June 5, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

12S9

and the amount of water to be pumped. Various methods
of sinking were adopted to meet the varying conditions, and
the latest for difficult strata was the cementation process.
Some time ago a paper was read at a meeting of one of the
English mining institutes, where it was suggested to take all
or part of the coal out right away from the shafts. In this
connection he thought it was rather interesting to record the
fact that in a colliery in the Kilsyth district, where the
shafts were 270 fathoms deep, the whole of the coking coal,
3 ft. 6 in. thick, was wrought out in the vicinity of shafts,
the waste being stowed with debris, etc. Although this
occurred about 30 years ago, the whole operation was highly
satisfactory. In the old days a roungh-and-ready rule was
to work seams up to 3 ft. 6 in. by longwall, and seams above
that by stoop and room, or by modifications of both. It was
not now uncommon to hear of seams up to 9 ft. thick—and
in some cases even thicker—being wrought by longwall at
depths of 400 to 500 fathoms, which proved the need for
resource on the part .of the colliery manager to lake full
advantage of all the forces of Nature at his command. Very
careful consideration, he held, ought to be paid to the mode
of working the different seams in a colliery, because it was
known that from 80 to 85 per cent, of the wages and other
costs was for work done in the zone of a creep, which might
extend back from the working face for a distance varying
from 50 to 200 fathoms. So much had been said about
pumping, conveying, hauling, coal cutting, and the merits
of the different powers that it was needless to refer to them
at any length. He (Mr. McPhee) might, however, remark
in connection with coal cutting that an eminent authority on
the subject, with a world-wide experience, had told them that
Scottish colliery managers had handled that branch of
mining in a way which stood out unequalled in any part of
the world. Among the mass of valuable information col-
lected by the Royal Commission on Coal Supplies, none was
of more importance than Mr. George Beilby’s estimate of
the uses to which the coal that was annually brought to the
surface in this country was put. Although that estimate
was prepared 10 years ago, the alterations were so small
that it might be taken as representative of to-day. The
figures were :—Factories, 22*97 per cent.; domestic uses,
13*87 per cent.; iron, steel, and coke manufacture, 12’17 per
cent. ; mines, 7’80 per cent.; gas, 6’50 per cent.; railways,
5’63 per cent.; ceramic and chemical works, 2’16 per cent.;
metals and minerals, 0’43 per cent. ; steamers overseas, 7’25
per cent.; and exported, 20’35 per cent. Mr. McPhee there-
after dealt at length with mining in its relation to the manu-
facture of iron, steel, coke, gas, and by-products. At the
close he was awarded a vote of thanks on the motion of Mr.
G. L. Kerr, secretary of the Mining Institute of Scotland.

Mr. Janies Drylie’s paper on “ The New Explosives
Order with Notes on the Permitted List ” gave rise to a
pointed discussion at a meeting of Scottish colliery
managers on Saturday. Mr. Ross, Auchengeich Colliery,
said he had heard the Order severely criticised since it came
into operation, but so far he had not heard much public
criticism offered to the explosives themselves. On that
subject he desired to say that he had had a few rather
strange happenings with some of the new explosives. In
one case, in fact, they had actually had an ignition of gas,
which, he believed, was caused by one of the new explosive
mixtures. At all events it occurred simultaneously with the
firing of the shot. Personally, he would be glad if Mr.
Drylie or some other authority on the question, could adduce
a reason for that occurrence. Certainly there was no gas
before the shot was fired, and immediately following the
blast the fireman discovered that gas was burning. Mr.
Richard McPhee thought that an open discussion on this
subject would throw light upon a most ridiculous state of
affairs, and would prove edifying to those responsible for the
testing of explosives at the Rotherham testing station. To
his mind the charge limit was a most ridiculous one, and
there was hardly a single thing to be said in its favour.
It seemed to him that those responsible for the tests at
Rotherham had not considered the practical side of the
column at all—so far, at least, as the mines were concerned.
Mr. James Drylie said there had been an instance brought
to his notice where one of the new explosives had ignited gas,
and the singular thing was that in the same colliery the old
permitted explosives had been in use for a period of 12 years
without any ignition occurring at all. Then he had heard
of another ignition in the same colliery, which burned itself
out in the shot hole. , In these particular instances the
charge was under the limit. It was agreed to resume the
discussion on this subject at next meeting.

