August 28, 1914. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 471 other grades in proportion. In coke there is a decidedly harder tendency, owing to the better conditions now prevailing at many of the iron and steel works. Special foundry is 30s., ordinary 26s., and furnace 19s. Shipments of patent fuel last week only amounted to 4,500 tons, but now that the triple bond has been cancelled there is a probability of trade resuming its normal course. Quotations are still on the basis of 21s. for best qualities, and 19s. to 20s. for second grades. The pitwood trade is still one of considerable difficulty, and importers are demanding 34s. to 35s. ex ship. The Board of Trade returns dealing with the exports of coal from the Bristol Channel to foreign countries Prices f.o.b. Cardiff (except where otherwise stated). Current L'st week’s Last year’s Steam coals:— Best Admiralty steam prices. prices. prices. coals — —- 20/6-21/ Superior seconds 19/ -20/ — 19/6-20/ Ordinary do 18/6-19/ 17/ -18/ 18/6-19/ Best bunker smalls 8/6- 9/ 7/6- 8/6 11/6 Best ordinaries 8/ - 8/6 6/6- 7/ 11/3 Cargo qualities 6/-7/ 4/6- 6/ 9/ - 9/3 Inferior smalls 4/6- 5/6 — 7/6—8/9 Best dry coals 18/6-19/ 15/6-16/6 18/6-19/ Ordinary drys 16/ -16/9 — 16/3-16/9 Best washed nuts 15/6-16/ — 16/ Seconds 14/ -14/6 — 15/ Best washed peas 14/ -14/6 — 14/ -14/3 Seconds 13/6 — 13/ -13/3 Dock screenings Monmouthshire— 9/6-10/6 — 11/9 Black Veins 17/3-17/6 17/ -17/6 18/6-18/9 Western-valleys 16/9-17/ 16/3-16/9 18/ Eastern-valleys 16/ -16/3 IS/ -15/9 17/3-17/6 Inferior do Bituminous coals :— 15/ -15/3 — 15/9-16/ Best house coals (at pit) 20/ 20/ 20/6 Second qualities (at pit) No. 3 Rhondda— 17/6-19/6 17/6-19/6 17/6-17/9 Bituminous large 17/6-18/ — 17/6 Through-and-through 14/6-15/ — 15/3-15/6 Small No. 2 Rhondda— 11/ — 12/3-12/6 Large 14/ — 13/6 Through-and-through 11/6-12/ — 11/ -11/3 Small 8/ - 8/6 — 8/9 Best patent fuel 21/ — 22/6 Seconds 19/ -20/ — 19/6-20/6 Special foundry coke 30/ — 30/ . Ordinary do. 26/ — 25/ -26/ Furnace coke 19/ — 20/ -21/ Pitwood (ex-ship) 34/ -35/ 35/ 22/6 and British possessions for the seven months of the present year are rather instructive reading, and it will be seen that there are decreases in no fewer than 29 instances. The following table gives the total exports to each country, together with the increase or decrease: — Seven months, ended July 1914. Tons. Increase. Tons. Decrease. Tons. Russia , 342,446 ... . 30,551 ... — Sweden 109,618 ... — . 29,427 Norway 87,421 ... 23,055 .. — Denmark (including Faroe Islands) ... 21,401 ... — 882 Germany 170,921 ... — , 11,061 Netherlands 53,278 ... — . 20,449 Java 13,612 ... — 6,799 Other Dutch posses- sions in Indian Seas 23,327 ... , 10,879 .. — Belgium 213,960 ... — . 87,962 France 4,356,659 ... 41,645 — Algeria 382,258 ... — . 73,088 French Somaliland... 33,235 ... — 50 Madagascar 9,863 ... 4,135 .. — Reunion (Bourbon) 5,498 ... 688 ... — Portugal 461,397 ... — . 39,931 Azores 15,796 ... 3,404 ... — Madeira 50,618 ... — , 27,723 Spain 798,278 ... 30,495 — Canary Islands 318,796 ... — . 121,199 Italy ... 3,183,733 ... — . 39,986 Austria-Hungary ... 122,038 ... — , 90,537 Greece 235,873 ... 48,622 ... — Bulgaria 63,238 ... — — Roumania 169,098 ... 91,608 ... — Turkey — European 102,384 ... 58,124 ... — „ Asiatic ... 140,342 ... 98,343 ... — Egypt 1,171,754 ... 44,959 ... — Tripoli 8,035 ... 6,203 ... — Tunis 98,857 ... — 10,069 China (exclusive of Hong Kong, Macao and leased terri- tories) 4,935 ... — 240 Mexico 1,326 ... — 3,272 Peru 12,718 ... 4,021 ’’’ — Chile 218,210 ... — 20,594 Brazil 712,367 ... — 314,456 Uruguay 368,284 ... — . 6,945 Argentine Republic 1,874,946 ... — . 1,258 Channel Islands 41,220 ... 6,969 ... — Gibraltar 141,507 ... 5,896 ... — Malta and Gozo 222,598 ... — 137,026 Sierra Leone 22,985 ... — 3,115 Gold Coast 5,108 ... 3,080 ... — Protectorate of Nigeria 35,700 ... 5,486 ... — Cape of Good Hope 23,199 ... 3,948 ... — Anglo - Egyptian Sudan 32,189 ... 32,189 ... — Mauritius and De- pendencies 12,454 ... — 11,177 Aden and Dependen- cies 96,725 ... 9,661 ... — British India 89,125 ... 