860

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

April 1*7, 1914.

WORKMEM’S COMPEMSATIOM.

(Specially Contributed.)

Question of 46 Overtime.”

Quinn v. Bradford Colliery Company Limited.—In
this case it appears that a man who was formerly a
miner, having been injured, was put to work at the
screens, where he earned £1 2s. 9d. It was said that he
could only do this by working longer hours. It was
alleged that the employers, in order to save themselves
from paying compensation to an injured workman, made
him work from 6 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. every day. This was
to make his wages equal as a screener to the wages he
would have got as a filler by working from 6 a.m. until
2.30 p.m. In the mine, men were prevented by Act of
Parliament from working more than eight hours a day.
On the surface, the working day was eight and a-half
hours, and it was submitted that this was all the
employers should expect of an injured workman.

For the respondents it was contended that the Act did
not profess to give full and complete compensation to
an injured workman. What the Court had to consider
was not whether a workman had to work longer hours
after an accident to earn as much as he did before the
accident, but whether he was able to earn as much. It
was also argued that, as far as surfacemen were con-
cerned, there was no such thing as overtime. Probably
half of the men at the Bradford pit regularly worked
from 6 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. By doing this (which he was quite
able to do), and working until 12 o’clock noon on
Saturdays, the applicant could earn £1 7s. 6d., as com-
pared with £1 7s. as a filler.

The judge said that although, as far as he was aware,
there had been no decision on the first point, he agreed
with his argument, and must consequently dismiss the
application. Although Quinn would have to' work
longer hours to earn the wages of a filler, he would be
working in a better atmosphere and doing lighter work.

Apportionment of Lump Sum between Widow and
Children.

At a meeting of the Merthyr Guardians, some time
ago, a communication was read from Judge Bryn
Roberts as to the principle upon which he apportioned
compensation between a widow and children. Com-
plaint had been made that he gave too much to the
children, the result being that the widow was thrown on
the rates. His Honour replied that the principle which
he adopted in cases where widows were left with young
children was to “ award the largest weekly sum for the
maintenance of each of the dependent children that the
fund at my disposal will admit of for the fund to last until
the youngest child attains the age of 14, which is the
youngest age at which a child can be self-supporting.
This is the only mode by which even justice among the
children can be done. I gather that the desire of the
guardians is that I should in the above cases grant a
larger weekly sum so as to relieve the present ratepayers
of all liability, and if the fund is exhausted while the
younger children are under 14, let the whole burden of
their maintenance fall upon the future ratepayers. I do
not consider it my duty to sacrifice later weekly contri-
butions to the younger children in order to attain this
result, and I do not propose to do so. In one
case you refer to, the weekly sums awarded will
only last until the youngest child attains the age of 14,
and in the other case it will not last so long, but in that
case the eldest child is a boy and will be able to earn a
substantial sum.”

Accident on Colliers’ Train.

Walton v. Tredegar Coal Company.—In this case
(Court of Appeal) the old question—Is a workman
injured on a train going to work the victim of an
accident within the meaning of the Act ?—was presented
in a novel form.

Walton was a collier employed at one of the company’s
pits, and was in the habit of travelling to and from
his work by one of the colliery trains. He left his work
on the afternoon of the day of the accident, and he had
got on to the platform where the train had to start,
and when the train came into the station and while it
was still in motion, Walton rushed forward and caught
hold of the handle of the door of one of the carriages,
was dragged 14 or 15 yards, and he afterwards died.
On those facts the county court judge found that death
was caused by the accident arising out of and in the
course . of his employment, and he therefore made his
award in favour of the dependants.

Neither the platform nor the train was the property
of the company. The deceased entered into an agree-
ment which provided that in consideration of the
company making arrangements with the London and
North-Western Railway Company to enable him to
travel by that railway without any payment, he would
relieve the railway company and the colliery company
from all liability, and that he would give up his privilege
of so travelling when required to do so. Counsel con-
tended that there was no obligation upon the employers
to provide a train, and in these circumstances it could
not be said that the accident arose out of any contract
of service.

At the conclusion of the arguments of counsel for the
appellants, and without calling upon counsel for the
applicant, their lordships held that the case was covered
by authority and dismissed the appeal with costs.

Miscellaneous Cases.

