380

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

August 14, 1914.

caused fears for their safety. A reassuring message has
been received in Newcastle from the Copenhagen agent of
the Lambton and Hetton Colliery Company, of which Lord
Joicey is chairman.

A party of 23 ambulance men, belonging to the Harton
Colliery Section, left South Shields on Tuesday in charge
of Supt. Robson, Ambulance Officer Lyons, and Corpl.
Gill, for service in connection with the Royal Army Medical
Corps.

Owing to a large proportion of the staff of the Houghton
section of the Northumberland and Durham collieries rescue
brigade having been called on active service, the brigade
has published an intimation that all calls on the brigade
must be made to the head station at Elswick.

Cumberland.

There is every prospect of a continuance of work in the
steel rail mill and blast furnaces of the Workington Iron
and Steel Company, at Workington, and it is understood
that all of their employees whilst away on Government
service, who are breadwinners with dependants, will be
paid half their wages.

A notice has been posted in the office at thei Bertha Colliery,
near Maryport, belonging to the Flimby and Broughton Moor
Coal and Fire Brick Company Limited, that the colliery will
remain idle until further notice.

Last week, Mr. E. Alter, coroner for West Cumber-
land, opened the inquest at the colliery offices, Great
Clifton, on the bodies of. Isaac Smith, James Wright and
John Wilkinson, who were killed in the explosion at
William Pit, Clifton. It was decided to adjourn the inquest
until Tuesday.

Yorkshire.

The Effect of the War—Arrests at Harworth—Colliery
Ambulance Teams for Service—Housing at Bentley.

Mr. W. H. Fox, presiding at the annual meeting of
Messrs. Samuel Fox and Company Limited, at Sheffield,
on Friday, stated that after lengthy negotiations, the com-
pany had leased between 400 and 500 acres of coal, and to
enable this coal to be worked more economically, a new
drift had been commenced.

The question has been repeatedly asked the last few days,
“ How will the war affect the collieries in the South Yorks
district? ” The present outlook is that the pits will only
work for from two to four days a week, according to the
exigencies of trade. Up to the present no orders have been
received from the Government.

There was a sensation at the Harworth Colliery, near
Doncaster, last week-end, when yeomanry cavalry from Notts
appeared at the pit and arrested all the German workers
there, conveying them under armed escort to the police
station. This was in obedience to the general order through-
out the country for the arrest of all Germans capable of
bearing arms. The Germans employed at other collieries
around were also collected and brought into Doncaster.

Each of the South Yorks collieries have lost a number
of workers through their recall to their regiments for active
service. The colliery ambulance brigades have been asked
by the district commissioner if they would volunteer for
service. Sixty men and 12 nurses of the Denaby St. John
Ambulance Brigade have offered their services, and the
Brodsworth brigade has volunteered.

Mr. H. S. Stewart, F.S.I., one of the Local Government
Board inspectors, held an enquiry at Bentley, last week,
relative to the application of the Urban District Council to
borrow £26,000 for the purpose of erecting workmen’s
dwellings for the miners. It was stated a site had been
purchased from Messrs. Barber, Walker and Company, of
the Bentley Colliery, at £250 per acre freehold, the minerals
being reserved, and the vendors agreeing to pay compensa-
tion for subsidence. There were 250 families without homes
in Bentley, such was the demand for houses. Answering
the inspector, the Bentley surveyor stated the demand for
houses was entirely due to the development of Bentley,
Bullcroft, Brodsworth, and Askern collieries. The demand
was aggravated because of Bullcroft Pit opening and Bentley
extending during the last few years. The inspector wanted
to know something about wages, so Mr. Clive, agent to
Messrs. Barber, Walker and Company and chairman of
Bentley Council, was called. He said, men on the
surface earned from 24s. to £2 per week; men below ground
nearly £2 per week, varying from that to over £3 per week.
About 80 per cent, of the men worked below ground.
During the last 18 months Bentley Colliery had employed
about 300 more hands, and during the next 12 or 18
months that number would be increased. The Bentley
Colliery Company had built 400 houses.

