May 1, 1914. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 959 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ IRON The attendance was not large, and business generally was flat. In some directions a slight expansion in the demand for raw material was reported, but orders are unevenly distributed, and in the aggregate the effect was hardly perceptible. There was little strength in the pig iron department, though the Middlesbrough position is regarded as a favourable augury. Northamptonshire smelters quote ‘47s. 6d. to 49s. South Staffordshire common forge rules at about 48s. 6d. upwards, and part-mine was sold at 50s. to 50s. 6d. Makers of marked bars are in receipt of regular orders. The better circumstanced houses have probably a month's work in hand, and the position is now worse than for a month or two past, so that there is no immediate prospect of a lowering of the standard. Second-class bars command .£6 10s., and in some cases £6 12s. 6d. delivered Birmingham. The trade is steady, the requirements of merchants being maintained, but no real activity prevails. Low Continental prices largely dominate the common bar trade, and this factor, added to the competition of Lancashire and Yorkshire pro __________________________ ducers, makes employment irregular in the district mills. Values remain unchanged at .£6 5s. to £6 7s. 6d. for nut and bolt iron. The position of gas strip manufac- turers has been somewhat strengthened by the large demands for tubes, but the association prices are not obtainable except for small lots. Indeed, these have been reduced by 5s. a ton. There is a slight improvement in the call for galvanised sheets. It is insufficient to stimulate prices, however, a good many of the mills being very indifferently supplied with orders. Business rules at about £112s.6d. f.o.b. Liverpool,with some play of quotations either way. Black sheets realise £7 15s. to £7 17s. 6d. delivered for merchant qualities, unannealed sheets for galvanising being 5s. a ton less. The demand for constructional work is so well maintained that steelmakers in this district are fairly well engaged. The north-sastern houses are also booking a moderate aggregate of orders, but G drman competition is still rife, and concessions have frequently to be made to individual customers to secure business. There is no general change in prices. Hednesford. COAL. In connection with the coal trade of the Cannock Chase district the demand is somewhat easier, but is still fairly satisfactory for the time of the year, and sufficient to keep some of the collieries working practically full time. Prices are not quite so firmly held. The continued warm weather is causing a decline in the house coal trade. There is a moderate enquiry for coal for manufacturing purposes, but the supply of slack is overtaking the demand. Business is again quiet at the landsale depots. __________________ Fopot of COAL. We are unable to report any improvement in the position of the house coal trade of this* coalfield. The amount of business passing leaves much to be desired, but considering the heat of the past couple of weeks it is surprising that the demand is so good. The pits are still working 4 to 5 days in the week, but the enquiry is not equal to the coal produced, consequently stocks are rather heavy. The steam coal pits are making good outputs and sales generally are satisfactory. Stocks are kept well in hand and prices show no weakness. Prices at pithead. Current L’st week’s Last year's House coals:— prices. prices. prices. Block 17/6 17/6 16'6 Forest 16/6 16/6 15/6 Rubble 16/9 16/9 15/9 Nuts 15/ . 15/ . 14/ Rough slack Steam coal:— 6/6 6/6 10/ Large 12/6-13/ 12/6-13/ 13/ -13/6 Small 8/ - 8/6 8/ - 8/6 10/ -11/ Prices Is. 9d. extra f.o.b. Lydney or Sharpness. ________________________________________________________ TOE miM mt WIDE Thursday, April 30. Dublin. Demand is now beginning to fall off for household requirements, and it is anticipated t.iat reductions in these qualities will be made very shortly. Business in other branches remains about normal, although there is the usual decline in gas coals with longer days. There is no change in quotations, which are as follow :—Best Orrell, 28s. per ton; Abram, 27s.; best Wigan, 26?.; best Whitehaven, 26s.; best kitchen, 24s.; steam coals from about 22s. per ton ; best slack, 22s. ; house coal, retail, Is. 