April 24, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN,

911

preliminary mining classes have now become a perma-
nent feature in the centres where mining instruction is
given, and during the past year such classes were
carried on at eleven out of fourteen centres. It is from
all points of view, says the committee, highly desirable
that all students should spend at least a year in a
preliminary class, as in this way only can the standard
of work in the advanced classes be raised.

The Midlands.

Mineral Rights Duty : Important Staffordshire Appeal—
Opening of the Stoke Mining School—Fire at Kings-
bury Colliery—North Staffordshire Relief Fund.

The appeal of Harrison v. The Commissioners of
Inland Revenue, heard on February 11 by Mr. H. Eustace
Mitton, of Codnor, Derbyshire, an official referee under
the Finance Act, involved appeals against assess-
ments to mineral rights duty on the rents received
by the appellants, William Harrison Limited and
others, under mining leases granted by them of
various properties at South Offlow and Cuttlestone,
Staffordshire, and the reserved decision has now been
delivered. At the hearing, Mr. J. Bentley, for the
appellants, pointed out, in respect of three assessments,
that the damage to the surface was considerable, and
that, as part of the rents represented payment for injury
to the surface, the rental value for the purpose of assess-
ment to duty should be reduced by that amount. There
was a general principle involved in the appeals. In the
case where the minerals and the surface were in separate
ownerships, he contended that the only person liable to
be taxed was the person who granted the right to work
the minerals by virtue of ownership, and that the surface
owner would not be liable to duty, although he received
a benefit; also that, in the case where minerals and
surface were in the same ownership, the minerals must be
treated separately for all purposes, and the part of the
rent, which represented a return for damage to the
surface, was not liable to assessment. Seeing the
Legislature had in mind minerals pure and simple, he
maintained the owner could, divide himself into two
capacities—one as owner of the minerals, and the other
as owner of the surface. All the leases stood practically
on the same footing, and Mr. F. W. Kingdon (for the
Commissioners) took for the purposes of his reply
No. 39, which gave to the lessees power to get the
minerals, without leaving subjacent or adjacent support.
The Joicey appeal, he urged, showed by implication
that, in the case where a man had a right to get minerals
and could grant that right, it was immaterial what the
payment represented to the lessor when he received it.
The payment was all in respect of the right to work
minerals, and the lessor knew of the impending damage
when he granted the right; and they could not split up
the payment into the economic factors, of profit and
recoupment for damage, in the mind of the lessor. In
the matter of these three assessments, the Referee states
that he was not satisfied from the arguments of both sides
that any part of the rents assessed represented payment
for injury to surface lands. He found the assessments
properly made, and ordered the appellants to pay the
expenses incurred by the Commissioners. It was agreed
at the hearing that the appeals in respect of the two
remaining assessments touching minerals underlying
copyhold land should stand over for investigation by
the Commissioners on the ground that, as claimed by
the appellants, they were governed by the decision of
the Court of Appeal, in Commissioners of Inland
Revenue v. Joicey, given on May 1, 1913, in favour
of the respondent, Mr. James Joicey, who is a copy-
holder in the Manor of Lanchester, Durham.

The annual meeting of the North Staffordshire Coal
and Ironstone Workers’ Permanent Relief Society was
held at Stoke-on-Trent last week, Mr. E. Smith, a
member of the committee of management, presiding.
In their annual report, the committee stated that at the
end of last year the membership was 4,241—a decrease
of 202 on the previous year. There were three fatal
accidents to full members during the year, in respect of
which no dependants were brought upon the funds.
During the year three widows died and two re-married,
and 13 children having reached 14 years of age ceased
to be chargeable, leaving 101 widows, 77 children, and
four guardians on the fund at the end of the year. The
sum of £1,057 6s. 8d. was paid in weekly allowances to
widows, children, and dependent relatives, and £60 as
funeral benefits. During the year 1,089 members
sustained non-fatal accidents, and all of these, as
well as 138 who had met with accidents in
former years, and who were in receipt of the
society’s benefits at the beginning of the year, received
accident pay. To these 1,227 members the sum of
£2,602 Ils. 8d. was paid. At the end of the year the
capital of the benefit account stood at £24,293 3s. 10d.,
showing a decrease of £289 5s. 4d. as compared with the
previous year. The capital of the management fund
stood at £594 18s. IJd., a decrease during the year of
£176 13s. 9Jd. The. committee pointed out that the
amount of weekly contributions of members, and
entrance fees, amounting to £3,204 13s., was insufficient
to meet the benefits, and that all the interest
(£772 2s. 7d.) on investments, and the grant of £40
from the trustees of the Talke Accident Fund, and
£289 5s. 4d. from the capital were required to meet the
society’s responsibilities. This the committee regarded
as a serious matter—so much so that if the income con-
tinued to be insufficient to meet the benefits, it would-
soon become necessary to readjust the scales of contri-
butions and benefits. The report and accounts were
adopted. Officers were elected as follows : Sir Lovelace
Stanier, president; Mr. R. N. Wood and Mr. Frank
Rigby, vice-presidents; Messrs. Albert Stanley, M.P.,
J. Wilcox Edge, B. C. Brough, S. Finney and T. Young,
arbitrators ; Messrs. E. Martin, J. Taylor, F. Williams
and B. Brough, committee ; Messes. E. Vernon and W.

