March 13, 1914. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 579 will place the matter before the Midland Coalowners’ Association for them to deal with as a county question. The men have referred the matter to the Derbyshire Miners’ Association. The management of Hamstead Colliery had a notice posted at the beginning of February to the effect that all men who worked full time up to Easter would be given a bonus in the shape of a day’s pay and that absentees would be prosecuted. In spite of this offer, which originated with a view to dealing with the question of neglect of work, which is particularly serious at Hamstead, the neglect has not ceased and prosecutions have taken place, resulting in fines being imposed. The surface workers employed at the pit of the Glasshoughton and Castleton Colliery Company, dis- satisfied with the progress of the negotiations in regard to wages, decided to “ down tools ” on Wednesday. The Glasshoughton men’s decision was made at a pit-gate meeting when they reached the colliery shortly before six o’clock. A deputation of strikers was appointed to visit other collieries, and after a long parley, about ten o’clock the surfacemen at the Wheldale and Fryston pit were prevailed upon to cease work. The management decided, in consequence, to call out the men below ground. Another deputation visited the New Silkstone and Haigh Moor Colliery Company’s pit at Allerton Bywater, and here again they were successful. A third deputation visited the colliery of Messrs. H. Briggs, Son and Co. Limited at Whit wood, but here their efforts were not successful, work being continued without inter- ruption. About 6,500 men have been thrown idle by the action of the surfacemen. In accordance with instructions from Mr. J. Wads- worth, secretary of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association, the surfacemen who struck work at two Castleford collieries on Wednesday, resumed their occupation yesterday (Thursday). Details of the terms of settle- ment were not made public, but it is stated that the surfacemen’s wages have been settled, and all money is to be paid up. Mr. J. Dixon, financial secretary to the Yorkshire Miners’ Association, speaking at Hoyland, referred to the minimum wage dispute, and after giving statistics as to the strength of the union, said the trouble at Rotherham was costing £2,500 per week. South Wales and Monmouthshire. Workmen at Abergorki took offence because they were not informed of a fatal accident last week and thus enabled to cease work, according to custom, in token of respect for their deceased comrade. They desired to attend the funeral on Monday, and not to be under obligation to work up the lost time; but the manage- ment offered to start work earlier in the day, finish early, and leave one hour to be made up later. This the men refused; and a general stoppage took, place, affecting 2,000 employees. A strike at the Cynon Colliery, near Port Talbot, was settled at the end of last week, after 11 months’ stop- page, affecting 500 men and boys. The difficulty was finally overcome—a question as to payment for “ clod ” <—by intervention of the Conciliation Board, who relegated it to the two chairmen, Mr. Evan Williams and Mr. W. Brace, M.P. It is estimated that probably as much as £30,000 in wages has been lost; and now the men have been accepted terms very little different from those originally offered them. The settlement was confirmed by the Coalowners’ Association, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, however, a startling development took place on Monday, when Mr. Hartshorn (miners’ agent) made a speech to the work- men, in which he announced that the Cynon Company had refused to accept the agreement arrived at. He said that the dispute arose as to the removal of clod between two beds of coal. In one part of the colliery where the clod was not so thick they had, previous to the lock-out, been removing it without payment unless it were more than 1 ft. thick. The company desired to work the two beds in a section where the clod was 2 ft. thick, and the men then sought payment at the rate of id. per ton per inch for all the clod, subse- quently amending their offer and being willing to work 6 in. for nothing. The arrangement agreed by the arbitrators was that there should be no payment up to 12 in. thick, but id. per ton for 12 to 16 inches, and id. per ton above 16 in. Mr. Hartshorn announced that the management declined to accept these terms of the arbitrators, although the men had agreed. Then he added that if the Cynon Company were allowed to set at defiance the agreement reached by the two chairmen®of the Conciliation