Several prosecutions against miners were withdrawn at
Doncaster on Saturday, it being explained they had left for
service with their regiments.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Lancashire and the War—Shortage of Rolling Stock—
Colliery Owners and Reservists: Generous Action.

Certain powerful colliery companies in Lancashire, in
view of the disturbed state of European affairs, have decided
to withhold dividends on the past half year’s trading.

The scarcity of colliers in various parts of the Leigh
division of South Lancashire has become accentuated
during the last few days, in consequence of large numbers
of men having been called up for active service. Many
collieries in South and South-west Lancashire are now
working irregularly, owing to the inability of railway com-
panies to return wagons to coal owners and coal merchants.

It was announced on Monday that the Ladyshore Coal
Company, Little Lever, near Bolton, have issued a notice,
signed on behalf of the company by Mr. Norman Fletcher,
J.P., to the effect that they will pay to the representatives
of any employees now called up for active service, or who
may join later, until the end of the war, the following
sums :—To married men 10s. per week and Is. per week
for each child; to single men with dependants 10s. per
week; and to single men without dependants 5s. per week.

Mr. Charles Hardy, a son-in-law of the late Earl of
Ellesmere, has now taken over the superintendence of the
Ellesmere collieries and estates in South-east Lancashire,
in succession to Capt. H. V. Hart-Davis who has retired.

The executive council of the Lancashire and Cheshire
Miners’ Federation decided, last Friday, to keep the
membership good of those members who have been called
up as Reservists and Territorials.

Notts and Derbyshire.

The management of the New Hucknall Colliery Company
have intimated that an allowance will be made to the wife
of each Territorial and Reservist in the company’s employ
who has been called out on active service. The allowance
of coal will be continued as before, and all the places of the
men will be kept open. The men have decided to subscribe
6d. each and subsequently Id. a week per man in order
to supplement the company’s grant.

The Midlands.

Flooding of a Colliery near Burton.

There was a sudden inrush of water at Earl Carnarvon’s
colliery at Bretby, Burton-on-Trent, On Monday, and the
pit was completely flooded. Fortunately, there were very
few miners in the pit at the time, and all the ponies were
got out. Three hundred and fifty men are out of work,
but as pumping is well in hand, the management hope that
the suspension will be of short duration. .

Messrs. R. Fellows and Company have decided to close
the Fly Colliery, Old Hill, which is said to have been
worked out. About 150 miners will be thrown out of
employment by the stoppage of the pit, but the closing of
this colliery is counteracted somewhat by the re-opening
of the Cakemore Colliery, Blackheath, by Messrs. H. S.
Pitt and Company, at which it is expected about 200 men
will find employment.

Scotland.

The Explosives Order Denounced.

At a meeting of the Scottish branch of the National
Association of Colliery Managers, held in the Heriot-Watt
College, Edinburgh, Mr. Robert Wilson, Giffnock, intro-
duced a profitable discussion on “ The New Explosives Order
with Some Notes on the New Permitted List ”—a paper
recently read by Mr. James Drylie, Glasgow. Mr. Wilson
remarked that many of them were really wondering why
the new Explosives Order had come into existence at all,
because, from the statistics that had been published, it
seemed to his mind that there was little need for such drastic
measures being enforced, particularly in the mines in
Scotland. There might have been instances in very fiery
mines that required to be strictly dealt with—as, for example,
where gas was prominent at great pressure and where dust
was. prominent also—but in the majority of cases in Scotland
such conditions did not exist. The fact, as had been
pointed out, that although 44 million shots had been fired
and 22 million lb. of explosives used, only four lives had
been lost through the ignition of gas, spoke volumes for
the safety of the explosives previously on the Permitted
List. The tests for the explosives now appeared on the new
Permitted List, which had been carried out at Rotherham,
have been very severe, and so far as he knew, bore no
resemblance whatever to the actual use of explosives in
mines. A great deal had been said about the pendulum
swing, and his experience had been that the explosive which
had the highest pendulum swing did the best work, only
the pendulum swing had to be coupled with the charge limit.
Some explosives had a high pendulum swing but a low
charge limit, and with these he had not been able to bring
down his brushing without an increased limit charge. The
discussion was taken part in by Mr. Robert Wilson,
Alloa; Mr. C. C. Reid, Cowdenbeath; Mr. Thomson (Nobel’s
Limited); Mr. James Gilchrist, Cambuslang; Mr. James
Kirkpatrick, Uddingston; the branch president (Mr. Richard
McPhee); and Mr. James Drylie, Glasgow.

