May 22, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1139

verdict for the applicant, described the case as a very
important one, and a very important point to have settled.
On the facts he found for the applicant, and he did not think
the law was against him. On the other point, he decided
that Derbyshire was not guilty of misconduct.

A correspondent learns that new seams are being opened
out and surface improvements effected at the Bradford
Colliery, Manchester, the property of the Dine Cotton
Spinners’ Association, the largest textile combine in the
world.

The growing inconvenience caused to colliery owners and
their officials by large numbers of miners habitually absent-
ing themselves from work is causing much anxiety. When
they are earning good money many colliers in south and
south-east Lancashire do not work above half their time.

A correspondent understands that Mr. H. S. Higginbottom’s
Lostock-lane Collieries, near Bolton, from which there has
lately been an increased output, have been practically
electrified throughout. These collieries adjoin the Lancashire
and Yorkshire Bailway lines between Lostock Junction and
Blackrod, and are connected with the same by sidings.

The 153rd anniversary of the opening of the Bridgewater
Canal will be celebrated in a historical pageant to be held
next month in the park, adjoining Worsley Hall, near
Manchester, kindly lent by the Earl of Ellesmere. The
Bridgewater Canal—the pioneer of British inland navigation
—was largely used for the conveyance of coal obtained from
pits sunk in the Worsley, Walkden and surrounding districts
in the latter part of the 18th century, to Manchester, Leigh,
Buncorn, and elsewhere. Amongst the patrons of the
Worsley Pageant are the Earl and Countess of Ellesmere,
Marquis and Marchioness of Normandy, Lord Derby, Lord
Shuttleworth, Countess of Stamford, Lord Kenyon, Lord
Bradford, Lord Mayor of London, etc.

North Wales.

A Territorial Collier's Compensation : Concurrent
Employment.

Giving judgment in the claim for compensation by the
widow of a miner-Territorial, who was killed in a colliery,
Judge Samuel Moss decided at Wrexham County Court, that
there was concurrent employment, and, therefore, allowed the
training grants to count as part of the man’s earnings. The
applicant, Caroline Harrison, had asked for an award of
T247 3s. 6d. against the New Brynmally Colliery Company as
compensation for the loss of her husband, who met with a
fatal accident at the respondents’ pit. The company
admitted liability to the extent of T235 10s. 6d., the greater
part of the difference being represented by four weeks during
which the deceased was absent from work at camp with
the 4th Battalion Boyal Welsh Fusiliers. The judge observed
that, having regard to a decision by Lord Justice Fletcher
Moulton, there could be no doubt whatever that if a man
stayed away of his own accord when a colliery was working-
lie was not entitled to leave out that period of absence. The
four weeks (two weeks each year) during which the deceased
was away with the Territorials must be counted in with
the total number of weeks by which his aggregate earnings
were divided. On the other hand, the respondents’ contention
that these four weeks should be ignored altogether was, in
the judge’s opinion, not right without taking into considera-
tion what the man earned when in fact in camp. The judge
found, therefore, that the amount due to the widow was
T244 12s. 6d., and he awarded her that amount. In view
of the fact that both sides were wrong in their contentions,
added the judge, costs were not allowed.

The Midlands.

Cooke Scholarship.

The scholarship, of the annual value of T21, presented to
the Birmingham University by Messrs. William Cooke and
Company Limited, the Tinsley Steel, Iron and Wire Bope
Works, Sheffield, is awarded on the result of a biennial
examination. The next examination will be held in July,
1914, for which entry must be made on or before June 10.
Further particulars may be obtained, on application to the
secretary of the university, Birmingham.

Kent.

Seam Struck at Snowdown—Whitstable and Canterbury
Coalfield Company.

The directors of the Snowdown Colliery Limited
announce that the 4 ft. 7 in. seam at 2,197 ft.
in the Barfrestone borehole has been met with at Snowdown
at a depth of 2,236 ft. It is 3 ft. 7 in. thick with a strong
roof and consists of two beds of fine bright hard coal 1 ft.
and 2 ft. respectively, separated by a 7 in. stone parting. Its
analysis shows it to be of excellent quality suitable for
domestic and other purposes, and it will, in future, be known
as the “ Snowdown Hard.” The directors also state that a
satisfactory agreement has been entered into with the men
whereby the “ Beresford ” seam will, in future, be worked
by piece work, and that consequently a substantial increase
in the output may be looked for in the immediate future.