Board, there was an end even to the pretence of conciliation. So long as the Coalowners’ Association financed the company a settlement was impossible. Referring to the indemnity allowance, he alleged that this enabled the company to pay higher dividends than when the colliery was working. (As a matter of fact, no dividend has been announced, although the company’s year ended with September.) Mr. Hartshorn stated that he was seeking a meeting of the Federation executive and had no hesitation in stating that a crisis would be precipitated in the coalfield of a kind which had not been experienced since 1898. (This is the year when a general strike prevailed for five months.) The whole of the speech and its implied threat proved to be merely gratuitous; for, as previously stated, the settlement was approved by the Coalowners’ Association, and it was only for that approval that the management were waiting. Scotland. The Scottish Coal Trade Conciliation Board will hold a meeting on Monday, March 23, to consider the employers’ application for a reduction of miners’ wages of 25 per cent, on the 1888 basis. Delegates from 20 colliery districts met in conference privately in the Miners’ Office at Dalkeith on Saturday. Mr. Andrew Clarke, Niddrie Collieries, presided, tn connection with the movement to increase the contribu- tions of the miners for organisation and other purposes, and with a view of giving adequate allowances in times of stoppage of work and local and general strikes, it was intimated that various local meetings had lately been held, and that there was a general feeling among the miners that the weekly contribution should be raised from 3d. to 6d. The board unaniously agreed to take a ballot of the miners of Mid and East Lothian on the question as soon as possible. In connection with the movement to level up colliery surface workers’ wages, in regard to which an agitation has been proceeding at the Shotts Colliery Company’s pits at Loanhead, the surfacemen have continued at work on the advice of the Lothian miners’ agent, although they had given in their notice to strike. A number of the men, it is stated, are at present receiving from 3s. 7d. to 3s. lOd. per day, and they desire to have their wages levelled up. The manager undertook to lay the claims of the men before the directors, and a reply has been received by the miners’ officials that they cannot concede a general advance, but will pay 4s. a day to the crane men. This the miners’ officials consider unsatisfactory, as they desire that the surfacemen should all be raised to an equal scale of 4s. It has been decided that unless the rate is conceded to the surface workers without exception, the miners employed at the Loanhead collieries will be brought out on strike. The Iron, Steel and Engineering Trades. The thirty-eighth annual meeting of the Midland Iron and Steel Wages Board—an organisation which regulates wages in Staffordshire, Shropshire, Lanca- shire, South Yorkshire, North and South Wales, Cheshire, and Derbyshire—was held at Birmingham on Monday. Mr. George MacPherson (chairman), in moving the adoption of the report, said last October one Staffordshire and five Lancashire firms were admitted to full membership of the board, and since the report was printed applications had been received from one firm in Yorkshire, two in Derbyshire, and several in South Staffordshire. These had been admitted by the Standing Joint Committee. For 36 years, he said, they had not a strike in any of the firms associated with the board. They had been fortunate in finding a basis for the regulation of wages by a sliding scale. It was com- puted that the board regulated the affairs of some 30,000 workmen, exclusive of those connected with the firms recently added, and the wages of blastfurnacemen in South Staffordshire were regulated by rises and falls declared by the board. With regard to finance, they began the year with a credit balance of £736 and closed with a credit balance of £896. The report was agreed to. CMTIMMTAL HOTBS. Austria. Official Wholesale Coal Prices Vienna Exchange.