680

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

September 25, 1914.

Main at Edlington, and the big Bentley Colliery untapped,
so that there should still be plenty of material to draw upon.
Some people think the Doncaster collieries alone should be
easily able to send two battalions out. It must be remem-
bered, however, that all the pits have already contributed
a good quota of recruits to the Army since the war began,
and that of the 1,200 odd recruits accepted from the Don-
caster district many have been miners. What splendid
soldiers these men make is reflected in the statement of Dr.
Hallows, who is examining them on behalf of the War
Office, and who told our correspondent that he had never
seen a finer lot of men than the miners who had gone up
from the Doncaster district, particularly from Brods worth.

A strong point is being made of the fact that the Don-
caster and Pontefract mining battalions will be trained in
their own immediate district. They will receive pay, drill
a certain number of hours per day, and if they wish to go
down the pits as well it is probable some arrangement as
to this may be made, for the time being, at least it was
stated so at the meeting. The dastardly conduct of the
Germans in Belgium in stopping the fans of the pits,
suffocating the miners, and preventing them coming up to
fight for their country, has caused a strong wave of indig-
nation throughout the South Yorkshire coalfields, and the
most is being made of the incident at the miners’ recruiting
meetings. Lord Halifax has put the case to the colliery
workers in a nutshell. He had always noticed, he says,
when there is a pit catastrophe the miners do not hesitate,
and as a matter of course risk their lives to save their friends.
It was a splendid example, and one which the country wished
to see carried out now, not for their companions in the mines,
but for their brothers, the sons of England. The mining
battalions are to be comfortably housed during the winter in
wooden huts, and will be styled the Miners’ Battalions of
the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. A deputation
from the West Yorkshire Coal Owners’ Association visited
the War Office a few days ago and conferred with the
authorities. The interview was of a satisfactory character.
The association has undertaken to house the men and pro-
ceed with the preliminary training.

The Doncaster Corporation is negotiating for a big deal
with the Bentley Colliery Company. At a recent meeting
of the Council in committee, the Estates Committee recom-
mended that the mill, land, and water rights at Bentley
be offered to the colliery company for the sum of £10,000.
An amendment to defer the matter, and in the meantime
give notice to the colliery company of the subsidence which
has already taken place in connection with the bed of the
Bentley Mill stream, owing to colliery workings, was lost.
The town clerk was then instructed to proceed at once to
make the offer to the colliery company, and at the same time
to draw their attention to the subsidence.

At Doncaster Rural District Council meeting last week a
report was considered from Dr. Dunne, medical officer, with
regard to houses in the mining village of Barmboro, which
the county medical officer had represented as unfit for habi-
tation. The necessity for sewerage works was also drawn
attention to, in view of the developments of the district
associated with the new colliery. A recommendation that
application be made to the Local Government Board for
sanction to borrow £2,400 for the construction of such works
was agreed to.

The Brodsworth Colliery Company are very generously
allowing the wives of those who have been called to the
front to live rent free and to have coal free. This, so far,
represents a sum of about £50 per week. The men at the
pit are voluntarily contributing Id. per shift per man to
the relief fund, which amounts to about £43 per week. Mr.
J. Greensmith, the agent for the Brodsworth Main Colliery
Company, is chairman, and Mr. Criddle, the manager if the
pit, is vice-chairman, of the Adwick, Brodsworth, and High-
fields Relief Fund, which is doing excellent work. The com-
mittee are directing their attention to the children of those
who have joined the Colours, and have decided to increase
the Government separation allowance to them from Is. 2d.
per week to 2s. 6d. weekly. The committee have already
some 200 children upon their books.

Some few months ago all the country rang with the news
of a school strike at the Bentley Toll Bar, the miners and
their wives declining to allow their children to walk a very
long distance in wet and rough weather to the nearest place
of instruction. After the strike had extended some weeks,
the County Council resolved to hurry forward the erection
of a new school in the disaffected area. This has cost
£5,200, and was opened last week with befitting ceremonial.
The enormous growth of the district through colliery develop-
ment was referred to, it being pointed out Bentley had
grown upon every side, and that the Toll Bar district was
now nearly two miles from the centre of the township.

Mr. A. T. C. Savage, who has held an official position at
the Drift Parkgate Colliery, has been appointed manager
of the Tankersley Collieries (Messrs. Newton, Chambers
and Company), in succession to Mr. Percy Sidebottom, who
has left the district to become manager of a new colliery at
Wrexham, North Wales.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Colliery Manager to be Lord Mayor of Liverpool.

