November 20, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1085

nection between all the industries in the North-East of Eng-
land—coal and iron—extending from Bly th to the Tees.
The modern service of engineering, he said, originated on
the Tyne, and extended gradually over the whole area of
those vast mineral deposits.

Cumberland.

On Wednesday, Mr. J. V. Bell, second son of Councillor
Bell, was presented with a gold watch and chain by Mr. S.
R. Mutch, on behalf of the officials and workmen of the
Camerton Colliery and Brick Works, the managership of
which he has relinquished in order to take up the position
of manager of the Equitable Coal Company at Bengal. Mr.
Bell sailed from London on Saturday.

Yorkshire.

Coal Traders and the Colours—Further Scares—Col. Shaw
Re-elected Mayor of Pontefract — Work for Belgian
Miners—Water Supplies for the Doncaster Coalfield.

The Hull Coal and Shipping Exchange on Saturday enter-
tained at dinner those connected with the coal export trade in
Hull who have joined his Majesty’s Forces. Mr. Oswald
Sanderson (president of the Hull Chamber of Commerce)
presided, and read a message from Earl Roberts, as follows :
“ Glad the men of the staffs of the Hull Coal and Shipping
Exchange are doing their duty to King and Country. Proud
to have so many in regiment of which I am honorary
colonel.” When this message was read it was not then
known that the earl was dead—in fact, the reading of it
practically coincided with the hour of his passing. The
speeches were of a patriotic character, and as a souvenir of
the occasion 108 men who had enlisted were each presented
with a silver medallion, gilt and enamelled, bearing the
inscription, ‘‘For King and Country; Hull Coal and Ship-
ping Exchange, 1914. Duty’s Basis is Humanity.” Mr.
E. J. Adderley (chairman of the Humber Coal Exporters’
Association), who supported the toast of “ Our Guests.”
spoke of the enormous growth of the coal export trade from
the Humber, and said that very happily the growth in
membership had been accompanied by a general spirit of
hearty good fellowship, which was not surpassed by that of
any other section of the commercial life of the city.

A scare in connection with the German colliery at Har-
worth has been one of the features of the past few days.
Last week a Sheffield paper came out with the announcement
that “ a sensational discovery, as to which the authorities
are very reticent, has been made at the site of the projected
colliery at Harworth.” The paragraph went on to say that
thick beds of concrete had been found. Needless to say,
there has been no public alarm over this paragraph. That
concrete platforms may be found at Harworth is an
undoubted fact, but may they not also be found at every
colliery in the country, and, for that matter, at other estab-
lishments too, where solid foundations have perforce to be
constructed for the reception of particularly heavy and
ponderous machinery ? It is understood the authorities paid
an official visit some time ago to the Harworth German Col-
liery, but that they found nothing apart from the usual
incidentals to pit sinkings. And there one imagines the
matter may be safely left.

The Pontefract Corporation has paid Col. J. R. Shaw, the
well-known South Yorkshire colliery magnate, the pretty
compliment of electing him Mayor of the borough for the
sixth time, for the fourth year in succession. Col. Shaw,
who resides at Cantley, about three miles from Doncaster,
takes a great interest in military matters, and is just now
very busy in connection with recruiting. But the gallant
colonel is, of course, best known for his connection with the
South Kirkby, Featherstone, and Hemsworth Collieries
Limited, of which ‘he is chairman and governing director.
It is not generally known that, in addition to being a
soldier, he is also a barrister, for at the close of his Univer-
sity career he read for the Bar, and was finally admitted
a member of the Inner Temple, London. He went through
the Boer War with the 2nd Battalion King’s Own Royal
Lancaster Regiment. He holds many offices, quite apart
from directing and controlling his enormous colliery busi-
ness. The company is one of the largest colliery under-
takings in Yorkshire, employing about 8,000 men and lads,
and having an output of some two million tons of coal per year
and a wage bill of .over £10,000 per week. They are work-
ing 10 seams and producing all classes of coal.

