March 27, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

695

The minerals under the railway are owned by the
Concessions Company. The colliery with two 18 ft.
inside diameter pits is on the eastern side of the rail-
way and connected with the South-Eastern and Chatham
system by sidings. On the west of the railway is the
picturesque village of some 40 cottages erected by the
Concessions Company but not included in the sale. The
mineral area attached to Stonehall Colliery consists of
about 1,500 acres, comprising (1) lease by Concessions
Company of minerals under the Stonehall estate, (2) sub-
lease by Concessions Company of minerals under adjacent
land. The terms of sale are: Premium payable on reaching
the first workable seam of coal, which according to the
Stonehall boring will be reached at a depth of 1,500ft. from
the surface, £50,000 in cash, plus 50 per cent, of the profits
of the colliery. The 50 per cent, of the profits may be
commuted for a further sum of £75,000 cash. Total
sale moneys:—First instalment £25,000 (paid); on
reaching the first workable seam of coal, £50,000 ; 50 per
cent, of profits or commuted for £75,000; total
£150,0000; plus surface rentals estimated at £400 per
annum. Royalty in respect of Concessions freeholds,
one-fifteenth selling price of coal at pit, estimated at
lOd. to Is. per ton, equals £5,000 per acre as worked;
wayleave 2d. per ton. The original cost of Stonehall
estate was less than £3,000. In "addition, nearly £6,000
was spent on the Stonehall boring, nearly £3,000 upon
the siding, and some few thousands have been disbursed
upon dead rents in respect of the adjoining freeholds.

Questions were raised at the Dover Town Council
meeting by Councillor E. Chitty as to the advisability
of using Kent coal at the various municipal institutions.
He had ascertained that Tilmanstone coal was now
being used, among other places, by the Sandwich Gas
Company, Ash Gas Company, Folkestone Electricity
Works, Hythe and Sandgate Gas Company, Folkestone
Waterworks, Canterbury Gas and Water Company,
Canterbury Electricity Committee, Milton Regis Gas-
works, &c. The council decided to institute enquiries
and make experiments with a view to using Kent coal
for the various Corporation undertakings.

At a recent meeting of the Folkestone Electric Light
Company, the chairman, Aid. Spurgen, J.P.. said that a
saving of £533 Is. 6d. had been effected on coal during
the year, due mainly to the use of Kent coal which had
arrived, and he thought had come to stay. They had
been using it in connection with their works for about
six months with very good results. He was connected
with two other companies which also used the coal, and
found it very good. He expressed the hope that the
price would be reduced after awhile, when there was a
greater output from the collieries. To enable the
company to derive the full benefit from the use of the
coal, special furnaces had been constructed at a cost of
£1,194. Their engineer had reported very strongly in
favour of this coal, and the results had proved that he
was justified. The Guardians of Thanet Union have
decided to take a sample truck of Tilmanstone coal for
trial at the workhouse.

The Anglo-Westphalian Chislet Colliery Company
have made arrangements whereby their colliery will be
sunk at Westbere Court, in the vicinity of the South-
Eastern and Chatham Railway stations of Sturry and
Grove Ferry.

The Whitstable and Canterbury Coalfields Limited
are arranging to put down a. boring at Harmansole,
Lower Hardres, which work will be carried out by the
foreign firm who were responsible for carrying down
the Betteshanger boring.

