October 9, 1914. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 777 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ dealing with the export of coal, coke and manufac- tured fuel from the United Kingdom during September. The total for the month was 4,096,453 tons, valued at £2,702,769. As compared with the corresponding month of last year, there was a decrease of 2,405,125 tons, the figures during 1913 being 6,501,578 tons, valued at £4,554,427. In September 1912, 6,300,611 tons were exported, valued at £4,003,429. It is natural, under the circumstances, that large coal should be chiefly affected, and the figures for last month show a decrease of 1,500,220 tons when compared with September 1913. During the first nine months of the present year 50,372,612 tons were exported, valued at £34,566,393, as against 56,898,208 tons, valued at £39,755,893, and 4 7,546,767 tons, valued at £29,939,766, in the corresponding periods respectively of 1913 and 1912* It may be noted that the totals of this year are still higher than those of 1912—the year of the national coal strike. His Honour Judge Moss has been appointed independent chairman of the Joint District Minimum Wage Board for North Wales, in room of the late Mr. Francis Williams, K.C. The Board of Trade Timber Commission has now concluded its enquiry in Canada, and has proceeded to Newfoundland. The war has caused serious inroads into the funds of trade unions owing to the increase of members requiring unemployment benefits. The Board of Trade now intimate willingness to make special grants to such bodies. _________________________ The Board of Trade returns for Coal Exports September show some improvement In in trade as compared with the September, previous month. The total value of imports is higher by £2,700,000, and that of exports by £3,300,000. This is only a matter of comparison, since the figures are still far below those of a year ago, the value of imports in September having declined from £61,355,725 to £45,051,937, and the value of exports in the same month from £49,277,877 to £31,948,142. To accompany the table that was published in our issue of September 11, the following may be given showing the value of exports of certain British goods during September, with the corresponding figures for 1913 and 1912 respectively:— Value of exports, September. 1912. 1913. 1914.” <£ £ £ Quantity of coal. Value. Coal 3,814,169... 4,282,167.. .2,514,581 Coke 85,817... 113,660... 94,340 Manufactured fuel 103,443... 158,600... 93,848 Iron ore 1,944... 1,332... 102 Old iron or steel 44,442... 28,597... 9,915 Pig and puddled iron 409,810... 429,706... 209,954 Iron and steel goods and manufactures thereof ... 4,652,377.. .4,120,560.. .2,456,636 Cutlery, hardware, imple- ments (except machine tools) and instruments ... 731,665... 633,334... 440,708 Electrical goods and appara- tus (other than machinery and uninsulated wire) ... 486,356... 287,304... 180,073 Machinery ............... 2,874,666...3,047,561... 1,624,050 Chemicals, drugs, dyes and colours .................. 1,777,336... 1,625,981... 1,235,907 Railway trucks............. 107,262... 229,224... 163,723 To— 1913. 1914. 1913. 1914. Tons. Tons. £ £ Chile'.................. 27,204... 8,040... 22,761... 7,079 Brazil ................ 158,896... 59,528...139,977... 60,709 Uruguay .............. 65,642... 18,866... 57,438... 14,412 Argentine Republic ... 267,142... 153,016...223,967... 130,260 Exports of fuel amounted to 4,096,453 tons, as against 6,501,578 tons in September 1913, and, on the whole, the figures are very satisfactory. An examination of the shipments in detail fails to disclose any outstanding fact that could not have been anticipated. In September no coal was sent to Germany or Austria-Hungary, and this accounts for a decrease of nearly 900,000 tons, as compared with a year ago; only 17,398 tons went to Russia, as against 668,472 tons in September 1913, showing that but little coal has been imported at Archangel, the railway facilities in the North of Russia having probably been monopolised for more urgent duties. On the other hand, our exports to other countries in the North of Europe have increased in a notable degree, as will be seen from the following table :— Quantity of coal. Value. To— 1913. 1914. 1913. 1914. Tons. Tons. £ £ Sweden........ 394,314 ... 633,546 ... 262,418 ... 390,018 Norway........ 174,861 ... 233,754 ... 112,249 ... 138,354 Denmark ...... 275,724 ... 405,$42 ... 180,232 ... 254,189 Netherlands. ... 154,904 ... 276,031 ... 95,858 ... 163,735 The above statistics have been taken in some quarters as incontrovertible evidence that our enemies are receiving coal through the medium of neutral States. But, although we have constantly urged that a sharp eye should be kept upon the agents of Germany in these and other countries, we have, at the same time, counselled caution in the matter. The fact is that these increased shipments can be explained in other ways. Denmark and Holland in ordinary times are large buyers of German coal, which has also reached Norway and Sweden in increasing quantities during the last few years. We should derive some satisfaction, indeed, from the fact that we have been able to supplant our enemy in these markets, to the great benefit of the Scottish and North of England coalfields. More than half of the coal sent to Denmark and Holland last month was “ unscreened,” which would seem to indicate gas coals, since comparatively little steam coal is shipped from this country without previous screening. The probability is that very little of the coal shipped by us to the North of Europe since the outbreak of war has been of a character suitable for naval purposes, and, for the rest, Germany is still in a position to mine all the coal she needs for her own use. The operations of the German battleships in the Kiel Canal and Harbour, more- over, have not necessitated anything better than Westphalian coal, increasing quantities of which have been used by the German Navy during the past few years. Our trade with other countries in Europe shows no marked amelioration as compared with a month ago. The disorganisation of industry, coupled with the financial difficulties, continue to operate, but there are signs of improvement. Belgium could only take 44,416 tons, as against 164,448 tons in September 1913 ; France, 569,667 tons, as against 1,040,489 tons; Portugal, 87,177 tons, as against 100,840 tons ; to Spain and the Canaries 227,401 tons were sent, as against 270,678 tons; to Italy 697,693 tons, as against 810,994 tons; to Greece 19,264 tons, as