—Pilsen large, 33 90 kronen per ton in wagon loads, ex Franz- Josefs Bahnhof. Ostrau - Dombrau - Karwin coals: Large 30-31 kr., cubes 29’60-30'60 kr., nuts 29-30 kr., smalls 23-23'20 kr., washed smithy coals 30-30'50 kr., coke 38-40 kr. per ton net cash, ex shutes Nordbahnhof. Bossitz- Zbeschau-Oslawan coals : Best washed smithy coals, coarse or fine, 30'50-31'50 kr., coke 30-32 kr., ex shutes Nord- bahnhof or Staatsbahnhof. Upper Silesian coals : Best large or cubes 32'90-33'70 kr., intermediate large or cubes 32’10-32'90 kr., seconds large or cubes 27'30-28'40 kr., best nuts I. 33'30-34'10 kr., II. 29'60-30'10 kr., best small 23'50-24 kr., seconds 22'50-23 kr. per ton net cash, ex shutes Nordbahnhof. In wagon loads : Best large or cubes 31'30-32'10 kr., nuts 31’70-32'30 kr. per ton, ex Nordbahnhof. Gas coke from the Vienna Gasworks, 33’60- 35'40 kr. per ton, ex works. Lignite : Dux large 2210- 23'60 kr., Brux or Dux cubes 2210-23’60 kr., nuts 21’60- 23 10 kr., Mariaschein cubes 2410-25'60 kr., nuts 23'60- 2510 kr. per ton, ex shutes Franz-Josefs or Nordwest Bahnhof. __________________________ Belgium. Nine Hours Day for Enginemen.—The Bill proposing to limit the hours of winding enginemen to eight hours per day was recently introduced in the Chamberby a Democratic Deputy. It was opposed by the Government on the ground that separate classes of workmen should not be legislated for in this fashion, and that the arrangements at the collieries were such that the men could not be raised and lowered if the enginemen’s hours were restricted to these narrow limits. On the other hand, the representa- tives of the collieries urged that there were numerous small shafts and undertakings which made little demand upon an engineman working even as many as 12 hours per day. Despite the opposition of the Government, the Chamber adopted the Bill in an amended form, limiting the hours of enginemen to nine hours per day. France. Exports and Imports in January.—The following shows ie exports and imports of fuel during January :— Imports. Exports. f~1914. 1913. 1914. 1913? Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Coal ......... 1,521,551 ... 1,351,300 ... 70,677 ... 95,287 Coke......... 202,274 ... 286,400 ... ‘ 11,076 ... 20,842 Briquettes... 105,021... 78,800... 12,750... 9,311 In January, 954,397 tons of coal were imported from Great Britain, as compared with 860,500 tons in the first month of 1913. Belgian imports totalled 301,286 tons, as against 272,400 tons, and German imports 239,104 tons, against 196,000 tons. Our Paris correspondent writes :—There are now no signs^ of the. strike remaining in any of the French coalfields, and work is proceeding normally, although there is a slackening of the vigour which, as I indicated a fortnight ago, seemed to be giving better results from the point of view of output than had been expected. Yet there is refreshing activity among the collieries, prices are strongly maintained, and there are, practically speaking, no stocks of any importance at the pithead. Naturally, the northern collieries only stood to win by the strike in the south and the run on them for home supplies further helped the Belgians where the increased demand, especially in the Borinage district has for the time being, at all events, removed any necessity for reducing prices in that quarter. The French iron trade, too, is continuing its recovery move- ment, and that its coal requirements are also increasing. There is thus not the smallest indication of any weakening of prices in the French coal centres; indeed the pity is that in spite of all their efforts the companies seem unable to do anything to increase their output. It is taking a very conservative estimate to say that France will buy 7,000,000 tons more foreign coal this year than last. To help the situation, the Government has consented to a reduction of railway tariffs on German coal destined for the Central districts, of about 2'50 fr. a ton, and this reduction has now been extended for the whole of the current year, so as to permit of contracts being made on that basis. As pointed out in the Colliery Guardian, the local collieries have little cause for the protest they have raised, as reported last week, because in the first place they cannot even begin to satisfy the demand; while, in the second place, even this reduction brings out the German coal at several francs a ton dearer. In the North contracts are still being made on the basis of 20 fr. a ton pithead for bituminous descriptions in the 20/25 per csnt. through-and-through category. We must look for a still sharper fall in the production when the eight hours day comes into practice. In connec- tion with this, Belgium provides an interesting comparison, where the present nine hours day was introduced gradually by stages during 1911 and 1912. Careful calculations which take into account all the various circumstances show that the men are now producing an average of just over 11 tons per capita per annum less than before the change took place. In some districts, such as Charleroi, the decrease is very much more—viz., over 18 tons, and in the Plateau de Herve over 22 tons per annum. In the issue of 12,000,000 fr. worth of new capital, the