Sir Thomas Oliver’s Lectures on Industrial Hygiene.—
Sir Thomas Oliver gave the first of a series of lectures on
industrial hygiene at the Royal Institute of Public Health,
Russell-square, London, on the 27th ult. Sir Thomas dealt
with the rise and progress of factory legislation. He said
one of the first things an employer should grasp was that
the better the health of his workpeople, the better were his
own prospects from an economical point of view. Instead
of mutual co-operation, employers and employed had formed
associations with a view to self-protection. In other words,
the human element had largely departed from industry; the
obligations imposed were merely those of the State. Fac-
tory legislation would always be objected to by many on the
ground that it was an interference with the liberty of the
subject, but as the social organisation had become complete,
the units composing it had become more and more inter-
dependent. It was a punishable offence, and rightly too,
for a coal miner who wished to smoke to light a match in
a fiery pit, not on account of the danger to the mis-
demeanant himself, but on account of the risk to which he
exposed his fellow workmen. In all dangerous occupations
it is clear that workpeople cannot be left entirely to their
own devices, nor can they be allowed to take chances. There
was, however, he said, a limit beyond which factory legisla-
tion could not be carried. Industry could only bear certain
burdens. Factory legislation should not be instituted from
political or party motives, nor carried for class purposes.
Before factory legislation was attempted in this country, the
Government should do as France did, and submit to a
council of experts—men who knew something of the industry,
both employers and employed, scientists, medical men, and
Home Office officials—questions cognate to the subject upon
which they had to report. Departmental committees to some
extent fulfilled that object, but not quite. Factory employ-
ment had been a gain and a loss to the nation, added Sir
Thomas. The best which could be said of modern factory
legislation was that it was humane. It recognised that life
and limb must be protected, and that in the case of death
or accident employment carried with it financial responsi-
bilities over and above the wages given for services rendered.

MINIHG AND OTHER NOTES.

Last night, at a meeting of the Chemical Society, held
at Burlington House, W., Messrs. H. F. Coward and F.
Brinsley read a paper on “ The Dilution Limits of Inflam-
mability of Gaseous Mixtures. Part I.—The determination
of dilution limits. Part II.—The lower limits in air of
hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide.”

A large meeting of sulphate of ammonia manufacturers
was held at the Westminster offices of the Gas Light and
Coke Company last week. All descriptions of makers were
represented, viz., gas works, coke ovens, blast furnaces,
shale oil, collieries, and producer gas. There was a very
general feeling that under the exceptional circumstances of the
times there should be a selling combination among makers,
partly because of the greatly increased quantity of sulphate
that the world produces now as compared with only a few
years back, and partly because sulphate is now being made
by a German process as a primary product, so that the
article can be made in any quantity and at a cheap rate.
Also the unit value of sulphate of ammonia is now very
materially below that of nitrate of soda.

The text of the Model General Conditions of Contract
issued by the Institution of Electrical .nmgineers was formally
adopted by the council of the British Jidectrical and Allied
Manufacturers’ Association. at their meeting held on May
21, and as a consequence will be used by members (in sub-
stitution of the association's conditions) in respect of
tenders to municipalities, district councils, public autnorities,
and in respect of all publicly advertised contracts where full
general conditions are issued. On the recommendation of
the B.E.A.M.A.—I.M.E.A. Exhibitions Joint Committee,
the council of the former association has remitted its stand-
ing rule in respect of an electrical exhibition to be held under
the auspices of Bradford Corporation from October 6-24 this
year.

Messrs. Best’s Safety Lamps Limited, Providence Works,
Park-lane Mills, Leeds, inform us that they submitted
samples of their “ No. 1 Excelsior Approved Safety Lamps
to the management of the Seaham Colliery, owned by the
Londonderry Collieries Limited, Seaham, West Sunderland.
The lamps proved to be so satisfactory that an order for 600
lamps and appliances were placed with the above firm ;
since the above were supplied repeat orders for 900 and 600
lamps and appliances have been obtained by Mr. William
Best, the managing director of the company. He has also
secured orders for the same firm’s Silksworth Colliery for
800 lamps and appliances. Mr. A. Kirkup, the agent for
the Lambton Collieries Limited, has also favoured Mr. Best
with instructions to send a quantity of lamps and apparatus
to the Hetton Collieries on trial.