22,376 ... — Straits Settlements and Dependencies including Labuan 16,707 ... 7,719 ... — Ceylon and Depen- dencies 189,823 ... 54,456 ... — Seven months, ended July 1914. Increase. Decrease. Tons. Tons. Tons. Wei-hai-Wei — — . 6,909 Hong Kong 10,366 ... — . 27,862 Canada 8,218 ... — . 1,673 Bermudas British West India 10,530 ... 8,083 ... — Islands 13,066 ... 9,706 ... — Falkland Islands ... 4,712 ... — . 6,428 West Africa (French) 58,094 ... — , 48,551 „ (Portuguese) 62,869 ... — . 82,708 East Africa (Italian) 9,360 ... IRON. 4,059 ... — There is a distinct improvement in the position of the tinplate trade, although new orders are still scarce. It is felt, however, that the trade is on the eve of a big revival, and makers all round entertain the most optimistic views as to the future, and receipts from works last week only amounted to 8,655 boxes, and shipments were 39,596 boxes, leaving nearly 241,000 boxes in stock at the docks ware- houses, and vans. Bessemer standard cokes, 20 x 14 are 13s. 6d., and oil sizes 18| x 14 13s. 9d., and 20 x 10 19s. During the last few days one boat has loaded no less than 2,000 tons of tinplates for China and Japan. In the galvanised sheet trade the position is rather more promising, and several substantial orders have been received on Government account. The difficulty at present, however, is the price of spelter, which has now increased to nearly .£45 per ton, and 24 gauge corrugateds are now quoted at £14 per ton, or £3 more than a month ago. In Welsh pig iron there has been an advance of over 10s. per ton, and the quotation now stands at 72s. 6d. to 73s. f.o.t. The dumping of foreign steel bars, blooms, billets. &c., having been suspended Welsh works are more actively employed, and prices of Siemens bars are now officially fixed at £5 5s. per ton, and Bessemer qualities at £5 2s. 6d. At the moment there is nothing fresh to report with regard to steel rails, but it is not improbable that several substantial orders from home railways will be placed in the near future. In scrap metals, although little business has yet resulted, there is a distinctly firmer tone, and quotations are appre- ciably higher. Steel scrap is 60s., cast 55s., heavy wrought 52s. 6d., double-headed iron rails 65s., steel ditto 66s., and new steel crop ends 65s. In iron ore there has been an advance of nearly 5s. per ton, best rubio now offering at 20s. to 23s., seconds 17s. 6d. to 18s. 6d., and Almeria 19s. Llanelly. COIL. A most unsatisfactory state of things exists in the coal trade here, and the position has improved very little beyond that of last week. Unfortunately the prospects of any alteration is very black, as probably no part of the coal trade of the country has been so much affected by the war than the anthracite trade. By far the greater part of the output has been shipped to the Continental ports, but this is practically on stop with the exception of a few parcels which have been shipped by collieries who have depots at the Mediterranean ports. Many of the collieries have not yet re-started this month, and it is feared that unless a change takes place soon, other collieries will be forced to close. Large kinds are most difficult to place, and stocks are accumulating to a great extent. There is a g rod enquiry from inland for beans and peas, but nuts are moving very slowly. Steam and bituminous qualities are in poor demand, but large steam is going well. Prices this week are:— Prices f.o.b. Anthracite:— Best malting large .. Secondary do. ....... Big Vein large....... Red Vein do. „....... Machine-made cobbles... German nuts.......... French do............ Paris do............. Machine-made beans ... Do. peas......... Culm ................ Duff ................ Other sorts:— Large steam coal..... Through-and-through... Small ............... Bituminous small coal... Current prices. 21/ -23/ 19/ -21/ 16/ -18/ 13/6-14/6 20/ -22/ 21/ -23/ 21/ -23/ 21/ -23/ 20/ —22/ 13/6-14/6 6/ - 6/3 3/9— 5/6 16/ -18/ 11/ —11/6 8/6- 9/6 11/ -11/6 L'st week's prices. 21/ -23/ . 19/ -21/ 16/ -18/ 13/6-14/6 20/ -22/ 21/ -23/ 21/ -23/ 21/ —23/ 20/ -22/ 13/6-14/6 6/ - 6/3 3/9— 5/6 Last year's prices. 