The Whitstable and Canterbury Coalfields Limited are
putting down a boring at Harmanoole, near Street-End,
where it has reached a depth of about 800 ft., and they are
arranging to put down another at Tyler Hill, to the north
of Canterbury. The area controlled by this company—which
has an authorised capital of ^£40,125—is stated to be 20,000
acers, besides which they have joint interests in a further
area of about 15,000 acres. The technical advisers of this
company are Messrs. H. C. Embleton, mining engineer of
Leeds, and A. Farquhar, of Darlington, while their board
is composed of the following gentlemen :—Mr. Archibald
grove, chairman, also chairman of the New’ Ingleton
Collieries and the Betteshanger Boring Company, as well as
a director of the Firbeck Main Collieries ; Mr. Sydney Brown,
of Whitstable; Mr. Walter B. Elgar, of Sittingbourne; Mr.
A. Farquhar, managing director of the Wallingwells Boring
Company, managing director of the Fishburn Coal Syndicate,
director of the Firbeck Main Collieries, director of the Bettes-
hanger Boring Company; Mr. A. Woolley Hart, managing
director of the Glasshoughton Collieries Limited, and chair-
man of the Anglo-Westphalian Kent Coal Company Limited ;
Hon. Bobert James, chairman of the Prince Line, director
of the Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Company, and of the
Betteshanger Boring Company Limited.

The Guardians of Blean Union have decided to consider the
question of the use of Kent coal in the Herne Workhouse
when the tenders for coal come up.

Mr. George Browning, of St. George’s-place, Canterbury,
is the contractor for the construction of the railway at the
rear of Westbere Court to connect the Chislet Colliery with
the South Eastern and Chatham Bailway. Satisfactory pro-
gress is being made with the surface work at this colliery.

Dean Forest.

New Goalowners' Secretary.

Mr. W. B. Champness, of Bock House, Cinderford, has
succeeded Sir Brancis Brain as secretary of the Forest of
Dean Coalowners’ Association.

Scotland.

New Pit near Kirkcaldy—Invention of a ■ Fife miner—The
Shale Industry—Ownership of Minerals at Stirling.

The Lothian Coal Company are constructing their own
locomotives at Newbattle, Midlothian. The recently built
engine was put together in the spare time of the engineer-
ing staff, as they are ordinarily employed in repair work,
and is an excellent example of a useful colliery engine.

A new shaft is to be sunk by the Fife Coal Company near
Kirkcaldy, Fife. The site is in close proximity to the main
line of the North British Bailway. It is understood that
several very rich seams of coal are to be tapped, and that a
large output may be had. The Kirkcaldy harbour is to be
utilised for export purposes.

The Kilmaurs Colliery Company, Kilmarnock have coal
in their fields rich in oil. There is a prospect of an oil
distilling plant being erected

In mining circles in Fifeshire interest has been aroused
in a useful and serviceable hutch catcher which has been
designed by Mr. Angus McKay, 33, Bosabelle-street, Kirk-
caldy, a miner in the employment of the Fife Coal Company
at the Fannie Pit, Kirkcaldy. It may be explained that the
primary object of the hutch catcher is to safeguard the lives
of men riding on hutches underground either up or down
steep gradients. A working model of the apparatus has
been constructed by Mr. Wm. Whitton, blacksmith, Kirk-
caldy, and this has been inspected by the management of
the Fannie Pit, who have decided to have a catcher con-
structed at the pit workshops, and fully tested at the redd
bing. The contrivance, which although ingenious, is
nevertheless simple of application, consists of an apparatus
attached to the first of a race of bogies by means of a bell
crank held up by chains running along either side of the
hutches, and attached to the haulage rope. In the event of the
haulage rope or couplings breaking these chains at once give
way, and the catcher automatically drops and grips on the
sleepers on which the hutches are running. Should the
catcher in front of the leading hutch by any means miss the
sleeper, there is a second catcher in the centre of the same
hutch between the axles, a spring attached to which causes
it at once to act as a powerful brake, and prevents any extra
concussion between the front bogie and the catchers. As
it is usual to run from five to 10 hutches, each carrying three
men, in one race, it is thus seen that the device is calcu-
lated to prove very valuable in mines, not only in safe-
guarding the lives of the men, but in preventing a runaway
of coal or redd hutches in the event of the haulage rope or
couplings breaking.

