March 6, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

529

the bodies were found. The rescue brigade arrived
in an hour’s time, passed witness, and in about
10 minutes’ time returned with the dead bodies.
The place had been “ bashed off ” for about six weeks.
Albert Edward Harris, fireman at No. 1 Whitworth,
one of the rescue brigade, said they went 30 yards into
the heading, and found the three bodies lying close to
one another. Watkins had an electric light, which was
nearly going out, only the bulb glowing. He had to
ftwait the arrival of the apparatus from Crumlin. If
they had the apparatus they could have gone in much
earlier, but life could not have been saved on this
occasion. Mr. G. E. Golding, the manager, said Parsons
had an ordinary second-class certificate. On the
Saturday morning Parsons mentioned the matter of the
tools to him, and he told him emphatically tha,t if he
could not get anywhere with an ordinary lamp he was
certainly not to go with an electric lamp. He thought
the electric lamp of great benefit provided the men did
not abuse its use. It was a great temptation. Naturally
leaving tools in a place which was permanently bashed
up is a wrong thing to do; someone was negligent or
forgetful. William Buncombe, a collier, the next
witness, said on Friday he went as far as the bashing
with Harris and Parsons. Three-parts of the bashing
had been broken down, and Harris stepped through the
breach. Fie told witness he was pretty good at going
through foul air. Parsons followed, and said if any-
thing was wrong they would shout. They went about a
dozen yards, witness remaining outside, and on their
return Parsons said, “ It is quite possible we can get
the tools with an electric lamp.” When they came
back both the safety lamps were out. The jury returned
a verdict that:—

“We find that these men were suffocated by foul
air in the heading, and that a grave error of judgment
was committed by all three in risking their lives for
the tools, and they thus by misadventure came to
their deaths.”

Northumberland and Durham.

A Co-operative Colliery—Recent Appointments—Deputies
and the Right Hoivrs Act—Re-opening of Benwell
Colliery—Waste Heat from the Collieries—Effect of
Weekly Pays—Blackhall Pits.

At a conference of delegates of South Durham
co-operative societies, held at Coxhoe last Saturday, Mr.
Coley, of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, hinted at
the acquisition in the not-far-distant future of a colliery
to be worked co-operatively.

Mr. T. C. Renwick was the guest of the evening at
the annual dinner of the Lumley Third pit of the Hetton
and Lambton collieries. After 34 years as manager,
Mr. Renwick is retiring, and the occasion was also
taken to welcome Mr. Geo. Dahers, the new manager.
Mr. Conn, the under-manager, outlined the future
developments it is hoped to make at the colliery.

It is reported that the North - Eastern Railway
Company propose to open for passenger traffic the
mineral line from South Shields and Sunderland vid
Washington to Pelton. If this is done, the line from
the coast will be opened right to the west of the county
of Durham as far as Consett and Annfield Plain.

Mr. T. H. Williams, manager of Tynedale Colliery, has
been presented with a silver-mounted stick and a hand-
somely-framed photograph of the ambulance corps in
recognition of his valuable services in organising and
training that body.— Mr. James Fairley, J.P., until
recently the agent of the South Moor Collieries Com-
pany, and Mr. Thomas Makepeace, class instructor, have
been presented with framed photographs of the rescue
station at Hustledown, the members of the brigade and
the officials of the company, as a tribute to the
encouragement they have accorded to the South Moor
and Craghead collieries rescue brigade.—Mr. Edward
Robson, who has been appointed under-manager of the
West Shield Row Colliery in succession to Mr. T. E.
Rutherford, has been made the recipient of a presenta-
tion from the owners, officials and workmen of the South
Derwent Colliery, where he had been employed since
boyhood. His new appointment is under the same firm.

A most interesting case was heard at Consett on
Monday last, when Mr. Alexander Anderson, under-
manager of Lintz Colliery, was charged with having a
deputy working down the mine more than 9J hours,
namely, 13 hours within the 24. Mr. Sheriton Holmes,
on behalf of the Public Prosecutor, said it was the first
case of the kind in the North of England since the
inception of the Eight Hours Act. For the defence it
was contended that the Act allowed the management to
send any man down the mine in the case of emergency
for the safety of property or lives. In this case that
was all that had been done, the deputy having gone
down to remove some coal-cutters in order that the
place might be ready for the fillers next morning. The
magistrates dismissed the case.—At the same court, Mr.
William Braidford, jun., manager of the Lintz Colliery,
was charged with having failed to keep a proper record
of the men entering and leaving the pit. He was also
charged with having failed to keep a competent person
at the top of the shaft for the purpose of receiving and
transmitting signals. The defence was that the man
attending the boilers could easily carry out the two
duties. The magistrates dismissed the case, and refused
to give their reasons for so doing, informing Mr. Holmes
that they would state a case if he appealed. Mr.
Holmes said they were Home Office prosecutions, and
he would proceed in the ordinary way.