8d. per sack; best coke, recently reduced to 20s. per ton delivered. The collier vessels arriving in the port during the past week amounted to 51, as compared with 60 the week previously, chiefly from Garston, Mary port, Ayr, Cardiff, Newport, Burry port, Liverpool, Point of Aire, Ardrossan, Whitehaven, Working- ton, Ellesmere Port, Preston, Llanelly and Glasgow. The total quantity of coal discharged upon the quays was 24,000 tons. Belfast. Business both in the local and inland markets continues to be quiet, and up to the present prices generally are unchanged, notwithstanding the easier tendency in some classes for the past week or two, and the fact that supplies of most descriptions are now plentiful in the port. Prices are as follow Best Arley house coal, 27s. 6d. per ton; Hartley, 26i. 6d.; Wigan. 25s. 6d.; Orrell nuts, 26s. 6d.; Scotch house, 23s. 6d.; Orrell slack, 23i. 6d., all less the usual Is. per ton discount. Current quotations for steam coals areScotch, 16s. to 17s. per ton; Scotch slack, Ils. 6d. to 12s. 63. ; navigation steam, 17s. to 18s.; Welsh steam coal 17s. to 18s. per ton delivered. From April 5 to 18, the total number of coal vessels entering the harbour was 105. Cargoes arriving during the week were from Ayr, Garston, Preston, Glasgow, Neath Abbey, Girvan, Ardrossan, Newport, Maryport, Whitehaven, Troon, Ellesmere Port, Point of Aire, West Bank and Campbeltown. The freight market is somewhat easier. comi&mL Mime mtes. Belgium. The following shows exports and imports in the first quarter of the year:— Exports. Imports. 1914. 19137* ^1914. 19137* Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Coal ........ 1,262,485... 1,245,412... 2,234,485... 2,336,462 Coke ........ 320,339... 257,205... 265,954... 331,978 Briquettes ... 191,245... 129,887... 128,910... 127,633 The imports included 1,354,267 tons of German coal (as against 1,275,361 tons last year), 239,657 tons of German coke (297,662 tons) and 127,892 tons of German briquettes (125,582 tons). British imports of coal, on the other hand, fell from 689 993 tons to 541,532 tons, and those from France from 231,988 tons to 183,462 tons. France. Our Paris correspondent writes: — French collieries remain in the same optimistic spirit as they have evinced since the commencement of the year. In the North of France a certain easing in the local demand has permitted the mines to get their commitments better in hand, so that deliveries have improved considerably. Daring the first two months of this year the importations were 551,574 tons ahead of the quantities for the corresponding period last year taking the whole of France, and the big majority of this increase came from Great Britain. The shortage of French production as compared with the demand is becoming ever more marked, and naturally places the local collieries in an increasingly strong position. This week Bruay and Maries have even increased the current prices of their industrial steam coal by 50 c. a ton. There has been a drop of 2 50 fr. per ton in domestic patent fuel eggettes, but this is practically balanced by a compensating fall in the price of pitch. There is very little change to record in the metallurgical markets, but in France the manufacturers are not inclined to follow the reduction granted by the Belgian and German producers. It is reported that the Acieries de la Marine and Cockerill have refused to consider the taking over of the Acieries du Nord, and that the latter are now seeking other arrangements. Some of the big ironworks of the East of France have begun to receive supplies from Germany under a mutual working arrangement regarding the export of iron ore and a compensating return in combustible which was explained in this column recently. These French consumers are therefore considerably more independent as regards the North of France coke producers. Furthermore, the well-known Courrieres Colliery has joined the coke- producers' combine, and consequently proposes to go into the coke manufacturing business—a line which it has not, so far, adopted. With its big output of coking qualities, the presence of Courrieres in the combine may make a considerable difference in various ways. On the other hand, Lens Collieries have cancelled some of their old existing contracts to make way for the greatly increased demand which is being made upon their ovens by their affiliated ironworks, notably the Pont-a Vendin works. The colliery share market in the North, however, shows no signs of revival, whereas, on the contrary, mining securities in the Centre of France are very firm. __________________ Germany. The Syndicate t: participation" in May is carried from 80 to 82£ per cent, for coal and briquettes, and is lowered from 50 to 45 per cent, for coke. The production of coal in March amounted to 16,147,953 tons, that of lignite to 7ffi28,352 tons, that of coke to 2,727 326 tons, and that of briquettes to 2,412,508 tons. Fuel Traffic in Ruhr Harbours, March.