Two sets of sinkers are busy with the shafts for the re-
opening of the Coneypark coalfield in the Banknock district
of Stirlingshire. Both shafts are being got ready at once.

The officials and workmen at Craigend Colliery, Polmont,
belonging to the Carron Company, have presented Mr. J.
McLaren with a handsome testimonial on his leaving for an
appointment at Bothwell Park Colliery, Lanarkshire (Messrs.
William Baird and Company). The gifts took the form of
a gold watch, gold-mounted umbrella, and shaving outfit.

On the occasion of his leaving the employment of Messrs.
Watson Limited at Motherwell, where he was employed as
under-manager, to take up a more responsible position with
the Summerlee Iron and Coal Company Limited, Mr. J.
Hinshelwood was entertained at a social gathering on Satur-
day evening, and presented by the workmen with a roll-top
-desk and chair, together with a gold bracelet for Mrs.
Hinshelwood, and a gold bracelet and locket for Miss
Hinshelwood.

The annual meeting of the Oakbank Oil Company was
held at Glasgow on May 13, Dr. B. T. Moore (chairman of
directors) presiding. In his remarks the chairman stated
that during the year there had been a steady increase in
wages and the cost of manufacture, and almost half of the
higher price obtained was absorbed by the increased cost.
Legislation had put additional burdens upon them. The
trend of modern mining legislation in putting so much power
in the hands of officials was especially unfortunate for them,
as it placed the regulation of the industry in the hands of a
bureaucracy in London who were ignorant of local conditions,
and tied them down with red tape regulations, which, while
they might be necessary for large and dangerous collieries,
were quite unnecessary in the comparatively safe Scottish
shale mines. The new regulations had added much to the
cost of mining without so far doing anything to add to
the safety. Taxation burdens were also increasing year by
year. To pass on the burdens to the consumer was impos-
sible, for the prices they had to take for their products were
fixed by their competitors abroad.

A fire broke out last week in the Broxburn Oil Company’s
No. 2 mine at Stewartfield, Broxburn.

An interesting point regarding the ownership of minerals
was raised at Stirling Town Council on Monday. It was
reported that a meeting had been held in Edinburgh with
the owners of minerals on lands adjoining the tidal portion
of the Biver Forth to consider a claim by H.M. Office of
Woods, etc., that the minerals in the bed of the river
belonged to the Crown. The Crown had not hitherto made
any claim to the minerals under that portion of the river
above the quay at Stirling, at which point navigation ceases,
and the proprietors above that point resolved not to take any
action in the matter. It was suggested that the proprietors
below Stirling quay should obtain the opinion of counsel for
the information, and at the joint expense of all the pro-
prietors interested, and the patrons concurred in this pro-
posal, but it was agreed to delay doing so until a reply had
been received from the Office of Woods. From a statement
submitted by Messrs. Archibald Bussell Limited, the
mineral tenants of Cowane’s Hospital lands at Muirton,
Hood, and Ladysneuk, it appeared that the estimated quan-
tity of coal underlying the Forth opposite the hospital lands
below Stirling harbour was valued at F4,398, and that above
Stirling harbour at £2,757.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—May 14.

Before the Lord Chancellor, Lords Atkinson, Shaw,
Parker, Sumner, and Parmoor.

Workmen’s Compensation : Review of Weekly Payments.

George Gibson and Company v. Peter Wishart.—This
was an appeal by Messrs. Gibson and Company, shipowners,
Leith, from a decision of the Second Division of the Scottish
Court of Session. The respondent, Peter Wishart, received
injury to his right hand which totally incapacitated him
from working, and he was awarded 4s. a week compensation
as from April 23, 1912. On September 24, 1912, the man
left Leith and got employment as a detective. On leaving
Leith he made no personal application for payment of his
compensation, but from that time onward he did so through
his agent. The employers were for a time unaware where
the man had gone to, and it was not until October 24, 1912,
that they discovered he was in employment at Chesterfield.
Proceedings were at once taken in the Sheriff Court, Leith,
to have the weekly payments reviewed. The Sheriff-Substi-
tute (Guy) found as a fact that on September 24, 1912, the
respondent had recovered complete capacity for work. In
these circumstances he ended the compensation payable by
the appellants to the respondent under the award dated
August 5, 1912, as at November 4, 1912, the date of the
application for review, and found the respondent liable
to the appellants in expenses. Fie added that he would have
ended the compensation as at said September 24, 1912, had
it been competent for him to do so. On this finding two
questions of law were submitted for the opinion of the Court
—(1) Was it competent for the Sheriff-Substitute to end the
respondent’s compensation at September 24, 1912? (2)
Ought he to have ended the compensation at that date?
The judges of the Second Division held themselves bound
by the decision of a full Court of seven, summoned to decide
in 1912 this very point, in the case of Donaldson Brothers
v. Cowan, and, as had been held in certain English cases,
were of opinion that the arbitrator had no right to deal
with the question at what date the workman’s incapacity
had ceased before the ultimate hearing of the case on the
facts which gave rise to the application to review. The
employers appealed.

