysis of mine air by Mr. J. W. Hutchinson and Mr.
Edgar Evans.

Colliery examiners held the annual meeting of. their
association on Saturday, in Cardiff, and elected Mr. M.
Dyer (Cilfynydd) as president for the coming year; Mr.
G. Turner (Abertillery), vice-president; Mr. H. Richards
(Ferndale), hon. treasurer; Mr. D. G. Price (Tylors-
town), hon. secretary; with Mr. W. Fro wen and Mr. T.
Morgan as organisers. It was decided to issue in book
form a report by the two organisers upon the Home
Office enquiry into the Senghenydd explosion.

Mr. J. B. Walford last week held an inquest at
Tredegar on the three victims of an accident at the
Whitworth Colliery. They were: Joseph Parsons (44),
under-manager; William John Harris (44), overman;
William Watkins (26), fireman. Samuel Lewis, a haulier,
the last man to see the three victims alive, said he saw
Parsons and Harris at 1.10 p.m about 70 or 80 yards
away from the “ bashed-off ” heading in which the men
lost their lives. Richard Moore, shotsman at the
colliery, said Watkins had told him if he could get an
electric lamp he was going to try and get in to fetch
John Tipping’s tools. Just outside the bashing was a
lighted safety lamp. Witness tried to get through the
hole, lamp first. The lamp nearly went out, so witness
did not try to get through. Mr. Golding, the manager,
then arrived. After steps had been taken to ventilate
the place they were able to pass the bashing and get to
a point which proved to be about 15 yards from where