In Nettleingham and Co. v. Powell (Court of Appeal),
where an action was brought for an indemnity against a
liability under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, the

defendants pleaded that they were not liable, because
the plaintiffs had not given them notice of the proceedings
pursuant to Rules 19 and 24 of the Workmen’s Compen-
sation Rules. It was held, however, that these rules bad
no application to proceedings in the High Court, and
judgment was given for the plaintiffs.

*#* We shall be pleased to answer in this column questions
relating' to Workmen's Compensation and Employers3
Liability. All communications must be authenticated by the
name and address of the sender, whether for publication or
not. No notice canbe taken of anonymous communications.

BOOK NOTICES.

The In entor’s &nd Patentee’s Year Book, 1914 By
W. H. Taylor. 5 in. by 7J in. 739 + xxvii. pp.
Price 7s. 6d. net. Manchester : Dexter Press.

This year book gives in simple language a compre-
hensive review of all the salient points in British patent
law and practice, and the procedure to be followed in
applying for patents. Particulars are also given of the
procedure and other matters connected with the pro-
tection of inventions in every patent-issuing country in
the world.

Sell’s Directory of Registered Telegraphic Addresses.
1914. 7 in. x 11 in.; xxxviii + 2,560 + 447 pp.
Price 25s. (including supplement.) London :
Business Dictionaries Limited.

This directory, which has now attained its 29th year
of issue, has practically reached the dignity and
dimensions of an official publication. It contains
alphabetical lists of firms and telegraphic addresses, a
trade directory, colonial and foreign cable address, and
a host of other information. It is a volume that is
frequently consulted for other purposes than merely to
ascertain the telegraphic address.

Natural Sources of Energy. By A. H. Gibson, D.Sc.,
Assoc.M.Inst. C.E. Cambridge University Press.
1913. Price Is. net.

Under the above title, Prof. A. H. Gibson has written
an attractive little volume for the Cambridge Manuals of
Science and Literature series. The subject is one that
appeals forcibly to most thinking people, knowing, as
they do, how intimately modern civilisation is bound up
with the availability of some natural source of energy
capable of performing mechanical functions. Prof.
Gibson, in this small book, has written a capital account
of the various kinds of energy stored up in Nature’s
power-house, some immediately available, and others
awaiting the time when they, in their turn, will be trans-
formed into useful work. At first, the question arises
whether the title of this book is not, in a sense, redundant.
Are there any artificial sources of energy? We think
not. Moreover, it is possible that there may not be
more than one prime source of energy, the energy of
atomic disintegration. It is too soon yet to adopt so
sweeping a generalisation without reserve ; but it is
certainly permissible to adopt this hypothesis tenta-
tively, and to accept the principle of radio-active change
as the fundamental cause of planetary heat, if not of
other manifestations of energy. From this standpoint
the heat of both our sun and our earth may be regarded
as springing from a common cause, and other sources of
energy can be regarded as mere secondary consequences
of planetary heat.

But as a practical man the author, largely ignoring
these abstract speculations, plunges early into practical
problems, such as the coal recources of the world. For
coal is destined to remain for a long time yet the main-
stay of the power user wherever it is available for use.
At the present rate of exhaustion of the coal supplies of
the world, and allowing for 33 per cent, of wastage, the
supply would still last for some 2,500 years. But these
figures give little indication of the effect which dear fuel
will have upon national communities long before the
period of exhaustion arrives. Even as to the probable
duration of the coal supplies of Great Britain there is
considerable variation of opinion, but at best the life
of our coalfields can hardly exceed some 200 years
or so, and may well be considerably less if mining costs
go on increasing at the present rate. Oil fuel of natural
origin, in Prof. Gibson’s opinion, will be exhausted
long before coal. Prof. Gibson computes that about
600 million tons per annum of coal are now used for
power production throughout the world. The most
modern typeof sun-power plant is that recently installed
at Meadi, near Cairo, which has been calculated to give
the same efficiency as a steam plant consuming 3 lb. of
coal per horse-power hour, the cost of coal being 12s. 6d.
per ton, and the cost of the sun-power plant being
assumed to be £33 per horse-power. It is certain that
in many parts of the world exposed for eight or nine
hours a day to tropical sunshine, a vast store of energy
can be thus converted into useful work, and it is difficult
to find any adequate reason why this enormous supply
should not be utilised to a larger extent.