Nearly 400 employees of Messrs. Andrew Knowles and
Sons, colliery proprietors, are now serving with the Colours.

The Clifton and Kearsley Coal Company have no fewer
than 349 men serving as Regulars, Reservists, Territorials,
or new recruits.

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Salisbury, of 200, Montague-street,
Blackburn, have just celebrated their golden wedding.
Mr. Salisbury has been in the service of the Wigan Coal
and Iron Company for 46 years, holding the position of
cashier.

The Hartley Mine of the Worsley Mesnes Colliery Com-
pany Limited, in the Wigan coalfield, has been closed down,
and about 200 men have been thrown out of employment in
consequence. Stocks aggregating some 35,000 tons have, it
is stated, been laid down about the surface, and lately there
had only been a market for about one-fifth of the producing
capacity of the mine, and under the circumstances the man-
agement had no alternative except a total stoppage of work.
Some of the men affected by this decision have found work
in the other pits of the company, and it is expected that
the remainder will be able to obtain employment at the local
collieries which are working full time.

Mr. John Edward Rayner, manager of three colliery
undertakings in the Wigan district with a weekly wage-bill
of over a-third of a million sterling, has, after taking time
for consideration, accepted the offer of the Conservative
party at Liverpool for nomination for the Lord Mayoralty

in succession to Mr. Herbert R. Rathbone (Liberal). Mr.
Rayner entered the Liverpool City Council in 1901 as a
representative of the Kirkdale Ward, but at the end of three
years retired owing to the increasing demands of his busi-
ness. He had thrown himself with considerable zeal into
the work of the then newly-formed Education Committee,
and it was largely his interest in that branch of municipal
service which led him to return to the Council a year ago,
when he secured an unopposed return for the Castle-street
Ward. He is a member of the Education and Estates Com-
mittees. In. both his views and services are highly valued.
Essentially a business man, he also takes part in public
discussion.

North Wales.

Notices have been served on the workmen at the Phoenix
Colliery, Wrexham. The employees number about 400, and
the closing of the mine would entail very considerable dis-
tress in the locality, as there is no other colliery or industry
in the neighbourhood. The local council of the Free
Churches and others are joining in an earnest appeal to Sir
William Hartley, the owner, in the matter. The scarcity of
employment owing to the war has already occasioned much
suffering.

Notts and Derbyshire.

Progress of the Staveley Undertaking—The Huge Con-
sumption of Pitwood.

Some interesting remarks on the prospects of the coal
trade and the effects of the war were made by Mr. Charles
P. Markham, chairman of the Staveley Coal and Iron Com-
pany, at the annual meeting of shareholders at Sheffield on
Tuesday last. The company, he stated, was at present
sinking a pit at Palterton, on to the Arkwright area of coal,
which would considerably decrease the cost of getting at
this pit. They had now got down some 40 to 50 yds., and
sinking was proceeding very satisfactorily. Since the last
meeting the ironstone mines at Lamport had been opened.
They had installed there about 2| miles of aerial ropeway,
1| miles of tramways, besides locomotives and everything
else necessary for working a very large area of ironstone.
The Staveley Company was now in the position of practi-
cally having ironstone in sight for the next 80 to 100 years.
The advent of the by-product oven had considerably altered
the position of affairs in the immediate vicinity of Staveley
parish. The soft coal seams, which were practically
untouched for generations, were now of enormous value.
They had got about 150 coke ovens dealing with this coal,
and this year they had put up a new concentrated acid plant.
They were now making about 140 tons of sulphuric acid per
week, about 2| tons of concentrated acid per day, 15,000
galls, of benzol per week, besides about 80 tons of sulphate
of ammonia, muriate of ammonia, carbolic acid, chrysalic
acid, tolule, and various other products, all derived from
these seams, which in olden days were considered to be of
little or no value. Owing to this increased output of coal
it had been found necessary to have further ironstone mines,
and they had acquired one at Luffingham, in the neighbour-
hood of Manton. He was assured that this was the best
ironstone left in Northamptonshire. At Edlington Colliery,
near Doncaster, they had met with a serious number of
faults. The position to-day, however, was very much
stronger and better, and the coal was more free from faults
than it had been during the process of opening out. The
coal was of excellent quality. With the exception of Else-
car, it was absolutely the best in South Yorkshire. The
question of pit timber was a very serious one. Very few
people realised the quantity of timber that went into the pit
to get a ton of coal. At Staveley they took about f cwt. of
timber to a ton; in South Wales the quantity was from
4 to 4| cwt. The other day the head people in the pit prop
trade told them that if the whole of the forests in Scotland
were cut down they would. not last the collieries of Great
Britain a fortnight. Substitutes of various kinds were being
tried, and he had no doubt something would be found with
which they would be able to make shift. The outlook in
the colliery world was very far from being a satisfactory
one, and they did not see much prospect of making much
profit in coal during the ensuing 12 months.