—Consignments of coal, coke and briquettes by rail to : Ruhrort 1,160,159 tons, Duisburg, 343,715 tons, Hochfeld 40,059 tons, or 1,543,933 tons in all. Shipments outward to : Coblenz and places higher up river 709,502 tons, to places below Coblenz 20,061 tons, Holland 537,428 tons, Belgium 359,320 tons, France 24,590 tons, other destinations 42,121 tons. Total shipments from ; Ruhrort 1,023,670 tons, Duisburg 345,181 tons, Hcch- feld 36.393 tons, Rheinpreussen 104,272 tons, Schwelgern 87,332 tons, Walsum 96,214 tons, aggregate 1,693,062 tons. _________________________ Russia. The Minister of Commerce has laid before the Duma a Bill to prolong the free importation of foreign oil until January 1915. The Kharkoff Industrial Congress, on the other hand, have unanimously protested against the retention of coal on the free import list. It is stated that the negotiations for the renewal of the Produgol Syndicate, in which Belgian capital is interested largely, have now been concluded. Various reforms are to be introduced in the management. It will be remembered that the Russian Senate recently decided that the constitu- tion of the company was irregular. The new scheme involves the liquidation of the Syndicate pro formd, the existing contract engagements being distributed amongst the component collieries, after which the Syndicate will be reorganised in a proper legal form. Amongst the measures advocated by the Kharkoff Con- gress are the improvement of the means of transport from the Donefz basin, an increase of rollingstock on the Govern- ment lines, the imposition of a duty of 40 kopecks per poud on foreign steel, and State encouragement for the marketing of Donetz coal in the Black Sea and Sea of Azoff. The value of colliery shares quoted on the St. Petersburg Bourse now stands at 48*63 million roubles, as against 38 93 million roubles three years ago. In the Bogorodsk district, near Moscow, a huge generating station is about to be erected in which peat will be used as fuel. In conj auction with the undertaking, it is said that steps are to be taken to amalgamate all the peat working interests in Central Russia. It is stated that a rich coalfield has been discovered at Kouldja, in the province of Somiretchenck, near the frontier of Chinese Turkestan. It is with regret that we have to record the death of Mr. W. E. Harvey, M.P., the well-known and highly- respected Derbyshire miners' leader. Mr. Harvey was born in 1852, and was one of the inaugurators of the Derbyshire Miners' Association. Like most of the miners' members in Parliament, Mr. Harvey commenced his working life in the pit. He had to go to work at the age of 10 in order to help his widowed mother. He educated himself in his spare time, and quite early identified himself with the movement that has grown into the now powerful Derbyshire Miners' Association. He became its treasurer in 1881, and five years later he gave up work in the pit to become the association's agent. At the time of his death he was general secretary of the association, a position in which he succeeded the late Mr. J. Haslam nine months ago. Previous to that he held the office of financial and corresponding secretary of the association, but for 25 years he had been Mr. Haslam's assistant. He was an exceedingly popular man amongst the miners, and in Chesterfield there was no man more generally liked and respected. He was a magistrate both for the county of Derby and for the borough of Chesterfield, and he regularly sat on the Chesterfield bench. Mr. Harvey was a prominent man in the councils of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, of which he was elected vice-president in 1912. He took a large part in the controversy between the Federation and the Labour Party that followed the election