The work of pumping the water from the Brockwell
seam of the Benwell Colliery, which was flooded three
years ago, is making good progress. It will be remem-
bered that an inrush of water came upon the workmen,
completely flooding that part of the pit. A huge dam
was constructed to keep back the water, and, in conse-

quence of the accident, a large number of miners were
compelled to leave the district to seek work elsewhere.
Electric machinery is to be installed, and the full
arrangements for pumping the water out are confi-
dently expected to be soon completed. The work of
laying the pipes has been a big task. When the work
is accomplished, two large drifts will be available for
coal-getting, as the opening out of the Beaumont seam
from the Brock well seam had only been working a month
or two before the inrush of water took place. It will, of
course, mean that a large number of men and boys will
be restarted.

At the seventh annual general meeting of the Waste
Heat and Gas Electrical Generating Stations Limited
last week, at the office of the company, 82, Collingwood-
buildings, Dr. J. P. Simpson presided, and said the
company had erected two new installations at Horden
and Shotton. Waste heat from the works of the Horden
Collieries Limited had been utilised for the generation
of electrical power. He thought they could congratulate
themselves that they had a useful company in that
they now supplied a very large amount of cheap power
to the electrical power companies in addition to which
they had, during the past year, paid something over
£10,000 to ironmasters and coalowners in the district for
energy which previously was entirely wasted.

A decrease in the shipment of coals from Seaham
Harbour in the half-year from 1,063,900 tons to 1,024,100
tons was explained by M.r. S. J. Ditchfield, who
presided at the half-yearly meeting of the Seaham
Harbour Dock Company, as being partly due to the
system of weekly pays at the collieries. He said that
since the system had been introduced the output had
decreased, while the high rate of wages paid to miners
had resulted in an increased amount of lost time.

Blackball rocks and the immediate district is one of
the most beautiful spots on the Durham coast. The
large colliery recently opened there by the Horden
Collieries is not going to detract from the beauty of the
place, as the whole of the work will be done by electricity,
supplied by the Cleveland and Durham County Power
Company. There are two shafts, each more than
1,100 ft. deep and 22 ft. in diameter. At present,
though not yet in full swing, the output is 500 tons per
day. It is expected that, in the course of a few years,
from 2,000 to 3,000 hands will be employed, and an out-
put of from 3,000 to 4,000 tons per day will be realised.
One thousand houses are to be built, and, judging by
those already erected, the village of Blackball is likely
to become a model mining village in the real sense of
the word. Already the usual social institutions in an
industrial village are springing up under excellent
conditions. The ambitious and commendable scheme
of a village park is being considered. Surrounding this
village park, sites are reserved for a church, vicarage,
school, hospital, single men’s boarding-house, miners’
institute, workmen’s club, theatre, swimming bath, &c.
The cost of the enterprise is stated to be £360,000.

Cleveland.

A breach of the Mines Regulation Act led to the
appearance recently at the Middlesbrough County Police
Court of George Ord, a miner employed in the Eston
mines of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and Co. Limited.
Mr. T. Belk, who prosecuted, explained that the pro-
ceedings were taken under the Mines Act of 1911, which
declared that when a person fired a shot in a mine he
should make a careful examination to see that the place
was safe to work in. On January 22 the defendant and
a man named Allison were working together in the
mine. The former fired a shot, which went off all right,
and they then went back to the working place. A few
minutes afterwards there was an accident, and, unfortu-
nately, Allison was killed by a fall of stone. A deputy
named Bean, in reply to the defendant, said there was a
custom in the mine that two or three shots were fired
before an examination was made. He had seen it done.
Mr. Arthur Hedley, general mines manager for the firm,
stated that they knew in Cleveland that the practice
referred to had l?een carried out in many mines, and by
the issue of the regulations they hoped to stop it. He
had not heard of it since then. The Bench decided to
caution the defendant. A conviction was recorded.

Cumberland.

Coke Developments—Electric Power Supply.

Mr. T. Hartley, at the Railway Company’s meeting at
Mary port, referred to the rapid growth of the by-
product coke ovens in West Cumberland. The local
coke has proved sufficiently good for the manufacture
of ordinary iron such as is used at Barrow and Working-
ton for conversion into the steel required for rails
and plates, and it is not even certain that it will not
suffice for some of the brands of the special iron made
on this coast. It is significant, at all events, that the
Millom Iron Company, whose reputation of high-class
iron stands second to none, have put £40,000 into the
new company which has taken over the Whitehaven
•collieries, and is going to lay down a battery of
by-product coke ovens there. Barely 3,000 tons of east
coast coke now come into West Cumberland per week,
and the day may arrive when the Furness Company will
be deprived of a large proportion of the 15,000 tons
which the east coast sends every week to the 11 furnaces
in blast in that district. The saving effected by smelters
in taking local instead of east coast coke is enormous.
One of the Combine directors calculated it to be from
£120,000 to £150,000 on an annual output of 600,000
tons.

Messrs. Clark, of Camerton, have bought Moorhouse
Guards Colliery and Brickworks from Councillor W.
Thomas, Westfield, to whom they were recently knocked
down in public auction.