The Lord Chancellor, in the course of his judgment, said
the language of the statute on which depended the solution
of the conflict between judicial opinions left a good deal to
be desired in point of precision. But after some hesitation
he had come to the conclusion that the interpretation placed
on it by the appellants was the true one. He thought the
words in the schedule enabled the Sheriff-Substitute to pro-
nounce that the incapacity had ended before the application
to review in this case on September 24, as the intention of
the Act was to give compensation only during incapacity.
If it had ceased, and the employer had not availed himself
of his right to apply for review, it might be that he could
not recover what he had paid while the first decree remained
uninterrupted in its operation. But that would not involve
the further conclusion that the judicial authority was pre-
cluded from subsequently determining the real date when the
incapacity, during which alone the first decree could pro-
perly continue undisturbed to operate, had come to an end.
It appeared to him that the words, “ on such review may
be ended, diminished, or increased,” must, having regard
to the provisions of section 1 of the schedule, be read as
enabling a review to be made retrospectively. He was
therefore of opinion that the appeal must be allowed. He
concurred in the suggestion made by Lord Shaw as to the
practical method of conforming to the requirements of Scot-
tish procedure. It was important that,.on a point like this,
they should not introduce confusion about well settled
principles.

Lord Shaw of Dunfermline said the claim could not be
defended on any principle of common honesty. Nor did
he think that it could be justified on any principle of law. It
appeared to him that, so far as proceedings under the Act
were concerned—for he excluded other remedies grounded
upon allegations of concealment, fraud, or the like—they
ought not to be utilised so as to rip up concluded transac-
tions. He looked upon all the provisions as to procedure for
review of the award to be provisions to enable courts and
arbitrators to get back to that cardinal point, to prevent
compensation during incapacity being turned into compen-
sation during capacity, and to readjust awards of total or
partial incapacity so as to square with the facts. In the two
cases of Steel and Pumpherston Oil Company it was held
that until final judgment in the review was given, the old
award (although proved to have been long out of accord with
the facts) stood. This was never law in England, and was,
of course, not now law in Scotland. A great advance in
Scotland was made, by Donaldson. This carried the change
in liability a long step nearer to the change in the facts,
and dated the former, not from the judgment in the appli-
cation for review, but from the application itself. In his
opinion, the duty of the employer in such circumstances was
instantly to institute proceedings for review by the arbitrator
under the statute. He could not bring a suspension of the
charge in the ordinary sense so as to review the disputed
circumstances in that process, but if the charge was per-
sisted in, he might, pro forma, suspend, table his applica-
tion to the arbitrator for review, and the Court would at
once assist all procedure to enable the proper and statutory
review to proceed. It was a course which was suitable in
Scotland, and it is in substance analagous to the procedure
in England.

Lords Atkinson, Parker, Sumner, and Parmoor con-
curred, and the appeal was allowed, but without costs.

An inquest was held at Hull on Tuesday into the death of
Franz Sasek, an Austrian, whose dead body was landed at
Hull by the German steamer “ Deike Bickmers ” the
previous day. The master of the vessel, Kurt Overbeck,
gave evidence that the vessel was on a voyage from Vladi-
vostock to Swansea, Hull, and Hamburg, and they took in
bunkers at Swansea, and left for Hull on Saturday with
part cargo. About 6.45 on Saturday morning an explosion
occurred which shook the entire ship, and blew’ off the port
bunker hatches, when the vessel was opposite the Isle of
Wight. Two firemen, including deceased, were injured,
and both died. Sasek told witness that he had opened
the middle door of the hatch with a naked lamp in his hand,
and the explosion occurred instantly. The bunkers were
properly ventilated, and the hatches of the larger bunkers
had been open since the vessel left Swansea. Witness was
aware than Welsh coal w’as gaseous, but he had not heard
of a similar explosion in a properly ventilated bunker hold..