The monthly meeting of the Central Executive Com-
mittee of the Employers’ Parliamentary Association was held
in Manchester on June 1. In the unavoidable absence of the
president, Sir Charles W. Macara, Bart., Mr. W. Peter
Rylands, vice-chairman, presided over the meeting. The
secretary, Mr. John Haworth, presented the report of the
deputation from the association which recently waited upon
the Commercial Committee of the House of Commons, for
the purpose of considering what joint action could be taken
on questions in which the two organisations are interested.
The report states that the meeting was held in one of the
committee-rooms of the House of Commons, with Sir John
S. Randles, M.P., in the chair. Twenty-one Members of
Parliament were also present. It was suggested that an
arrangement between the two organisations might be
arrived at, by which members of the Commercial Committee
of the House of Commons could ascertain the views of
business men upon any subject affecting their interests, and
a resolution was unanimously adopted to the effect that the
Commercial Committee should correspond with the
Employers’ Parliamentary Association whenever information
affecting industry was desired.

At the annual meeting of the Surveyors’ Institute, held
at the Institution, Great George-street, Westminster, last
week, it was stated that in response to representations from
mining surveyors in different parts of Great Britain, the
council have decided to establish an additional sub-division
of the institution examinations for that branch of the pro-
fession.

It is stated an arrangement has just been concluded,
whereby an exchange of shares is effected and a community
of interests ensured between Messrs. Swan, Hunter, and
Wigham Richardson Limited, of Wallsend and Walker-on-
Tyne, and Messrs. H. and C. Grayson Limited, of Liverpool
and Birkenhead.

Lord Joicey, presiding at the annual meeting of the New-
castle and Gateshead Chamber of Commerce on the 28th
ult., made some important remarks concerning the state of
trade, in which he expressed the fear that the trade boom of
the last two or three years was coming to an end. He
hoped, however, that the industries would continue to
flourish, and at all events give fair employment and wages,
and reasonable profits to those engaged in them. The coal
and shipping trades, in which they were chiefly interested
in this part, had been prosperous. But shipping had now
quite changed. There had been a complete collapse in the
freight market, and from earning large profits ship owners
had come down almost to bedrock. Low freights, while
extremely serious for the ship owner, were an advantage to
the community, because they meant cheaper food and
cheaper articles; and that always meant a larger consump-
tion and a larger production. These things had an extra-
ordinary way of righting themselves. He hoped that the
time would come when some means would be adopted to
prevent disputes resulting in strikes. As a trader and a
producer he had a horror of Parliamentary interference.
Parliament knew nothing about the questions as a rule,
which as a body they had to deal with, in trade and indus-
trial matters. It would settle all these questions on political
rather than on industrial grounds. Therefore, he hesitated
to say that he was in favour of having such matters settled
by Acts of Parliament.

Partnerships Dissolved.—The London Gazette announces
the dissolution of the following partnerships :—J. Hopkins
and L. Darley, electrical, mechanical, and motor engineers,
St. Albans-road, Watford, under the style of Hopkins and
Darley ; J. R. Wheatley and A. M. Lowery, oil engine
makers, the Steam Mills, Armley, Leeds, under the style
of the Wheatley Engine Company.

THE FREIGHT MARKET.

Whitsuntide has bitten a good deal out of the business
week, and the tale of charters is comparatively small. On
the North-East Coast coasting business has receded to about
3s. to London, and from 3s. 6d. to 3s. 9d. to Hamburg, from
the Tyne. The Baltic has Helsingfors at 4s. 6d., and St.
Petersburg at from 4s. 9d. to 5s. The Bay is based on
5s. 9d. to Bordeaux. The Mediterranean is represented by
from 7s. to 7s. IJd. to Genoa. At South Wales the market
is quiet, at figures which show little alteration on those of
seven days ago. Other ports are very dull. Homewards,
Eastern and Australian markets are quiet and unchanged.
The Black Sea and district show a fair inquiry at steady
rates. The Mediterranean and ore trades are firm. The
Baltic is steady. America is slow. The River Plate is
dull, and the general position is little varied.