B. Chase, auditors. It was proposed that miner’s
nystagmus should be included under the heading of
accidents, but Mr. F. G-een, the secretary, said he had
seen the actuary on the matter, and he was of opinion
that such inclusion would involve the society
in considerable expense, and that the difficulties would
be very great. There would have to be a medical
examination of every applicant for membership. The
society was founded to provide for accidents, and not
industrial diseases. He advised that the matter should
be left over until the next quinquennial valuation in
1915. This was agreed to. It was decided to extend
membership to men working on by-product plants of
collieries, excluding blastfurnacemen. A suggestion
that the society’s liability should be extended to members
of rescue brigades working away from their own collieries
was discussed. The chairman said the Government,
which instituted the brigades, should make provision for
the men, and the proposal was negatived.

The new Central School of Science and Technology
at Stoke-on-Trent, which provides for technical educa-
tion in mining and pottery in North Staffordshire, was,
on Monday afternoon, opened by the Right Hon. J. A.
Pease, M.P., President of the Board of Education. The
school accommodation for mining and pottery in the.
district has never been adequate, and for several years
the provision has consisted of two iron buildings which
were quite insufficient and unsuitable. The scheme
which reached fruition on Monday dates back to 1890,
when a proposal of a more ambitious nature than that
which has been realised was promulgated. It was for a
university college for North Staffordshire. Some ten
years elapsed before any very definite steps were taken,
and then the Council for the Extension of Higher Educa-
tion in North Staffordshire was formed, with the late
Mr. A. S. Bolton, of Oakamoor, Staffordshire, as chair-
man. Mr. Bolton, who was the head of the firm of Messrs.
Thomas Bolton and Sons, copper smelters and manufac-
turers, was keenly interested in the furtherance of the
proposals, and he purchased at a cost of about £7,000 an
eminently suitable site near Stoke railway station. Mr.
Bolton died before the land was actually transferred,
and owing to the prospects of the federation of the six
towns of the Potteries the scheme was hung up for some
years. When, however, the municipal amalgamation
came about in 1910 the proposals were taken up imme-
diately by the federated Stoke-on-Trent Council with
the co-operation of the Staffordshire County ^Council,
and the sons of the late Mr. A. S. Bolton—Mr. F. A.
Bolton and Mr. T. Bolton—intimated their desire to
carry out their father’s wishes in regard to the gift of
the site. The present school is the result, and though
much less ambitious than the University College first
proposed, will adequately serve the purposes of mining
and pottery technical education. The total cost of
the building, including site and equipment, is about
£30,000, and towards the cost of equipment the
colliery owners and pottery manufacturers have
contributed £1,500 each. The capital expenditure
which falls upon the rates is being provided as to two-
thirds by the Stoke-on-Trent County Borough Council
and as to one-third by the Staffordshire County Council.
Maintenance will be met by the two authorities pro-
portionately to the number of students from their
respective areas.

The situation of the school, close to Stoke station, is
convenient to the whole district. The front block com-
prises the rooms for pottery and mining instruction
and a wing at the rear, well removed from railway and
street traffic, is equipped for the teaching of physics and
chemistry. On the right of the main entrance is the
pottery department, consisting of a large laboratory,
grinding and furnace room, a smaller laboratory for
commercial analysis, and a private room for the
principal. The mining department, occupying the
remainder of the ground floor to the left of the entrance,
comprises a general laboratory, rooms for gas-testing,
gas analysis and photometric experiments, and a
private room for the principal. Between these
two wings are the entrance hall, staircase, &c.
The upper storey of the main building, over the
pottery and mining departments, contains a reference
library, museum, two ordinary lecture-rooms, and an
assembly hall. The rear wing comprises on the ground
floor elementary and advanced physical laboratories,
preparation-room, classroom and small committee-room.
On the first floor are elementary and advanced chemical
laboratories, preparation and balance rooms, and a class-
room. In the basement are various rooms for the
electrical apparatus, as well as a large boiler-house for
the heating and hot-water service. The buildings are
admittedly by no means as complete as they should be ;
for instance, there is no provision for the teaching of
engineering, while a large common room for students is
also needed, and a large assembly hall would be a most
useful adjunct. Funds were not available for these
additional requirements, but the buildings have been so
planned that these and other desirable additions can be
conveniently attached to the present structure. The
buildings are lighted throughout by electricity,
heated on the low-pressure hot-water system, and
adequately ventilated. The general finish is of a sub-
stantial and simple character, suitable to the purposes
of the building, but plaster enrichments and wood
panelling have been employed in the library and
museum. The elevations are of brickwork, with stone
dressings, a special feature of the main facade being a
carved stone frieze over the entrance, illustrating the
local industries of potting and mining. The architects
were Messrs. J. Hutchings (Staffordshire Education
Committee) and S. B. Ashworth (Stoke-on-Trent Educa-
tion Committee). The principal of the Mining School
is Mr. J. T. Stobbs, who has been lecturer on mining in
North Staffordshire for a number of years, and the
principal of the Pottery School is Dr. J. W. Mellor.