A notice has been posted at the Fife Coal Company’s
office to the effect that the only pits which are likely to
be kept in full working during the war are those producing
navigation coal, namely, Valleyfield, No. XL Lumphinnans
Mary Pit, Lochore, and Aitken Pit, Kelty. Owing to the
decrease in the number of workers caused by the call to
arms, all these pits can employ additional men. As the
export trade in coal is at present impossible, the pits pro-
ducing shipping coal will work only two days per week.
The only outlet for coal is that of land sale, and is only
a trifling quantity.

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS.

The Editors are not responsible either for the statements
made, or the opinions expressed by correspondents.

All communications must be authenticated by the name and
address of the sender, whether for publication or not.
No notice can be taken of anonymous communications.

As replies to questions are only given by way of published
answers to correspondents, and not by letter, stamped
addressed envelopes are not required to be sent.

THE WAR AND THE SUPPLY OF COLLIERY
TIMBER.

Sir,—In view of the probable scarcity, if not the
absolute failure, of the supply of pit props, etc., for
underground use, in consequence of the sources of
supply not being available, may I suggest the desir-
ability of adopting wrought iron and steel tubes and
steel girders in place of the ordinary timber now in use.

Tubes and girders have hitherto, and may still more
in the future, be adapted in various ways to replace
wooden props, and channel and bar iron, for bars (or
crowntrees) at the coal faces, with steel girders for the
roads.

The tubes, channels, bars, and girders could be
manufactured in this country, and would not only be
the means of keeping some of the collieries working,
but would also provide work for our ironstone mines,
blastfurnaces, rolling mills, tube works, and the
numerous employees dependent upon them, and enable
the latter to earn wages for the support of their
families.

The use of iron and steel would be found to possess
many advantages compared with wood, and, in my
opinion, their adoption would ultimately be to the
mutual advantage of colliery owners, managers, and
workmen.	Robert Laverick.

2, Claremont-gardens, Nottingham,

August 12, 1914.

INDIAN AND COLONIAL NOTES.

India.

State Railway Coal Department.—The second annual
report of Mr. R. W. Church, B.Sc., F.G.S., mining engi-
neer and metallurgist with the Indian Railway Board, to
give him his cumbrous official title, is full of interest. As
already noted, the Department is now supervising coal sup-
plies for other concerns besides the State Railways, including
the British India Steam Navigation Company, the Ceylon
Railways, and the Bombay Electric Supply and Tramways
Company. Figures are given which show that the actual
additions to the wagon stock of the railways serving the
Bengal coalfields during 1913 were 1,912 in the case of the
East Indian, and 699 on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, while
upwards of 5,000 wagons were placed on the East Indian
Railway for the carriage of loco, coal for “ foreign ” lines.
It is.also stated that in all 22,343 broad gauge wagons have
been ordered for delivery to Indian railways by the end of
1915, 9,473 of which are for the East Indian Railway, and
1,845 for the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. Mr. Church com-
ments disparagingly on the coal loading arrangements at
Kidderpore Docks, and does not anticipate any marked rise
in coal exports in the next few years. He writes :—“ In
addition to normal competition with South African, Aus-
tralian, and Japanese coal, Indian coal is penalised by the
primitive methods of loading employed at Kidderpore Docks,
which cause a heavy breakage and consequent depreciation
to the coal.” This point has been often urged, and it is
to be hoped that the Port Trust will not stop at the second
mechanical berth which they are now equipping. On the
general economical side of the subject of Indian mining,
Mr. Church indicates the field that exists on the railways
alone for good hard coke, and he mentions that two impor-
tant firms of colliery owners are arranging to erect modern
coke making plants in the Jherria coalfield. To meet the
increasing demand for screened small coal, a number of
collieries have erected up-to-date screening plants, though
the utility of these has thus far been handicapped by
shortage of wagon supply. Mr. Church, however, writes
hopefully that the large increase of wagons now under order
will solve this ever-recurring difficulty. The new chemical
laboratory at Alipore is to undertake examinations of cer-
tain Raniganj coals with a view to ascertaining whether
they are suitable for any of the new distillation processes.
An informing section of the report is devoted to the question
of the spontaneous combustion of Indian coals, and Mr.
Church gives the following summary suggestions, which
apply more particularly to Damuda Valley coal :—(1) Load
coal as free from small and dust as possible; (2) do not
load those portions of the seams in which iron pyrites is
noticed; (3) keep steam pipes and flues and other causes
of external heat away from the coal; (4) as far as possible
load coal in a dry condition; (5) do not ventilate stacks and
cargoes by means of airways or boards—use pipes; (6) do
not stack coal high in moisture and volatile matter or
known to have a high sulphur content in high stacks, and
with cargoes, load and discharge as quickly as possible.