of Mr. Barnet Kenyon for Chesterfield, being one of the staunchest backers of Mr. Kenyon in his attitude of allegiance to the Liberal Party. He was first elected for North-East Derby- shire in 1907, and has represented that constituency ever since. He was also a member of the Coal Conciliation Board. The funeral will take place to-morrow (Saturday) at Chesterfield. _______________________________ TIE TUBE. Ll¥ei?pooL There has been rather more enquiry the last few days, the low prices tempting buyers, but business is still far from good—12s. 7|d. has been accepted for I C 14 x 20 and odd sizes have been done as low as 12s. 10|l. basis. Oil sizes are quiet. Makers' quotations for shipment over the next few months may be called:—Coke tins, I C 14 x 20 (112 sh. 1081b.) 12s. 10|d. per box; I C 14 x 18| (124 sh. 1101b.), 13a. l|d. per box ; I C 14 x 19£ (120 sh. 110 lb.), 13s. l^d. per box; IC 20 x 10 (225 sh. 1561b.), 18s. 9d. per box; I C 28 z 20 (112 sh. 216 lb.), 25?. 9d. to 26s. per box; I C 28 x 20 (56 sheets 108 lb.), 13s. 3d. to 13s. 4^-d. per box; I C squares and odd sizes, 13?. l|d. to 13s. 3d. basis for approved specifications. Charcoal tins are easy at 15s. basis and upwards, according to tinning. Coke wasters are in but moderate request, and are quoted:—C W 14 x 20, 12s. 3d. per box; C W 28 x 20, 24?. 6d. per box; C W 14 x 18|, Ils. l|d. per box ; C W 20 x 10, 14s. 7|d. per box. All f.o.b. Wales, less 4 per cent. ______________ toe- swiotocts moi Tar Products.—The market is fairly steady. Benz fls keep firm and pitch seems a . little more settled. In carbolics there is a fractional change in favour of buyers. Naphthas and creosote are without change. Nearest values are:— Benzols, 90’s ............................... Do. 50’s ............................... Do. 90’s North ......................... Do. 50’s North __................,______ Toluol ...................................... Carbolic acid, crude (60 per cent.)............ Do. crystals (40 per cent.)................. Solvent naphtha (as in quality and package) ... Crude ditto (in bulk) ....................... Creosote (for ordinary qualities) ............ Pitch (f.o.b. east coast) ..................... Do. (f.a.s. west coast) ..................... Do. (f.o.b. gas companies) ................. 1/1 /Hl /10 to/101 /10 /10| 1/1 to 1/11 /3| /9i /5 /^136 37/ to 37/3 36/ to 36/6 [Benzols, toluol, creosote, solvent naphtha, carbolic acids, usually casks included unless otherwise stated, free on rails at makers’ works or usual United Kingdom ports, net.. Pitch f.o.b. net.] Sulphate of Ammonia.—The general tone is one of steadi- ness. There is not very much business passing, but if buyers are not active holders are equally firm in their ideas, both for forward and spot deliveries. Closing prompt prices are:— London (ordinary makes)............ £12/3/9 Beckton (certain terms) ............ £11 15/0 ..................... Liverpool................................__ £12/7/6 Hull .......................'._______ £12/5/0 Middlesbrough ............................ £12/3/9 Scotch ports......................... £12/7/6 to £12/10 Nitrate of soda (ordinary) per cwt. ... ■ 10/11 [Sulphate of ammonia, f.o.b. in bags, less 2| per cent, dis- count ; 24 per cent, ammonia, good grey quality; allowance tor refraction, nothing for excess.'] ___________________________ Partnerships Dissolved.—The following dissolutions of partnership have been announced by the London Gazette-— H. Haggas, C. W. Smith, F. T. Haggas and W. Haggas, machine tool makers, Keighley, under the style of Ward, Haggas and Smith, so far as concerns H. Haggas and C. W. Smith ; A. T. Peacock, F. Waller and A C. Bird, engineers, Alma-road, Hinckley, under the style of Peacock and Bird, so far as concerns A. C. Bird; F. J. Tricket and C. G. Stevens, electrical and general engineers, gas-fitters and garage-keepers, Norwood-road, London, under the style of Tricket and Co. ; C. S. V. Brown and W. Hall, consulting electrical engineers, Milburn House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, under the style of Vesey Brown and Hall ; A. F Fvwcus and C. V. Thompson, coal contractors, St. Benet-chambers, Fenchurch-street, E.C., under the stvle of Fawcus, Thompson and Co. ; G. A. Smith and J. H. V. Bellamy, engineers, Havelock-street, Kettering, under the style of the Smith Machine Manufacturing Company.