The Midlands.

A fire broke out last week at Jubilee Pit, Sandwell Col-
liery. By some means a large stack of pit timber had become
ignited, and, fanned by a brisk wind, was very soon blazing
fiercely.

At a meeting of the Rowley Regis Education Committee,
the Finance and School Management Sub-Committee
reported that considerable damage had been caused to the
Surtees Lane Council Schools by mining subsidences. Mr.
B. Millward enquired if the committee were protected under
an Act of Parliament against mining subsidences. The
secretary said the solicitor’s opinion had been sought, and
it was understood that there was no protection for the com-
mittee against damage under the Rowley Regis Enclosure
Act. The secretary was directed to obtain further informa-
tion from the solicitor upon the point.

The full penalty of £5 and costs was imposed on Thomas
Corns, a fireman, at Cannock Petty Sessions on Monday for
two breaches of the Coal Mines Act, at No. 3 Plant, Harri-
son’s Colliery, Great Wyrley, on August 12. The first sum-
mons charged him with firing a shot in the main haulage
road without the permission of the manager, and the second
for not seeing that all persons in the vicinity where the shot
was fired had taken proper shelter.

v	Kent.

Railway Scheme Deferred — Pits to be Sunk at Bettes-
hanger.

The Board of Trade have informed the Dover Corporation
that they have deferred for three months the application of
the Dover, St. Margaret’s, and Martin Mill Light Railway
Company for an extension of the time for the construction
of this railway. The Corporation had announced to the
Board their desire to oppose the granting of the extension
of time, on the ground that the line is to be utilised to bring
coal down from the cliffs and along Dover sea front from the
Channel Collieries Trust’s pits on the eastern cliffs between
Dover and St. Margaret’s, borings for which are now pro-
ceeding. A contractor’s railway, built by Messrs. Pearson
and Son, in connection with their construction of the Dover
Naval Harbour, already exists between the Dover eastern
cliffs and Martin Mill, where it forms a junction with the
South-Eastern and Chatham Railway main system. Lord
Cowdray was one of the original promoters of the Dover, St.
Margaret’s, and Martin Mill Light Railway, and the con-
tractor’s line, or its route, would no doubt be utilised if the
scheme were approved.

The borings carried out by the syndicate of which Lord
Northbourne is a prominent member, in the vicinity of

Betteshanger Park, his lordship’s Kent estate, a few miles
from Sandwich, proved a number of good seams of coal,
and arrangements are fairly forward for sinking a couple
of pits. Lord Northbourne owns considerable colliery pro-
perty in the North of England, and other practical people
in the colliery world are connected with him in the Kentish
venture.

Scotland.

Dalmellington Iron Company—Important Rating Appeals.

At the annual meeting of the shareholders of the Dal-
mellington Iron Company Limited, held in Glasgow on
Friday last week, the chairman (Mr. W. B. Montford Bird,
London) said the iron trade throughout the year had been in
a very poor way. Indeed, at one time during the past 12
months the iron market was the dullest and most sluggish
he could remember of in all the years he had been associated
with the company. Fortunately, the Dalmellington Com-
pany did not depend solely on its iron, and the other pro-
ducts which they had to sell, namely, coal and the by-
products arising from the consumption of the coal in the
furnaces, had been in a fairly prosperous state. The coal
produced during the year had been very nearly the highest
output in the records of the company, and the total reached
to something approaching half-a-million tons per annum.
Then a new coalfield was being opened up at Craigmark.
and this, it was expected, would add considerably to their
output. The company owned fields with excellent coal, both
household and steam fuel, and the directors considered it
was a good thing to push on with that arm of the company’s
operations.

The Scottish branch of the National Association of Col-
liery Managers are to hold a meeting in Dunfermline on
Saturday, 26th inst. (to-morrow), when discussion will be
resumed on the paper read by Mr. John McLuckie, Lark-
hall, on “ Mine Management : Past and Present.” At the
same meeting Mr. Joseph Parker, principal of the Fife
Mining School, Cowdenbeath, will read a paper on “A New
Self-contained Rescue Apparatus,” while Mr. David Archi-
bald, Lassodie, will submit a contribution on the “ Con-
serving of Propwood.” In view of the dearth of wood sup-
plies, consequent on the present war crisis, Mr. Archibald’s
paper will be awaited with interest.