A miner named A. Cole was the defendant at the
Dover County Court, on Wednesday, in a claim brought
against him by the Mayor and. Corporation of Dover.
This was a claim for Is. 4d., the proportion of dues
payable on coal brought into Dover by Cole, who stated
he received it from his employers as part of his wages.
Mr. Vosper, the assistant solicitor to the town clerk,
psoduced an old Act of 1778, which first authorised the
then existing local board to raise certain dues, including
coal dues, at the rate of Is. a ton. The Act was a local
one, and entitled “ An Act for the better paving,
cleansing, lighting, and watching of streets and lanes in
this town and in certain parishes for the removing and
preventing of nuisances ,and annoyances therein,” and
section 21 provided that for raising an additional fund
for that purpose there should be paid on coal imported
and brought into or landed and delivered within the
town and port, over and above all other impositions and
duties, Is. for a cauldron containing 36 bushels of coal
or for a ton of coal. There was a subsequent Act of
1810 which authorised an additional due of Is. Defen-
dant said that he worked at a coalmine about 7 miles
from Dover, and received the coal as part allowance of
his wages. The coal was fetched from the mine to his
home. He and other miners employed a man to bring
the coal into Dover for them. He objected to paying
the dues because it was taxing his wages. In other
parts of the country they were allowed the coal as part
of their wages, and he did not see why they should pay.
His Honour (Judge Shortt) held that the miners were
the men who brought the coal in, and they could not get
away from the facts. The miners introduced the coal,
and it was for them to pay. He must give judgment
for the amount claimed.

Scotland.

Electric Winding—Demurrage Charges—A Fireman’s
Naked Light—Lothians Ambulance League.

A contribution of much practical value to the con-
troversy on the efficiency and cost of electric winders
was made at a meeting of the West of Scotland
Branch of the Association of Mining Electrical Engi-
neers, on Friday evening, by Mr. S. A. Simon,. B.A.,
Glasgow (A.E.G. Electric Company Limited). He

explained that he had recently occasion to draw up a
comparison for a concrete case between all-electric
plant and steam winders with mixed pressure turbines.
The former was based on costly Ilgner winding plant,
and the capital expenditure was between 25 per cent,
and 30 per cent, more than for the all-electric plant,
including boilers, pipe work, feed pumps, turbo-gene-
rators, condensers, cooling towers and winders—in fact,
complete plants, but including buildings and founda-
tions which would be assumed the same for both
equipments. With coal costing 3s. 6d. per ton,
a saving for the electric winder was shown
amounting to 20 per cent, on the additional capital
outlay. A material point in this question of electric
winding, continued Mr. Simon, was the cost of fuel.
The higher the price of fuel the better it paid to
increase capital outlay in order to obtain more efficient
plant, and there appeared no doubt that with the
increasing burdens placed on colliery owners due to
modern legislation, and the ever-increasing demands of
the working man for higher pay and better social con-
ditions, the cost of coal was more likely to rise than to
fall. The argument, therefore, that the cheap price of
the fuel used in Scottish collieries did not justify the
higher expense of the more elaborate types of electrical
winders was likely to lose most of its force. Proceeding,
the author maintained that electrical engineers bad to
show mining managers that they could wind coal at least
as well as it was wound by steam, and fulfil most, if not
all, of the functions of the steam winder in the manner
in which those who worked the winder had been accus-
tomed. The electrical engineer must educate the
mining manager as they bad done in the other direc-
tions, so to adopt and alter their methods of working as
gradually to adapt them to the new economic conditions
and available agents which would give the highest
possible efficiency. In conclusion, Mr. Simon observed
that the introduction of electricity for haulage,
pumping, but more particularly for face conveying and
coal-cutting, had already made a notable change in the
working conditions below ground, especially in the
Scottish coalfields, and he had no doubt that mine
managers and owners would in due course appreciate
the advantages as applied to winding, and generally
adapt their winding programme so as to cultivate
electric power to the best possible purpose.

At a meeting of the West of Scotland Branch of the
Association of Mining Electrical Engineers, held on
Friday evening in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow,
Mr. Charles E. Hart read a paper, illustrated by lantern
views, on “ Rock Drills.’*