Courrieres mines are adopting a somewhat novel method, with the idea of giving existing shareholders every chance to participate. The operation is divided into two. On the one hand, each existing share has the right of subscription to two of the new—neither more nor less—at the par value of 100 fr. In the event of all the old shareholders not coming in (if they do, the entire issue is absorbed), the balance will be publicly issued at a price in the neighbourhood of the present market value, and the premium realised in this way will be given to such non-subscribers in the new issue by way of bonus on their old holdings. As the shares stand just now at over 5,000 fr., by offering the new ones at 100 fr., i.e., par, the company is in reality splitting its scrip—as was the intention. An interesting rumour in the North of France is to the effect that the important Aniche Colliery has under consideration a proposal for a fusion with the big Denain-Anzin iron and steel works. The Aniche mines produce about 2| million tons per annum, chiefly of good coking descriptions. The Denain Company is one of the most enterprising in France, and is the only one showing annual profits exceeding its capital. Some years ago it absorbed the Azincourt Colliery, which lies conveniently to its chief furnaces, of which there are eight now working. Azincourt produces about 111,000 tons of coking coal now, and with a new shaft now completed should shortly give 300,000 tons annually. The Denain Company also exploits valuable concessions in the Lorraine iron ore field, but for its highest class steel it takes a large part of the output of the Somorrostro mine in Spain, in which it has a big financial interest. Germany. Fuel Traffic in Ruhr Harbours, January.—Total railway consignments of coal, coke and briquettes to: Ruhrort 685,881 tons, Duisburg 180,232 tons, Hochfeld 23,561 tons, or 889,675 tons in all. Shipments outward, to: Coblenz and places higher up river 333,968 tons; places below Coblenz 18,291 tons, Holland 342,562 tons, Belgium 219,857 tons, France 21,987 tons, other destinations 22,415 tons. Total shipments from : Ruhrort 575,545 tone, Duisburg, 169,316 tons, Hochfeld 12,423 tons, Rheinpreussen 76,258 tons, Schwelgern 58,934 tons, Walsum 66,604 tons—total 959,080 tons. Ruhr Coal Market.—Except that stocks at the pits have increased considerably, there is little change to report. Since the giving of the frost the trade in house coal has again declined, and the coke market is still in a very unsatisfactory condition. Export figures are being main- tained, and the consignments to South Germany are larger now that the river is in better condition. Coal Market in South Germany.—House fuel is not goings off so well now that the frost has been succeeded by fine weather; and the former brisk demand for large bituminous nuts, anthracite, and broken coke has subsided. Middlemen are holding back as much as possible, being, in view of the reduction in prices on the 1st prox., unwilling to take over more coal than they can reliably dispose of during the current month. For similar reasons, industrial consumers are cutting down their supplies to a minimum. It may be anticipated, however, that there will be a rush for fuel in April. The renewal of annual contracts with retailers and small industrial consumers who buy from dealers is still in progress, and going on smoothly. Outside sellers are offering fuel at below Syndicate prices, notwithstanding which most buyers are continuing to deal with the same firms as before. Contracts for gas coke are also being placed, but, though prices are easier, the distribution is presenting certain difficulties, owing to the slight interest displayed by middlemen. Coal Market in Upper Silesia.—The projected reduction in coal prices on April 3 is expected to apply only to house coal, and therefore is no indication of any unfavourable change in the situation. At present there is no diminution in the volume of traffic in the home market, business being very active and the requirements of consumers difficult to satisfy. On the other hand, in the remoter districts and in the capital, English competition is keener than before, so that prices have to be cut to meet it. Producers in western Germany are also seeking to extend their outlet, and the Austrian demand is falling off owing to the unfavourable industrial situation in that country. That the demand is still extensive is shown by the fact that it is only in a few kinds of coal that the pits are able to lay by any stocks at all. The coal market, too, continues favourable, the reduced pig iron output having had no effect; and stocks are insignificant.