20/6-22/ 19/ -20/ 17/ -18/ 12/6-13/6 19/6-20/6 22/ -24/ 22/ -24/ 22/ -24/ 19/ -21/ 12/6-13/6 6/6- 7/ 5/6- 7/ 16/ -18/ 11/ -11/6 8/6- 9/6 11/ -11/6 17/ -18/ 11/6-12/ 9/ -10/ 10/ -11/ Grimsby Coal Exports.—The quantity of coal exported from Grimsby during the week ended August 21 is shown by the official returns to be as follows :—Foreign : To Gothenburg, 821 tons; Helsingborg, 1,800; and Horsens, 1,765. Coastwise : To London, 1,200 tons; Pentewan, 197; and Rye, 170; making totals of 4,386 tons foreign and 1,567 tons coastwise, compared with 32,206 tons and 780 tons respectively for the corresponding week last year. Coal Trade of Shanghai.—H.M. Consul-General at Shanghai states that during 1913 the coal market there had a steady upward tendency, and appears to have been unaffected by the rebellion. For good quality coal prices were very firm, and towards the end of the year showed a considerable advance. In Japan the mines were working at high pressure, as the demand in many kinds of coal was greater than the supply—a condition which applied equally to those in North China. The local steamship companies and industries, in view of the position of the Japanese coal market, entered earlier than usual into their contracts for 1914, and prices in all contracts made show an average advance of $1 per ton, and in some instances of as much as $1 25c. per ton, or about 10 and 12 per cent, respectively. These prices, which betoken a coal famine, are an eloquent commentary on the undevelopment of Chinese mineral resources. The following shows gross and net imports of coal in 1913 and in the two preceding years :— Net imports. Gross (----------->------------>, imports. 1911. 1912 1913. 1913. Australian ... 5,714 ... 899 ... 1,000 ... 1,546 British .... — ... — ... 18,318 ... 41,244 Hongay...... 15,655 ... 12,333 ... 26,881 ... 27,010 Japanese ... 463,739 ... 480,913 ... 544,952 ... 929,592 THE LONDON COAL TRADE. Thursday, August 27. The London coal trade during the past week has been very slow. All household qualities have been coming forward more freely, and the weather has been altogether against any great consumption, so that stocks have accumu- lated in almost every direction. The railway companies have practically been occupied during the whole of the week with troop trains and the transport of war materials^ so that coal traffic (both loaded and empties) have had very little consideration. Fortunately the coal has not been actually required in the London district, and all orders given are undoubtedly for stocking purposes or the consequences might have been serious. Loaded wagons have been untouched in the colliery sidings for days, although labelled for final destinations, and empties have been standing in all kinds of out-of-the-way stations, so as not to impede the passage of the various battalions of soldiers and materials. This scarcity of empty wagons has meant the loss of two, and sometimes three, days’ working during the week. The great marshalling and relabelling stations on all the principal railways are still under strict curtailment. Wagons labelled for these stations are left in the colliery sidings until the final destinations are received. The depot trade is very quiet, but the majority of the merchants have still a large number of orders on hand unexecuted, many of which have been purposely delayed by the householder until the holidays are over. Extraordinary methods have this year been put into force by a goodly number of the London merchants to get the public to pay up more promptly during these severe times, and whilst some decline to enter the order unless accompanied by cash, others have adopted the less drastic measure of sending a special request for payment with the account, drawing attention to the uncertain state of the trade, and the diffi- culties in connection with cartage and delivery. The attend- ance on the London Exchange has been larger during the week, and notwithstanding its being the holiday season, a fair amount of trade has been done. The shipping market is very quiet, and this means that a very heavy tonnage is available for all the home