Tyne to Aberdeen, 1,000, 2s., f.d. ; Antwerp, 1,700,
3s. 10^d.; 1,200, 4s., from Elswick; 2,000, 3s. 9d.; Barletta,
3,000, 9s., reported; Boulogne, 1,700, 3s. 9d. ; Brunsbuttel,

2.800,	3s. 6d.; Bona, 2,300, 9s., 300; Bordeaux, 2,900,
5s. 9d.; Calais, 1,600, 3s. 9Jd.; 1,500, ,3s. 9d.; l,6ou,
3s. 6d., reported; 2,100, 3s. 6d.; Civita Vecchia, 2,500, 8s.,
400; Constantinople, 3,000, 8s.; Castellamare, 5,000, 9s.
one loading place, 9s. l^d. two loading places; Elsinore,
2,000, 4s. 3d.; Genoa, 5,300, 7s.; 7,500, 7s. 3d., 500, 7s.,
800; 6,500, 7s.; 6,000, 7s. ljd.; 4,000, 7s. l|d., reported;
6,500, 7s. ljd.; Gefle, 1,350, 4s. 9d.; Hamburg, 2,000,
3s. 9d.; 2,200, 3s. 6d.; Havre, 1,700, 3s. lOJd.; Helsingfors,

1.700,	4s. 6d.; Las Palmas, 2,100, 7s.; London, 1,800, 3s.,
South Metropolitan terms; Leghorn, 3,500, 7s. 6d., 800,
lOd.; Marseilles, 4,000, 7s. 3d., 600; 4,800, 7s., from Duns-
ton; 4,500, 7s., 600, from Dunston; 5,300, 6s. 3d.; 5,400,
6s. 9d., from Dunston; 4,500, 7s.; 3,700, 7s.; Memel, 1,050,
4s. 9d.; Naples, 4,200, 7s. 3d., from Dunston; Nykjobing
Falster, 1,400, 4s. 6d.; Port Said, 7s. 6d., June, from Duns-
ton; 6,000, 7s. 6d.; Piraeus, 4,100, 7s. 3d., reported; 6,500,
7s. 3d.; Pillau, 2,900, 4s.; Rochefort, 2,600, 5s. 6d.; Rouen,
800, 5s., from Dunston; 1,000, 5s.; 1,500, 4s. 7Jd., two load-
ing places ; St. Petersburg, 4,900, 4s. 9d., 1,000; 3,300, 5s. ;
Seville, 1,300, 8s. 6d.; Trieste, 6,000, 8s. 6d.; Venice, 4,000,
8s. 3d.

Cardiff to Alexandria, 5,600, 7s. 4Jd., 500; 4,700, 7s., 700,
June 12; Barcelona, 2,200, 9s. 3d.; Buenos Ayres, 14s.,
June; Colombo, 6,500, 10s. 9d. June 8, 11s. June; Calais,

2.400,	4s.; Falmouth, 480, 4s.; 180, 5s.; Genoa, 3,000, 8s.
coal, 8s. 9d. fuel; 5,500, 7s. 3d.; 5,000, 7s. 3d.; 6,300, 7s.,
June 10; 6,000, 7s.; 6,000, 7s., June 8 ; 4,400, 7s. 3d., June;
Havre, 2,200, 4s.; Haiffa, 5,000, 9s., June 10; Invergorden,
800, 4s., Admiralty terms; Lisbon, 1,900, 6s. 6d., 350; 2,900,
6s. 3d., 350, 6s., 500; Las Palmas, 2,600, 7s., June 10; Mar-
seilles, 5,200, 8|fr., June 9; 6,300, 8| fr.; 4,400, 8J fr.;
Monte Video, 13s. 3d.; 13s., June; Malta and Smyrna, 4,200,
6s. 6d.,‘Admiralty terms; Oporto, 1,000, 6s. 9d., June 8;
Port Said, 6,000, 7s. 4Jd., June 9 ; 6,700, 7s.; Piraeus, 4,200,
8s.; 7s., June; River Plate, 5,800,14s. 3d., June; 5,800, 14s.;

4.800,	14s. 6d., June 8; 5,000, 14s. 3d., June; 6,000, 14s.,
end June; Rio de Janeiro, 5,000, 13s., June; 5,000, 12s. 9d.,
June; 6,000, 12s. 9d.; Savona, 3,000, 8s. coal, 8s. 9d. fuel;
Spezzia, 3,000, 8s. coal, 8s. 9d. fuel; Smyrna, 3,700, 6s. 6d.,
Admiralty; St. Malo, 2,200, 3s. 9d.; Trieste, 6,700, 7s. 6d.,
June 10; Venice, 4,200, 8s. 6d., 400; 5,000, 8s. 3d.

Newport to Salerno, 2,300, 8s. 6d., 500, June 8; Genoa,

4.400,	7s. 3d., June; 5,400, 7s. 3d.; Corunna, 1,300, 6s. 9d. ;
Ibicuy, 4,800-5,000, 15s., June; Seville, 2,200, 7s. 6d., June
8; Bordeaux, 2,000, 6f fr.; Brest, 1,100, 4s. 3d.