An interesting presentation took place at the offices
of Messrs. Vickers Limited, Barrow, on Tuesday evening,
when Mr. H. C. Reynolds—an official of Messrs. W. B.
Peat and Co.—was the recipient of a gold watch and
chain from the members of the commercial staff of
Vickers Limited, on his appointment as secretary to the
Whitehaven Colliery Company, which will necessitate
the severing of his connection with his present firm and
with Messrs. Vickers in the auditing department.
Mr. Reynolds commences his new duties on Monday.

West Cumberland is to be electrified after all. At a
recent Local Government Board enquiry, regarding
gasworks extensions at Workington, the Town Clerk
(Mr. John Warwick) stated that there had been several
attempts to start electrical companies in the district,
but that they had all failed owing to the great success
of the town’s gas supply ; but the latest venture suggests
the possibility of electricity being made so cheaply as to
be a dangerous rival for the power and lighting contracts
of the district. The conversion of the waste heat of
ironworks, &c., for which purpose the Cumberland
Waste Heat Owners’ Company Limited has been formed,
is a proved success on the east coast, and the gentlemen
who are the promoters of the company have a similar
plant at the Seaton Carew ironworks. It therefore seems
certain that the scheme has come to stay. A site has
been secured at the works of the Whitehaven Haematite
Iron and Steel Company, Cleator Moor, facing the
London and North-Western and Furness Joint Railway.
The waste heat of the works in the district will be
gathered, converted into electricity and distributed to
mines, works and public bodies for power and lighting
purposes. The company will also act as direct suppliers
of electrical energy, and Cleator Moor will have the first
power station erected.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Facilities at Partington—Garden Village at Astley—
Gases and Dust in Mines—The Manchester Ship Canal.
The Manchester Ship Canal Company have decided
to carry out improvements at the Partington tips on the
canal, with a view to facilitating the loading of vessels
with bunker and export coal, complaints having been
made respecting delay in the loading. Large quantities
of coal drawn from South Yorkshire and the North
Midlands, as well as from South Lancashire, are now
dealt with at the Partington tips.

South Lancashire as well as South Yorkshire is to
have a model colliery village. The Clifton and Kersley
Coal Company Limited have acquired an admirable site
off Leigh-road—adjoining the main road from Man-
chester to Leigh—at Astley in South Lancashire, a
short distance from the extensive new collieries which
they are opening out there. They propose laying it out
as a miniature garden city, 270 or 280 houses for the
accommodation of their workpeople to be erected during
the coming summer.

We learn that Capt. H. V. Hart-Davis, who has been
head steward of the Earl of Ellesmere’s estates and
colliery properties in South-East Lancashire for many
years, will be succeeded during the coming summer by
Mr. Charles Hardy, a son-in-law of the Earl and
Countess of Ellesmere.

At a meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Colliery
Firemen’s Association, held recently, at Ashton-under-
Lyne, Mr. N. T. Williams, B.Sc. (mining lecturer at
Manchester University and School of Technology), gave
a lecture on “ Gases and Coaldust in Mines.” Mr.
Ollerenshaw, general manager, Denton Colliery,
presided. In the course of his lecture, Mr. Williams
said that no matter how well-trained and capable the
officials might be, as long as a large number of the
workers were unable to understand, or were indifferent
to, the sources of danger, there would be a large number
of avoidable accidents occurring in mines. The miners’
unions would do more good in advocating a better
system of training the men in lessening accidents in
mines than in pressing for more stringent State control.
In Lancashire, over 100,000 men were engaged in mining,
and of these not more than 1,000 attended evening classes.
They could not deny the growing craze for evening
amusements among the rising generation of miners,
with accompanying loss of rest, and through insufficient
sleep they lacked that mental alertness which is so
imperative to safety in mines. There was also abundance
of mining rules that had very little to do with the safety
of mines. The mining official is hemmed into water-
tight compartments of regulations, and the time spent
in trying to master the rules might be better employed
in studying the problems of his particular mine. If
they read rightly the signs of the time, there would be
further curtailment of the official authority and more
State interference. Mr.Williams ventured to submit that
the powers of the mine official should be supported and
extended for maintaining discipline, and a system of
mining education instituted for boys in mining localities
after they left the primary schools.

Mr. Williams then dealt with mine gases and coal-
dust, illustrating his remarks by experiments. He
expressed the opinion that, acccording to the returns of
analyses of mine air in the Chief Inspector’s report for
last year, the established standard of ventilation could
only be regarded as reasonable and not difficult to
attain.

The report of the Manchester Ship Canal Company
for 1913 shows that 5,780,101 tons of toll-paying
merchandise passed over the ship canal during the year,
as compared with 5,339,884 tons in 1912. There were
carried over the company’s railways 1,658,340 tons of
coal, coke and patent fuel, and the receipts therefrom
were £21,591, or 3T2d. per ton. There are now 146
miles of railway (single track) owned by the company,
including sidings, and 51 miles of canal.