Coming now to water power, we read that the mean
annual rainfall of the world is about 36 in., giving an
average precipitation of about 80 million cubic feet per
square mile of land surface. Assuming an average
available fall of 50 ft., and a storage of 50 per cent, of
the rainfall, this would give roughly 120,000 million
foot-pounds of available energy for every square mile of
gathering ground per annum, or 16-horse power per
working year of 3,000 hours if used in hydraulic
motors having 80 per cent, efficiency. This huge
supply of water power, however, is irregularly
distributed, and although rapid developments are

being made in all the civilised parts of the world, only
a small fraction of the available energy is utilised.
The author has calculated the cost of water power
installations from an analysis of European plants, and
he finds that for large plants of over 10,000-horse power
the minimum cost of the hydraulic works is £8 8s. per
horse-power, and the maximum £79 Ils. per horse-
power. For the majority the cost per horse-power lies
between £25 and £45. The cost of the purely electrical
part of the installation also varies between the wide
limits of £1 5s. to £28 8s. per horse-power, while the
cost of the turbines ranges from £4 to £8 per horse-
power. The total cost per horse-power per annum,
allowing 15 per cent, for interest and depreciation, is
nearly £10 10s., which cannot compete with cheap coal
in a modern steam plant. In favourable situations, as
at Niagara Falls, power is generated at a cost of about
15s. per horse-power per annum ; but this is exceptional.
As a general rule, a modern heat engine plant is
commercially more profitable than hydraulic power,
unless the cost of fuel is abnormally high. Thus the
Victoria Falls Power Company has found it more
advantageous to burn Transvaal coal than to face the
heavy transmission costs in carrying electric current
from the Zambesi. It is in countries like South
America or Scandinavia, where coal supplies are scarce,
that water-power is receiving most consideration, or in
places like Switzerland, North Italy or the Rocky
Mountains of America, where natural conditions are
especially favourable to hydro-electric developments.

This cheap little book is undoubtedly one of the best
in the Cambridge series of manuals. It should be in
the hands of every engineering student, while even older
readers will find both interest and profit in its pages,

THE FREIGHT I0MKET.

On account of the Easter holidays and also, to some
extent, of the incertitude created by the Yorkshire miners’
strike, outward coal chartering has been very limited in
volume this week. On the north-east coast, coasting rates
are based on from 2s. 9d. to 2s. 10jd. to London, from the
Tyne, and on from 3s. l|d. to 3s. 3d. to Hamburg. The
Bay is worth 6d. to Bordeaux. The Baltic has Reval
and Fairwater at 4s. to either port. The Mediterranean is
worth from 7s. to 7s. 3d. to Genoa. At South Wales, Genoa
is based on from 7s. to 7s. 3d. from Cardiff. Coasting ports
are represented by 3s. 6d. to Havre, 3s. 9d. to London, and
4s. to Hamburg. The River Plate has been done at from
Ils. to Ils. 6d. The Clyde is dull and featureless. The
prolongation of the strike has brought about complete
inactivity at the Humber. Homewards, Odessa advices
report that, owing to weak grain markets in consuming
centres, chartering is at a standstill. Tonnage is freely
offered, and rates favour shippers. The forward market is
not bright, and there is not likely to be much improvement
until after the Russian Easter. Business in other directions
is extremely limited, and most rates are easier.

Tyne to Aberdeen, 1,200, 2s., f.d. ; Alexandria, 4,000,
7s. 3d. ; Bagnoli, 4,200, 7s. ; Bordeaux, 2,100, 4s. 6d. ; Bahia,
4,000, 13s. 6d., 200; 13s. 6d., April 27 ; Calais, 2,000, 3s. 6d.;
Cherbourg, 950, 4s. 7|d., from Dunston ; 900, 4s. 9d., from .
Dunston ; Dieppe, 850, 4s. 3d. ; Fairwater, 1,500,4s. ; Genoa,

4.500,	7s. l|d.; 4,000,7s. 3d.; 4,500, 7s.; Hamburg, 2,600,
3s. 3d., from Dunston ; 2,600, 3s. 3d. ; 2,600, 3s. l-|d. ; Las
Palmas, 2,100, 7s.; 3,200, 6s. 9d. ; Lisbon, 3,200, 5s. 3d.;
Madeira, 2,100, 7s. ; Marseilles, 2,500, 7s. 6d. ; Porto
Ferrajo, 4,200, 7s. ; Reval, 2,300, 4s. ; Rotterdam, 2,000, 3s.,
river loading.