Swansea to Venice, 3,000, 9s., 400; Genoa, 8s., 500, 6|d.;
1,350, 8s.; Naples, 1,800, 8s. 6d. coal, 9s. 3d. fuel; 4,000,
8s. coal, 8s. 9d. fuel; 3,000, 8s., June 8; Valencia, 1,250,
8s.; Bayonne, 1,800, 7 fr.; Marseilles, 1,500, 9J fr.; Rouen,
1,200, 4s. 6d.; 650, 5s.; Stettin, 3,300, 4s. 9d.; Castellamare,
3,000, 10s. 6d.; Chantenay, 2,200, 6 fr.; Belfast, 400, 3s.

Wear to Genoa, 7,500, 7s. 3d.; Civita Vecchia, 5,000,
8s. 3d.

Immingham to Cronstadt, 3,100, 4s. 9d.

Blyth to Suez, 6,000, 8s. 6d.; Helsingfors, 2,000, 4s. 9d. ;
St. Petersburg, 2,700, 5s.; 5,000, 4s. 9d., 1,000; 2,200,
4s. 7|d., 500, two voyages; Cronstadt, 2,700, 4s. 9d.

Hartlepool to Leghorn, 3,700, 7s. 9d.; Pireeus, 6,500,
7s. 3d.

Gothenburg to Adelaide, Melbourne, and or Port Pirie,
sail, 55s., two ports.

Barry to Santos, 16s., June 15s.

Fife port to Kiel, 2,000, 4s. 6d.; 2,000, 4s. 9d.; Memel,
850, 4s. 9d. ; Cronstadt, 2,500, 4s. 9d.

Hamburg to Pensacola, 5,000, 8s. 3d., kainit, June.

Fredrikstadt to Sydney and Newcastle, N.S.W., sail,
42s. 6d.

Seaham Harbour to Riga, 1,600, 5s.; 2,700, 5s.

Liverpool to West Coast S. America, sail, p.t. general
cargo.

Leith to Hamburg, 2,800, 3s. 6d.; Rouen, 1,450, 4s. lOd.

Weser to Savannah, 8s., kainit, July.

Hull to Reval, 2,000, 4s. 9d.; Cronstadt, 1,900, 4s. 104d.;
3,100, 4s. 9d.

Sharpness to Sydney, N.S.W., sail, 13s. 6d.

Forth to Rouen, 1,700, 5s.; Aalborg, 1,300, 4s. 4Jd.;
Amsterdam, 900, 3s. 6d.

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

Rotterdam to Chantenay, 2,000, 5s. 6d.; Algiers, 4,000,
7fr.; 1,000, 7J fr.; 4,000, 7| fr.; Port Said, 4,800, 7s. 6d.,
200 tons coke; Marseilles, 4,800, 8Jfr., 600, 8Jfr., 900; St.
Nazaire, 3,400, 5s. 6d., 580, Trignac terms; 3,900, 5s. 4Jd.,
Trignac terms, June 8; Bilbao, 1,900, 4s. 3d., coke ; Bagnoli,

4.700,	6s. 9d., June 15; Porto Ferrajo, 4,700, 6s. 9d., June
15; St. Servan, 1,900, 4s. 6d.; St. Malo, 1,900, 4s. 6d.

Port Talbot to Genoa, 5,700, 7s. 6d.; Savona, 5,700,
7s. 6d.; Spezzia, 5,700, 7s. 6d.; Calais, 1,900, 4s.

Goole to Nordenhamn, 1,500, 3s. 10 Jd.

Manchester Geological and Mining Society.—The ordinary
meeting of the members of the Manchester Geological and
Mining Society will be held at Queen’s Chambers, 5, John
Dalton-street, Manchester, on Tuesday, June 9, 1914, at
4 p.m. The following papers will be read :—“ Review on
Mining Legislation,” by Mr. A. Dury Mitton, A.M.I.C.E.;
“ Removal of Carbon Monoxide from Air, and. Methods of
Estimation in Mines,’ by Mr. John Harger, M.Sc., Ph.D.
The Council will meet on the same day at 3 p.m. The
members of the society will visit the Second Northern
Colliery and Mining Exhibition to be held at the City Exhi-
bition Hall on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 23.