Among the appeals dealt with at the Valuation Appeal
Court for the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, was one by the
Earl of Home and the Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company,
who jointly appealed against the valuation of £819 placed by
the Assessor on the newly-opened mineral field at Douglas,
owned by the Earl of Home and worked by the Wilsons and
Clyde Coal Company. An agent, in supporting the appeal
for the Earl of Home, stated that he understood from the
Assessor his valuation had been made up as follows :—
Admitted lordships, £183 14s. 2d.; fixed rent, £500; land-
lord’s coal per lease, 500 tons of household coal at 5s. per
ton, and 200 tons of dross at 2s. per ton per annum, £135.
Appellants disputed this last item. The Assessor had simply
entered in the roll the difference between the market price
of coal for the time being and the reduced rate at which
the landlord was to get the above quantities of coal under
the terms of the lease. It was admitted that last year the
landlord actually received, under this condition in the lease,
a quantity of coal which, calculated on the difference between
the market price and the price stipulated in the lease, repre-
sented an additional rental of only £6 16s. That was all
that had been taken by the Earl of Home under this condi-
tion in the lease. The landlord was not bound to take the
coal, and if the coal did not come up to the expected quality
it wrould not be taken. He held that this advantage should
be calculated entirely on the same principle as the principle
of lordship, viz., on the amount of coal taken. The Assessor
said the point was whether this consideration should be
treated as a fixed rent or as a lordship. He held that they
ought not to value this fixed consideration on the same lines
as fluctuating receipts such as lordships. It was a fixed con-
sideration, and could and ought to be valued now for the
period of the lease. The clerk (Sir Thomas Munro) pointed
out that the Assessor’s contention raised a very peculiar and
difficult point. If they were to assume that all this coal was
to be taken out at less than market price, it reduced the
value of the heritage to the tenant. The Court, however,
had to apply its mind to the question as to what amount of
coal might be taken by the landlord at the reduced price.
It was not legal to take into acount the amount of coal
taken out last year. The Court must form an approximate
estimate for 1914-15. After some discussion, it was agreed
that the consideration mentioned by the clerk should be
entered on the roll at £55, being on the assumption that the
landlord would take out, under his option, 200 tons of house-
hold coal at 5s., and 50 tons of dross at 2s.

At the Valuation Appeal Court for the Middle Ward Dis-
trict of Lanarkshire, the most important of the appeals from
a public point of view were two by Mr. Henry Montgomery
M‘Neill Hamilton with regard to the valuation of the lord-
ships in connection with the Bentrigg Collieries 1 and 2, of
which the appellant was both the owner and the tenant.
Bentrigg No. 1 was entered on the roll by the Assessor
at £931 3s., being based on a lordship of 3|d. per ton,
while the lordship of No. 2, calculated on a basis of 6d. per
ton, was valued at £258 4s. In each case appellant claimed
that the royalty was quite adequately valued at 3d. per ton.
An agent who represented the appellant said that at No. 1
colliery the Kiltongue seam had been almost exhausted,
and only the Upper Drumgray was being worked, and that
not very advantageously. Under a question of mineral
rights duty, Mr. Wedderburn, the Government valuer, pro-
posed in 1912 to make the lordship 3|d. That was resisted
by the proprietor, and after an inspection of the colliery
the Commissioners agreed to the figure of 3d. as being a
fair lordship where, as in this case, the minerals were being
worked by the proprietor. The conditions prevailing in the
colliery were not good, as there was heavy pumping. The
Assessor pointed out that his information went to show
that Mr. Wedderburn had been fully of opinion that 3|d. was
the proper valuation here. As, however, it came to be a
question of calling in a referee, the matter was carried no
further, the case not being considered worth the trouble and
expense of a reference. The appeal was sustained in respect
of No. 1 colliery. In regard to No. 2 colliery, it was repre-
sented on behalf of the appellant that the conditions there
were much worse. This was the first year that the colliery
had been worked by the appellant, who had sustained a
loss of £2,813, beside paying £500 for the colliery. On the
other hand, it was claimed bv the Assessor that the lord-
ship of this collierv had stood at 6d. when worked bv the
previous tenant. The loss which the appellant had sus-
tained had been due chieflv to exploring operations in search
for a corner of Virtuewell coal. By a majority the Court
dismissed the appeal.