markets. The short working at the collieries and the limited output for want of wagons is helping to keep the balance right or the London market would be glutted with coal. The best qualities of house coal still have a fair demand, but the second qualities are very difficult to sell. Yorkshire qualities are still dominating the market. Small nuts and slacks also have been selling freely, but the prices are much below last summer’s rates. With the steady march of the shorter days, and the increased use of the electric and gas light, there are some who foresee a great scarcity of double-screened nuts and peas unless the collieries are working better time, but at present the supply is much beyond the demand. Factories on the Thames side also are very irregular. Some are working at high pressure, and have more orders than they can deal with, but others are barely keeping the wheels turning, largely for want of the raw material. Fourteen vessels were entered as arriving in the River Thames for Monday's market, and 10 for Wednesday ; all, however, were contract coals, and all sold. A partial improvement is reported in the railway service this week, and it is evident a large number of empties have been moved from the London end. The London Metal Exchange in Leadenhall-street is still closed, but by the various notices on the main doors, there is evidently a fair amount of business done, and prices are still regulated by the committee. One important announcement is that the moratorium does not apply even “ to the King's enemies." The price fixed on August 21 by the committee is to regulate the prices to be paid for all transactions. On the London Coal Exchange very little is heard of the moratorium. The matter is, of course, fully discussed, but as the whole of the trade in the retail is principally for cash, and in the wholesale exclusively for monthly pay- ments, and bills are very rarely entertained, there is a strong feeling that only a few will take advantage of the moratorium in the payment of their monthly colliery accounts. So far as the ordinary merchant is concerned, there has undoubtedly been a larger amount of cash received than usual over the counter, and the bulk of the traders have made it a condition that orders will not be entered, or coals delivered, unless accompanied by cash. They ought, therefore, to be in a better position to pay the colliery accounts this summer, and it is evident from the attitude the collieries are adopting, that no further supplies will be forthcoming to the man or firm who shelter themselves under the moratorium. How this will affect the seaborne trade, where bills are more in evidence, and where large tonnages have already been exported, and delivered in the prescribed areas, remains yet to be seen. Some cargoes have been arranged from the Humber ports, and the vessels have sailed during the week, through cash deposits from some of the banks. Barnsley collieries have not been sending coal to London on account of the local holidays and feasts. The Port of London Authority have cancelled the contracts for the supply of locomotives which have been placed with German firms, and it is understood that fresh tenders will shortly be advertised for. The special offers made by Messrs. Rickett, Cockerell and Co. to the Government for coal to be delivered in the winter at 24s. and 25s. per ton has brought out a large number of counter offers from traders, who are prepared to contract with their customers at 23s. 6d. and 23s. per ton, so as to ensure a fair and reasonable price during the winter months. These offers are based prin- cipally upon the prospect of having larger supplies of north country and Yorkshire coals available through the limited export trade. From Messrs. Dinham, Faweus and Co.’s Report. Friday,. August 21.—The seaborne house coal market was very quiet to-day ; no business reported. Cargoes 19. Monday, August 24.—The seaborne house coal market was steady to-day, with no cargoes on offer. Cargoes 14. Wednesday, August 26.—There was a little enquiry, but no sales of seaborne house coal cargoes reported at to-day’s market. Cargoes 10.