784

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

October 9, 1914

The Midlands.

Appreciation of the “ Methanometer ”—Mining Education
in Warwickshire—South Staffordshire Mines Drainage.

Members of the North Staffordshire branch of the Colliery
Managers’ Association, at their monthly meeting on Monday
night, were considerably interested in the methanometer, or
contrivance for measuring percentages of firedamp in the
atmosphere, evolved by Mr. Alfred Williams, engineer, of
Bucklersbury, London. Mr. A. M. Henshaw presided. Mr.
Williams gave demonstrations with a large instrument built
for use in the laboratory. Mr. Williams hopes to complete
shortly a pocket instrument which will serve the same pur-
pose, and the Chairman, replying to Mr. Williams, said
there would be no difficulty in testing some of these at a
local colliery. Mr. F. E. Buckley proposed a vote of thanks
to Mr. Williams for explaining his invention, remarking
that such an instrument would be of great value to the
mining world. Mr. Williams, in reply, said he hoped after
further experience to combine an electric lamp and methano-
meter, using the battery for the dual purpose.

There is great activity at Cannock in connection with the
re-opening of the Mid-Cannock Colliery. The shallow and
deep seams have been reached, and it is anticipated that
between 400 and 500 tons of coal per day will be drawn
before the end of the year.

The annual distribution o? prizes and certificates to the
students of the Warwickshire School of Mining has been
indefinitely postponed in consequence of the war. In his
annual report, Mr. J. W. McTrusty, mining lecturer, says
the average age of students attending the preparatory course
is lower this year than in previous years. This is an
improvement of considerable importance to the future success
of the senior mining course, for which the preparatory courses
really exist. As the supply to the preparatory course of
older students having a fair practical experience is gradu-
ally drained, the methods adopted in class by preparatory
course teachings will require to be revised. It is pleasing
to note that at several centres this is recognised, and the
tendency to lecture young students on practical matters
beyond their limited experience is gradually being replaced
by a system of discussing with them their difficulties in
understanding elementary scientific principles affecting coal
mining, and of expressing their own thoughts on these
matters in suitable words, illustrated in an intelligent
manner by simple sketches. Seventy-seven students sub-
mitted themselves for the full course examination, and on
the whole the worked papers are a slight improvement on
those of last year. The work of the first year students has
been equal to the standard attained last session ; very fair
work has been accomplished by the second year students;
while the class work of the third year men has, on the whole,
been highly creditable. Referring to the new mining school
at Nuneaton, the lecturer states that w’hen the school is
fully equipped it will be possible to accomplish a good deal
of practical work in the last year of the senior course; and
to obtain the full benefit of the new premises and equipment
it may be desirable to extend the course over a period of
four years, instead of three as at present, and to give further
consideration to the teaching staff.

The annual reports of the South Staffordshire Mines
Drainage Commission were issued on Saturday. The
general manager (Mr. E. Howl) states that the mineral
assessed for general drainage rates for the year ending
December last had been 2,167,949 tons, which represented a
revenue of £9,033. This was an increase in output of
83,702 tons. The increases were as follows :—Tipton dis-
trict, 4,227 tons; Oldbury district, 2,193; Kingswinford dis-
trict, 21,331; and Old Hill district, 55,949. The outlay
upon maintenance of works and steam and electrical pump-
ing had been £1,692, as against £1,911 last year. In addi-
tion to this, £175 had been spent upon new surface drainage
works, and placed to the debit of capital account. Distri-
bution of the amount accumulated during the last two and
a-half years has been as follows :—Interest to June 30 last,
£6,462; repayment of principal, £3,571.