Cardiff to Alexandria, 5,000, 6s. lid.; 4,800,7s. 3d.; 4,200,
7s. 4|d., 500; Algiers, 3,800, 7| fr , April 18 ; Ancona, 6,400,
7s. 9d., 600, end April; Barcelona, 3,700, 7s. 6d.; Bahia,
4,000,13s. 3d., April; Brest, J,400, 3s. 6d.; Bombay, 6,000,
Ils. 6d.; 9,000, 11s., April; 7,100,11s. 6d.; Constantinople,
4,400, 7s. 3d., April 20; Catania, 2,500, 7s. 6d., 600,
April 21; Corunna, 4,000, 5s. 9d.; Devonport, 2,400,
Is. 9d., Admiralty; Dakar, 4,000, 7s. 3d., April 20;
Genoa, 5,500, 7s. 3d. ; 5,800, 7s.; 4,800,7s. 3d.; 4,700, 7s. 3d.,
April 20 ; Gibraltar, 1,400, 6s., 500; Havre, 2,200, 3s. 6d. ;
Hamburg, 3,000, 4s.; Islands, 4,800, 6s. 9d., April 20;
London, 1,400, 3s. 9d.; 4,400, 3s. 9d.; Lappvik, 1,600,5s.;
La Rochelle, 2,600, 4| fr. ; Las Palmas, 4,500, 6s. 9d. ;
Lisbon, 1,500, 5s. 3d., 3C0, April 18; Marseilles, 6,000,
8| fr., end April, reported; 6,000, 8| fr.; 3,000, 84 fr. ;
Piraeus, 5,000, 7s., April 20; Portland, Is. 10|d., Admiralty ;
River Plate, 5,700, 11s. 6d.; 5,000, Ils., April 20; Spezzia,
7s. 9d., Genoa terms, April; St. Servan, 1,500, 3s. 7jd. ;
St. Malo, 1,900, 3s. 6d.; 550, 4s. 4|d.; Venice, 5,600, 7s. 9d.,
600.

Newport to Seville, 1,400, 6s. 9d. ; Aguilas, 8s.; Algiers,

3.800,	fr., fuel, April 26.

Swansea to Sousse, 2,000, 104 fr., fuel; Brest, 900,3s. 9d..
Dieppe, 1,300, 4s.; Genoa, 3,400-3,700, 7s. 6d., April;
Catania, 2,500, 7s. 9d. coal, 8s. 6d. fuel; Trapani, 1,500^
8s. 6d., 300; Stockholm, 1,100, 5s. 3d.; Helsingfors, 850, 5s*

Forth to Helsingfors, 2,200, 4s.; Oscarshamn, 1,250, 4s.;
Riga, 2,000, 4s.; Horsens, 700, 4s. 9d.; 780,4s. 6d.; St. Malo,

1.500,	4s. 7|d.

Wales to Iquique, sail, 14s. 6d., less 2 per cent, in lieu of
weighing.

Glasgow to Leghorn, 7s. 3d.; 7s. 6d.; Genoa, 7s. 6d.;
Savona, 7s. 6d.

Emden to Naples, 5,100, 6s. 9d.

Rotterdam to St. Nazaire, 2,300, 4s. 3d.; Barcelona,
4,600, 7s. 6d.; Marseilles, 5,200, 8 fr.

Wear to Bayonne, 1,800, 4s. 9d.; Bordeaux, 2,800, 4s. 6d.;
Stockholm, 1,000, 6s., coke.

Bly th to Sundswall, 2,100, 3s. 10|d.; North Norway,

2.100,	4s. 6d.; Reval, 2,300, 4s.; Walvik, 1,600, 4s.

Glasgow, Manchester and Birkenhead to Bombay and
Chittagong, 18s. 3d., April.

Fife port to Kotka, 3,000, 4s.; 1,500, 4s. l|d.; Genoa,

1.800,	7s. 9d.; Savona, 1,800, 7s. 9d.; Leghorn, 1,800, 7s. 9d.

Rotterdam to Pillau, 1,200, 5 12j fr.; St. Nazaire, 5,000,
4s. 3d.; Malta, 4,000, 5s. 9d.

Seaham Harbour to Wisby, 1,300, 4s. 3d.; Carlscrona,

1.100,	4s. 4|d.; Marseilles, 2,500, 7s. 6d.

Hamburg to copper port West Coast South America,
sail, 16s.

West Hartlepool to Marseilles, 2,500, 7s. 6d.