An ambulance competition, which aroused widespread
interest, was held on Saturday last under the auspices of
the Lothians Mine Workers’ Ambulance League. It
was the first round of the second annual competition for
the shield kindly given by the hon. president of the
League, Lord Murray of .Elibank, and for eight sets of
badges given by the League. The entry of 45 teams was
distinctly gratifying to the committee, on which it should
be said owners and men are equally represented. The
examination arrangements were in the hands of the
St. Andrews Ambulance Association, and gave every
satisfaction. The competition was held at two centres—
Edinburgh for Mid and East Lothian teams, and
Broxburn for West Lothian teams. The general
arrangements were in the hands of local committees,
Mr. R. Ramsay being secretary for the Edinburgh
centre, and Mr. R. Small for the Broxburn centre.
The examination at each centre consisted of three parts
—oral, practical and transport work, and the maximum
number of marks obtainable was 300. The questions
were specially framed to test the ability of the candidates
to render first aid in mining accidents. The following
were the successful teams:—Edinburgh Centre: 1.
Loanhead No. 2 team, 257J marks. 2. Loanhead No. 1
team, 248marks. 3. Prestonlinks No. 1 team,
236^ marks. 4. Prestonlinks No. 2 team, 229 marks.
Broxburn Centre : 1. Roman Camp team, 211 marks.
2. Armadale No. 1 team, 210 marks. 3. Greenrigg
team, 209J marks. 4. Broxburn No. 3 team, 196^
marks. These eight teams will compete ip the final
round in Edinburgh on May 2. The president of the
League is Mr. W. Walker, H.M. divisional inspector
of mines for Scotland, and the hon. secretary Mr. II. J.
Humphrys, H.M. inspector of mines.

An important decision concerning demurrage charges
has been issued in Ayr Sheriff Court by Sheriff Broun.
The case was a test one brought by the Glasgow and
South-Western Railway Company against the Pol-
quhairn Coal Company Limited, Ayr. Pursuers sued
for £48 4s. 6d. in the name of demurrage charges on
certain wagons which had been used by the defenders
for the transport of coal from their collieries at New
Cumnock and Drongan to the harbours of Irvine and
Troon for shipment. The railway company maintained
that the Polqubairn Company had ordered empty wagons
for their traffic ; that these wagons were supplied upon
the condition that the person ordering them was to be
responsible for all the charges, including demurrage, and
that no matter what the bargain was between the coal
company and Mr. Campbell, shipping agent at Troon
and Irvine, they were entitled to claim from the
former all their charges, including the charge
sued for. The railway company founded this contention
upon the terms of a circular which they issued in
August 1908, and upon the fact that the coalmasters
had subsequently ordered the wagons and used them.
The coalmasters, on the other hand, pleaded'that they
had repudiated the circular as soon as issued, and parti-
cularly that portion of it which made them liable for
the charges incurred after the traffic was out of their
hands and beyond their control. The stipulation of the
circular, they said, was ultra vires and could not be
enforced. The case has been pending in Ayr Sheriff
Court since June of last year. Sheriff Broun has
decided in favour of the railway company. He finds

that the pursuers were entitled to make the stipulation
that they did make, and that, as the coalmasters ordered
and used the wagons, they were bound to pay the
demurrage rates, although the delay might be caused by
their customers at the delivery end.

The Fife Colliery Company have decided, if workable,
to introduce a German wireless telephone system into
their collieries. Experiments are being made in the
Lindsay Colliery, Kelty, Fife, and it is stated that good
results are being obtained.

At Dumfries Sheriff Campion and a jury conducted
an enquiry into the circumstances attending the death
of John Black, sen., a fireman, who met his death as the
result of an explosion in Fauldhead Colliery. Kirkconnel,
on February 21. Evidence was led to show that Black,
along with other firemen, was inspecting the working of
the pit preparatory to the miners starting work. No
one saw the accident happen, but it was found after-
wards that an explosion had taken place and Black had
been suffocated by the afterdamp. Near' the body was
found a safety lamp along with an ordinary naked pit
lamp, which it was assumed had been carried by Black,
and his widow stated that he had an open lamp in his
possession when he left home.

cmu mo® m	comm.

Alldays and Onions Pneumatic Engineering Company
Limited.—An interim dividend at the rate of 5 per cent, per
annum (Is. 6d. per share), less income-tax, on the ordinary
shares for the past half-year.

Avery (W. and T.) Limited.—An extraordinary meeting
has unanimously confirmed the resolutions passed on
March 2.