The output of minerals in the Tipton district during the
year ending June 30, 1914, had been 420,479 tons, which at
the amount per ton fixed by the arbitrators’ award gave a
rate of £10,790. This had been amended by an allowance
for pumping under an agreement sanctioned by the High
Court of Justice (Chancery Division) prior to the passing of
the 1891 Act, to a net rate of £10,658, being a decrease of
£112 as compared with the previous year. The deficiency of
revenue to meet working expenses was £5,077, as against
£5,744 the previous year. This deficiency was caused by the
heavy rainfall of 1913, which rendered it necessary to employ
auxiliary engines until October 1913. The South Stafford-
shire Mines Drainage Act, 1914, promoted by the Commis-
sioners, the Birmingham Canal Company, and the Public
Works Loan Board, received the Royal assent on July 8,
1914. The Act confirms an agreement fixing the price per
lock to be paid by the canal company for water pumped into
the Birmingham Canal as from January 1, 1913, and the
price and manner of payment for certain scheduled pumping
plants, the fee simple of these to be conveyed to the canal
company on August 1, 1924. The agreement authorised the
Commissioners to apply the purchase-money of the scheduled
plants, £20,000, at the rate of £2,000 per annum, towards the
cost of continuing the pumping operations in the Tipton dis-
trict during a period of 10 years, commencing on August 1,
1914. The Act authorised the borrowing of further moneys
and their application to cost of pumping. The agreement
provided that if the fixed annual instalments to be received
from the canal company in respect of the purchase of the
scheduled plants when added to the other revenue was
insufficient to maintain the pumping operations in the Tipton
district, the Public Works Loan Board should advance such
sums as from time to time might be necessary to enable the
Drainage Commissioners to continue the pumping during a
period of 10 years. From this it would be seen that owners
might open their mines with confidence that the pumps would
be continued in operation for 10 years, but no longer. This
clearly pointed to the fact that unless advantage was taken
of this safeguard, and the mines expeditiously worked dur-
ing the next 10 years, they would be irretrievably lost.

The assessments in the Old Hill district amounted to
£6,189, against £7,099 the previous year. The expenditure
on working account has been £5,465, as compared with
£5,921. Interest on the loan of £18,345, amounting to £905,
had been duly paid.

The cost of the surface works for the year ending June 30
amounted to £1,985. There had been a considerable decrease
in the cost of repair of damage by mining. The cost of sur-
face pumping had been £200 less than in the previous year,
owing to decreased rainfall. In regard to the Tipton dis-

trict, Mr. Howl states that the rainfall had been 24’02 in.,
compared with 39’97 in. the previous year, being 14 per cent,
below the average of the last 20 years. The water raised
had been as follows :—Commissioners’ engines, 17,289,322
tons; private pumps and steam pumps supplied by the Com-
missioners, 3,095,565; private tanks, 325,345; total.
20,710,232. This showed that 49 tons of water had been
raised in the district for every ton of mineral. Reporting on
the Old Hill district, Mr. W. B. Collis states that the cost
of pumping had been £2,835, against £3,365 the previous
year. There was a falling off in the revenue from rates
through decreased output amounting to £910. The cost of
maintaining and cleaning the level from the Buffery to Wind-
mill End engine had been £674, against £572.

Kent.

Tilmanstone's Future.

The Snowdown Colliery Company’s debenture holders’
meeting with regard to the holding over of the payment of
the debenture interest for 12 months owing to the financial
position brought about by the war, is reported to have been
of a favourable character. The colliery is continuing work
under normal conditions, and with the approach of the colder
weather, together with the termination of the moratorium,
there is every prospect of coal getting being carried well
beyond the present 15,000 tons a week. An increase of the
number of employees is already under the consideration of
the management.

The offer to the Government of the East Kent Colliery at
Tilmanstone has not borne fruit, and some of the principal
shareholders in the concern are now considering a sugges-
tion that that property should come under the management
of the board of the amalgamated Kent coal companies. This
amalgamated board represents the majority of those with
the heaviest interests in the Kent coalfield, and they are at
present dealing with practically all the Kent Coal Conces-
sions concerns, with the exception of their two working col-
lieries, Snowdown and Tilmanstone. Before anything
further could be done with regard to Tilmanstone, the deben-
ture holders would have to be settled with, as they have a
receiver and manager at present representing their interests
at the colliery. The output last week was again about 1,500
tons.