against 76,091 tons ; to Egypt, which no longer has the bunkering trade of the German liners, 133,177 tons, as against 258,232 tons; and Algeria 39,733 tons, as against 66,505 tons. To Roumania and Turkey no coal was despatched last month—possibly a matter for congratulation, so far as the last-named country is concerned. In South America shipments are still far below normal, but, under the circumstances, this should give rise to no serious alarm. They may be set forth as follow:— The United States has a fine opportunity to exploit these markets and to repair the deficit in supplies that must of necessity exist, but the reduction in the imports of British coal are, in reality, the reflex of diminished exports of South American goods to Europe, and we prefer to regard the trade in abeyance rather than lost. In this and in other directions, however, we shall need the exertion of all our energies to retain our commerce, if not to extend it. __________________________ In our last issue we published a Portable letter from Sir William Garforth Breathing in which was incorporated a copy of Appliances, a communication sent by him some months ago to H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines, suggesting competitive trials of a practical character under the direction of a representative committee, in order to test the relative degrees of efficiency of various breathing appliances. We take it that the main point of this suggestion includes the appointment of an official committee, embracing representatives of the Home Office, colliery owners and miners, together with the requisite technical assistance both of a medical and mechanical character. Another point is the utilisation of suitable galleries, properly arranged to reproduce the conditions of a mine wrecked by an explosion; while a third important condition is that the tests should be carried out by trained men duly qualified to perform rescue work in collieries. Those who have made themselves familiar with the valuable experiments conducted by Dr. Haldane in the Doncaster Coal Owners’ Laboratory will at once realise the importance of Sir William Garforth’s proposals. Dr. Haldane carried out a series of laboratory investigations in a strictly scientific manner, and with results of inestimable value both to makers and users of breathing appliances; but, as Dr. Haldane himself states, these results do not afford a basis upon which colliery owners can form an unequivocal opinion as to the best form of breathing appliance to adopt in any particular case. Coal owners do not yet consider, as Sir William Garforth maintains, that they have sufficient information to help them to decide which is the best portable breathing apparatus to adopt. This being the position, matters can scarcely rest where they are. Further investigations are neces- sary, and it remains only to determine how these should be conducted, whether they should be in the form of an extension of laboratory experiments, or upon the more practical lines suggestedby Sir William Garforth. It cannot be doubted that team tests would in most cases be more informative than one man tests. In a one man test individual character- istics may become piominent and might lead to an erroneous conclusion, especially if the wearer were unaccustomed to the particular form of apparatus in question. Competitive team tests under strictly practical conditions, representing typical exploration work, would be more convincing to the colliery owner as regards the merits of any particular breathing appliance. At the same time we think it might perhaps be useful to combine such tests with further laboratory investigations designed with the object of discovering causes of failures or breakdowns of any kind. It should be remembered that more would possibly be learnt from failures than from successes. Again, a team might do a specified piece of gallery work in a record time, wearing a particular appliance, but a committee might not even then be able to decide definitely as to the superiority of that over other appliances the wearers of which might have satisfactorily passed the ordeal, although at a slower rate, and with less personal exhaustion, or with some other compensating advantage. As to the composition of the proposed committee, this appears to present no difficulty. Such a committee need not commit itself to an emphatic opinion, but might confine itself to statements of fact as a result of the tests. Objection has been made in some quarters that an official test of this kind would result in an official sanction of one form of apparatus to the exclusion of others of perhaps equal merit. We cannot see that this need necessarily follow at all, any more than official tests of explosives or safety lamps have done. We should rejoice to know that the Home Office takes sufficient interest in Sir William Garforth’s scheme to co-operate in carrying it out, for we can at present see no better way of escape from the unsatisfactory position in which this question now rests. __________________________ Institution of Mechanical Engineers.—The first general meeting of the session, 1914-15, will be held on Friday, October 16, at 8 o’clock p.m., at the Institution, Storey’s- gate, St. James’s Park, Westminster, when the report of the Refrigeration Research Committee will be submitted by Sir J. Alfred Ewing, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S. (chairman). The monthly meetings of graduates will begin on Monday, October 12, at 8 p.m., when a paper on “ The Reclamation of Waste Products in Industrial Undertakings,” by Mr. Geo. H. Ayres, will be read. Coal for Chilean Railways. — The Diorio Oficial of August 24 notifies that tenders are invited by the Chilean State Railways Administration for the supply, during a period of three years, of 300,000 metric tons annually of coal or briquettes. Tenders, made out in duplicate on the proper forms, will be received up to 10 a.m. on October 24, at the “ Departamento de Materiales (Estacion Alameda). Ferrocarriles de Estado,” Santiago, where also forms, of tender may be obtained. Alternative tenders for one year's supply will at the same time be considered should the tenders for the three years not be acceptable. A deposit of 5 per cent, of the value of the offer for one year's supply is required to qualify any tender. Local representation is necessary. A copy of the Diorio, containing the conditions of contract (in Spanish), may be seen by United Kingdom contractors at the Commercial Intelligence Branch of the Board of Trade, 73, Basinghall-street, London, E.C.