The buildings include accommodation for the meetings
of the North Staffordshire Institute of Mining and

Mechanical Engineers, which body has taken an impor-
tant part in the promotion of the scheme, and their
library and museum exhibits are accommodated in the
building.

Mr. Pease, in declaring the school open, congratulated
the district and the local industries upon possessing
such an institution, which, he said, could not but make
for the welfare of the students and the industries with
which they were concerned. Proceeding to speak on
education generally, Mr. Pease urged the desirability of
scholars remaining longer at school. It was unfortunate,
he remarked, that so many miners who at 20 years of
age sought technical education, found they were handi-
capped by their lack of elementary education, and really
had to begin all over again. On a recent visit to
Germany he had found there was a system of con-
tinuous education up to eighteen years of age. It was
only for a few hours a day, b .t there was a continual
exercise of discipline, self - control and instruction.
Though the employers at first did not care for the
system, having to re-arrange their works so as to allow
the young people to attend school in this way in the
daytime—a few months’ experience reconciled them to
it, because the young people became a much better asset
when at work.

An outbreak of fire occurred just after 9 o’clock on
Monday night at the Kingsbury Colliery, five miles from
Tamworth. Fortunately, however, the whole of the men
in the workings at the time, estimated at 420, were
rescued safely. At the time the outbreak was discovered
120 men belonging to the day shift were on the point of
ascending on the conclusion of their day’s work, and
about 300 had gone down for the night shift. The fire
occurred in the framework and gearing at the pithead,
and the screen also was involved, while the winding wheel
fell to the bottom of the shaft. The men down below
were got up without much difficulty by means of the No. 2
shaft. Meantime the colliery company’s hydrant had
been got to work, and the fire brigades were summoned
from Birmingham, Tamworth, and Coleshill. Rescue
parties were formed from the North Warwickshire
Mines Rescue Station, and went down in parties of five
to explore the workings in a search for any men who
might conceivably have remained at work in the more
remote parts of the pit. In this way, it is said, four
men were discovered and brought to the surface.
Col. Dibley (the managing director of the company)
and Mr. W. H. Hepplewhite (H.M. inspector of mines)
also went down. Extensive damage was done about the
pithead, but the engine-shed was saved. Col. Dibley
stated they had found the ventilation and airways
satisfactory and all the ponies safe. The damage .he .
estimated at between £4,000 and £5,000.

Kent.

Analysis of Snowdown Coal—Sandwich as a Coal Port—
Water Trouble at Tilmanstone.

No. 3 shaft at Snowdown Colliery has been sunk to
about 2,170 ft., the ground being hard sandstone, and it
is anticipated that another month will see the opening
of the next seam, which is stated to be—according to
the borehole sample—a hard, bright coal. The coal is
turning out much better now that another face has
been opened out, and an analysis made on the 6th inst.
by the West Ham testing laboratory shows :—

Volatile matter ............... 31 per cent.

Coke .......................... 67 41 per cent.

Ash ........................... 4 94 per cent.

Fixed carbon .................. 62 47 per cent.

Sulphur........................... 0*99	per cent.

Calorific value.................. 13,930	B.T.ITs

Evaporative power................ 12'42	lb.

Gas yield per ton ............... 11,450	cubic feet

Illuminating power ............ 15’4 candles

Equivalent lb. sperm per ton of
coal .......................... 604'8 lb.

Coke produced per ton of coal... 13|cwt.

The boring put down by the Channel Collieries Trust
at Swingate, near Dover, has recently passed through
several seams of coal, including a 3 ft. 2 in. and a 3 ft.
seam.

A meeting of the debenture holders in the Kent Coal
Concessions Company was held on Wednesday afternoon
at the Pavilion Hotel, Folkestone, when a • resolution
was submitted and passed unanimously agreeing to
postpone the redemption or conversion of the debentures
from May 1 to November 1. This course was con-
sidered desirable in view of the early completion of
negotiations for the sale of additional areas, whereby
the financial position of the company will be greatly
strengthened.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the East Kent
Light Railways on Friday, Mr. Burr stated that the
railway—which connects up the whole of the collieries
and villages in the district—was making very steady
progress. They had almost completed the sidings at
Tilmanstone Colliery, and only a furlong or a furlong
and a half remained to be completed to couple up the
line with the port of Sandwich. The work was going to
cost another £20,000 to complete, but although they had
been rather pinched for funds to carry out that work,
they had now made the necessary financial arrangements.
Practically, it had a first charge upon every ton of coal
produced in at least 70 or 80 per cent, of the coalfield of
Kent, and the experience of the coal raised at Tilman-
stone showed that their weekly output paid the expenses
of the line. With Tilmanstone, Goodnestone, Woodnes-
borough and Wingham collieries, and the French collieries
that were going to be sunk at Eythorne and the Belgian
collieries that were going to be put down at Sutton
together with the collieries that were going to be put
down by the Betteshanger Syndicate and the Ebbsfleet
Syndicate, seven or eight different collieries in the near
future would be sending their coal over this railway.
He had discussed the question with the managing
director of the French coal and iron companies which