Bedwas Navigation Colliery Company Limited.—The
report for 1913 states that when the output reached 4 200 tons
per week it was found that owing to a scarcity of men their
anticipations with regard to the output and closing of the
capital account could not be realised. The fitting up of the
downcast shaft has been completed, and also openings have
been made in the Big Rock vein. The capital expenditure
during the year has been .£33,196 Ils. 2d. This sum is
greater than was expected last year, and is due to con-
ditions underground requiring a larger supply of com-
pressed air.

Bengal Iron and Steel Company Limited.—The profit
for the year to September 30 last was .£73,792. The balance
brought from last year, after providing for income-tax, was
.£25,130. From this have been paid two years arrears of
preference dividend up to September 30, 1912, £17,048,
leaving a net balance to be brought in of £8,082, making a
total of £81,874. Deduct interest, £388; portion of deben-
ture stock issue charges written off, £500; portion of
Manharpur prospecting and development expenses written
off, £683; leaving £80,303, out of which there has been
transferred to credit of depreciation and colliery sinking
funds £18,649, and debenture stock interest has been paid,
£8,174, leaving a net balance of £53,480. The directors
recommend payment of a dividend of 6 per cent, for the
the year to September 30, 1913, on preference shares,
£8,524, and dividend of 12 per cent, for the year on the
ordinary, £25,437 ; forward, £19,519. To meet the increasing
demand for the company's brands of iron a third furnace
has reeently been put in blast. A new turbo-blower, with
condensing plant, has been installed, and three new stoves
have been erected. In connection with the coke ovens the
board has decided to instal a plant for the ^recovery of
sulphate of ammonia, and an auxiliary plant for making
sulphuric acid. The output of coal was less than previous year,
owing to the flooding of the Ramnagore Colliery in August
last, due to the severe floods in Bengal. The output of the
Noonoodih Colliery was also affected by floods from an
adjacent colliery. The development of the ore workings at
Manharpur continues to show the existence of enormous
bodies of high-class ore. The erection of the aerial ropeway
has been completed. On the exercise of options a sum of
£19,300 debenture stock has been converted into ordinary
shares of a similar nominal amount. Since the close of the
year a further £17,820 has been converted, and the 25,000
ordinary shares which were under option have been applied
for and allotted.

Gammell, Laird and Co. Limited.—The directors report
that trading for 1913 resulted in a profit of £174.126, an
increase of £29,137 over the previous year. As a conse-
quence, it is now possible, not merely to liquidate the
arrears of preference dividend outstanding at end of last
year, but also to permit payment of a small dividend on
the ordinary shares and make a start in building up a
reserve account. The 4 per cent, first mortgage debentures
matured on December 31, 1913, and have been replaced by
a similar issue of stock bearing interest at rate of 5 per
cent, per annum. The Coventry Ordnance Works show a
substantial improvement in the past year, and the interest
in the Workington Iron and Steel Company has proved of
great advantage. The profits, after providing full deprecia-
tion and paying debenture and bank interest and all
charges, amount to £174,126, and £52,834 was brought
forward. The instalment of 2| per cent, on cumulative
preference shares paid in October took £30,631, leaving
£196,329. Directors recommend a final dividend of 5s. per
share on the preference shares, £61 261, and 2s. 6d. per
share on ordinary shares (less tax), £28,692, leaving
£106,376. From this they propose to appropriate for
expense of issue of debenture stock £18,601, for reserve
account £50,000, and carry forward £37,775.

Cleveland and Durham Electric Power Company
Limited.—The report states that, in accordance with a
special resolution confirmed in January last, the end of the
company's financial year was altered from June 30 to
December 31. For the six months ended December last
the gross profits, including the dividend receivable from
the Cleveland and Durham County Electric Power Company
for the year ended December last of £18,900, amounted to
£25,700. After providing for debenture and other interest
there remains £16,175, which, with amount brought forward
from last account, gives an available balance of £18,641.
It is proposed to pay a dividend of 5 per cent, on the
preference shares, to transfer to depreciation and renewals
account £1,000, to reduce expenses of issue of debentures by
£500, and to carry forward the balance of £8,798.