Africa.

A Natal Report on Rescue Stations.—The Report of the
Natal Committee of Enquiry into Coal Mines Rescue
Stations has just been issued. At the start of their enquiry,
the Commissioners found that very few persons in South
Africa had any practical knowledge of rescue work or
rescue stations, and it was found necessary to obtain
information from the Home Office, and from colliery
managers and others in Great Britain. In Natal little has
been done in the matter; the mining regulations insisted
that rescue apparatus should be provided, and this was done,
but at none of the collieries were the men trained in the
use of the rescue apparatus. The disasters at the Glencoe
and Cambrian collieries, and the fire at the Natal Naviga-
tion Colliery in March 1912 have made it incumbent that
rescue corps should be established and properly trained in
the use of rescue apparatus. With the recurring gob fires
in the Natal collieries, another danger has been introduced,
and the use of rescue apparatus will be most helpful in
dealing with such outbreaks in the future. The committee
considers that a central rescue station should be established
and equipped, and they are of the opinion that the best
site for this station would be Hatting Spruit, as that is
practically the centre of the Natal coalfields, and the more
fiery collieries are situated within a radius of nine miles.
In their opinion a station somewhat similar to that in use
at Aberaman, South Wales, would be found quite suitable
for Natal. The committee estimate that the building of
such a station would cost approximately £2,000. It is
recommended that a motor car be provided and kept at the
station. The station should be connected up to the main
telephone system, and some arrangement be come to with
the postal and railway departments, whereby telephonic
communication at night could be assured. Six complete sets
of rescue apparatus should be kept at the central rescue
station. In addition the following should be kept :—Twenty
electric hand lamps; two oxygen reviving apparatus; an
ambulance box provided by the St. John Ambulance Associa-
tion, together with antiseptic solution; cages of birds and
mice. The central station should also be equipped with
one liquid air plant capable of producing 20 lb. of liquid
air per hour; four cylinders for storing liquid air; on$ motor
car. Other details of equipment should be left to the
committee of management, who would have the benefit of
the advice of the instructor. The rescue station should be
controlled by a committee of management consisting of the
permanent instructor and representatives of the collieries,
of whom one or more shall be mine managers appointed by
the mine managers generally, and one or more shall be
directors of the collieries appointed by the boards of the
colliery companies in such manner as they may mutually
agree. The ideal instructor would be a man who had had
colliery experience in his youth, then military training,
finally charge of a rescue station; he should, if possible,
have sufficient mechanical knowledge to enable him to run
the liquid air producing plant, and to effect repairs to the
apparatus. The evidence as to the salary paid to the instruc-
tor in Great Britain varied very much, ranging from £500
per annum and house to £125 per annum and house.
The actual salaries paid at two rescue stations in
England were £143 and £125, with house, coal and
light. The committee things that as a good man is
essential, a suitable man could be procured for £400 per
annum, with house and coal. An assistant to run the liquid
air plant would be required, but such a man could be
obtained locally at a salary of £15 per mensem. Two or
three natives would also be required.