Scotland.

Interesting Prosecution : The Transposition of Unarmoured
Cables.

In the Hamilton Sheriff Court recently, Sheriff Shennan
had before him a prosecution against the Shotts Iron Com-
pany, who were represented by Mr. Henry Love, Arbuthnot-
road, Loanhead, and Mr. George Hutchison, colliery
manager, Burnside House, Stone. The firm were charged
as the owners, Love as the agent, and Hutchison as the
manager of Rimmon Pit, Shotts, and the complaint bore
that between March 1 and April 24 of this year, in the stone
mine haulage road leading from the main haulage road,
which was used for mechanical haulage, they failed to have
protected by a metallic covering two single-core electric
cables, not being either flexible cables for portable apparatus
or signalling wires, contrary to the Coal Mines Act, 1911,
and section 129 (c) of the General Regulations. Respondents
pleaded not guilty, but a proof was avoided by a minute of
admissions which was put in, signed on behalf of the Crown
and the defendants. In this minute it was stated that the
cables had been in use before June 1, 1914, and had been
constructed so as to comply with the requirements relating
to the construction of electrical apparatus in mines in force
before that date. For some time prior to June 1911, and
up to January 1914, the cables had run along a ventilating
road, which was not a haulage road. In January of this
year the cables were altered to run along the stone haulage
road. It was also admitted that in respect of the cables no
exemption from the requirements of Part III. of the General
Regulations under the Coal Mines Act had been obtained,
and that unless they were covered by the exemption under
137 (b) of the General Regulations, the cables did not comply
with the requirements of section 129.

From	Total cargo.		Total	bunker.
	1913.	1914.	1913.	1914.
	Tons.	Tons.	Tons.	Tons.
Bristol Channel ports 		305,794	186,713	20,753	30,551
North-western ports 		261,892	249,577	72,551	67,709
North-eastern ports 		627,938	429,781	32,668	24,593
Humber ports		200,077	142,706	9,212	22,240
Other ports on east coast		5,340	7,149	7,530	9,422
Other English ports 		2,461	1,586	7,280	5,057
Total from England and Wales		1,403,502	1,017,512	149,994	159,572
Ports on east coast of Scotland		112,261	77,538	15,449	15,582
Ports on west coast of Scotland		121,373	160,761	42,576	60,958
Total from Scotland		233,634	238,299	58,025	76,540
Irish ports 		12	—	3,708	4,640
Total from United Kingdom 	 .	1,637,148	1,255,811	211,727	240,752

The destination of cargo shipments was as follows :—

Mr. J. C. Watson, sheriff court advocate depute, who
appeared on behalf of the Crown, said there remained now
for the Sheriff to decide in this case only one question of law
as to the interpretation of a particular point in a section
which allewed an exemption. Under section 129 cables
which were not flexible or were not used for portable appa-
ratus or signalling wires had to be armoured; but under
section 137 an exception was made in favour of apparatus
which had been installed prior to June 1, 1911. Under this
exception such apparatus was not to come under the Regula-
tions of the Coal Mines Act until January 1, 1920, unless
H.M. inspector specially directed. In the present case the
cables which were unarmoured had been installed before
June 1911, and were used in a ventilating road, but this year
they had been transferred to a haulage road, and the point
to be determined was whether they were still entitled to the
exemption granted by section 137. The object of the regu-
lations was the safety of the mine, and one of the great
distinctions in both the old and the new regulations was the
difference between the provisions for safety in a ventilating
road and a haulage road. He contended that by removing
the cables from a ventilating to a haulage road the respon-

dents had disturbed the status quo, and thereby deprived
themselves of the benefit of the exception. Respondents con-
tended that because the cables were in use in the ventilating
road, where the old regulation did not require them to be
covered, they were at liberty—in virtue of the exception
already mentioned—to place it in any haulage road where,
under the new regulations, all cables must be armoured. A
result of the contention of the respondents was that if there
was in use an unarmoured cable which was installed before
June 1911, they could transfer it to any road and use it
irrespective of the distance it might be from the tubs or,
trams. The result of that argument was that respondents
could transfer from a pit in Wales, which was subjected to
the old regulations, a cable which, unarmoured, might have
been used in a ventilating road, and could insert it in a
haulage road in the Rimmon Pit at Shotts.

Mr. J. C. Bishop, writer, Glasgow, on behalf of the
respondents, said that there was nothing whatever in the
regulations which limited his clients in removing the appa-
ratus in question from the part of the mine in which it
happened to be in 1911 to another part in which it might
now be found more suitable to use it. He took exception
to the distinction which was drawn by counsel between a
privilege and a right, and submitted that these were one and
the same thing. He also denied that he was using a right
to commit a breach of the regulations. He was prepared to
go the full length, and say that wherever there was appa-
ratus which was in use prior to June 1911, he was entitled to
use it, not only in any part of the mine, but in any mine
in the country. If he did anything which was unreasonable,
then he could always be brought up by the mines inspector,
who had the right to disallow it. It had been argued that
the claim by his clients led to an absurd result, but so did
the claim by the prosecution, for it could be applied to con-
veyors and coal cutters as well as to cables. If they were
to keep to the status quo, as at the date when the regulations
came into operation, then the conveyors and coal cutters
could not be moved from the place where they happened to
be, and they were never in one place for two days.

Sheriff Shennan indicated that as the point raised was
one of considerable interest to the mining and electrical
communities, he would issue a written judgment later. The
Sheriff issued a written opinion on Monday. He indicated,
at the outset, that the question to be decided was not an easy
one. At first he had been disposed to favour the contention
put forward by the respondents, but after full consideration
he had come to be of the opinion that he must convict. His
lordship thought that the true interpretation of section 137 (c)
lay between the opposing contentions of -the prosecution and
the respondents in the present case. His view was, in fact,
that section 137 gave exemption to cables and other appa-
ratus only so long as they continued to be used for like
purposes and under like conditions. To his lordship it
appeared quite clear that the effect of the new regulations
was to compel every new installation on a mechanical haulage
road to comply with the new conditions. What the exemp-
tion meant, he thought, was that the mine owners might go
on using their electrical plant in so far as it was effectively
installed prior to June 1, 1911, until the mines inspector
asked them to alter it. He gladly recognised that the
offence was purely a technical one, arising from what he
held to be a mistaken interpretation of 137 (c). The fact
that he himself had found the question one of difficulty made
the mistake eminently pardonable. Possibly the High Court
might find it was not a mistake at all, but he could only go
on his own opinion. He would impose a nominal penalty
of £1 on the company, while he would dismiss the agent and
manager with an admonition.

COASTWISE SHIPMENTS IN AUGUST.

The following figures, taken from the official returns
of the Commissioners of H.M. Customs and Excise,
show how the coastwise shipments to and from the
ports in the United Kingdom were effected by the war
during the month of August:—

August 1913.
Tons.

1,130,945
108,978
397,225

England and Wales.......

Scotland................

Ireland ................

August 1914.
Tons.

. 764,411

82,065

. 409,335

Shipments to London during August were 465,142, a
considerable decrease when compared witli the previous
month, when the total was 673.662.

Hull Coal Exports.—The official return of the exports of
coal from Hull for the week ending Tuesday, September 29.
1914, is as follows :—Amsterdam, 482 tons ; Antwerp, 2,380;
Buenos Ayres, 7,708: Christiania, 3,777: Gefle, 4,145;
Gothenburg, 1,195; Harlingen, 3,197: Kallundborg, 2,079;
Norrkoping, 1,501: Port Said, 5,129; Rotterdam, 6,237;
Stockholm, 2,048: Stege, 881; Tuborg. 2,559; Ystad, 1,781
—total, 45.099 tons. Corresponding period September 1913
—total, 89,170 tons.