Some of the Belgian refugees who have come to the Don-
caster district are miners, and it has been suggested that in
such a large colliery centre work might very reasonably be
found for them, as' although the collieries are not working
full time, they have nevertheless had their staffs consider-
ably reduced through enlistments owing to the war. A
start in this matter has been made at the Yorkshire Main
Colliery, where employment was last week found for four
refugees. One of the four was wounded in the war. During
the last few days 70 men from the Yorkshire Main Colliery
have joined the Army.

A fire, which at one time threatened serious destruction,
occurred last week at the Crigglestone Colliery, Wakefield,
where the distillation plant became ignited. Within six
yards of the flames several thousand tons of pitch were
stored, but the combined efforts of the brigade and colliery
employees confined the fire to a still that was burning, and
so averted a tremendous blaze. The colliery employees
threw earth and sand on to the flames, and this, with the
assistance of the chemical engine of the Wakefield City Fire
Brigade, soon subdued the outbreak.

At last week’s meeting of the Doncaster Rural District
Council, one of the members, Mr. Baker, of Conisboro, called
attention to what he described as the disgusting state of
the back streets at the Edlington colliery village. The clerk
replied that the whole of the streets in the new colliery
village were private streets, and did not come under the
jurisdiction of the Council so far as repairs went. The
Council had previously considered the desirability of obtain-
ing powers under the Private Street Works Act from the
Local Government Board to improve the streets. There
were to be shortly built at Edlington another 200 houses,
and he understood plans had been prepared for the makrng
up of the streets. The matter was not further discussed.

The adequate supply of good, fresh, and pure water is a
problem which still remains to be solved so far as some of
the colliery districts around Doncaster are concerned. The
Rural District Council have just resolved to push forward
the application to the Local Government Board for sanction
to borrow money for obtaining a supply of water for the

Ad wick-le-Street district from the Brods worth Colliery Com-
pany. This was after the Sanitary Committee had reported
the receipt of a letter from the town clerk of Leeds, regret-
ting that, in view of the delay of the Doncaster Rural Dis-
trict Council in coming to a decision upon the matter, it was
now impossible for the Leeds Corporation to proceed further
in the direction of providing a water supply for the Doncaster
district in the next session of Parliament.

The careless manner in which miners sometimes do their
work was brought out at an inquest hold at Barnsley on
Tuesday on John Robert Walker, dataller, who died from
a fractured spine, due to injury sustained whilst working
at the Mitchell Main Colliery, Womb well. The deceased,
who was working at the bottom of a steep incline, was
caught by a runaway corve and pinned against the side.
George Cooper, pony driver, admitted after taking three full
corves up the incline, forgetting to place, as he usually did,
a wood block against the wheel of the last corve. Witness
said he placed a piece of wood under the wheel, which he
thought would do. He admitted to the coroner that the
corves were only 4 yds. beyond the place where the blocks
lay. He also knew that men were working below, and
admitted he had been told on several occasions to be careful
and not forget to put the block in. He had never forgotten
before. The coroner, summing up, said the man’s death
had been caused by a very gross omission. It was a case
approaching the border line of crime, and some people might
say it was criminal neglect. The jury returned a verdict of
“ Accidental death,” owing to the negligence and careless-
ness of the pony driver Cooper.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

The Training of Engineers.

The meeting of the Manchester Association of Engineers
on Saturday evening was devoted exclusively to a discussion
of a paper by Principal Garnett, of the Manchester School
of Technology, on “ The Education of Engineers,” read
before the society on March 28 last. The president, Mr.
E. G. Hiller, remarked that so important was the question,
that it might even be compared to the terrific struggle in
which the nation was now engaged. Just as it was essen-
tial that the Army and Navy should be efficient, so also it
was important that the engineering profession in this
country should be well trained, because it was in that way
the commercial struggle with our foreign competitors would
be carried on and determined. In a written contribution,
Mr. A. P. Fleming said the first requisite in obtaining
efficient labour was the careful selection of the most intelli-
gent youths for admission to the skilled trades. In that
connection close co-operation with the local education autho-
rities would be of considerable value, not only in regard to
the shaping of studies to suit industrial requirements, but
more especially with a view to enabling teachers and head-
masters to appreciate the scope and possibilities offered by
the engineering trades, so that their influence might be
most effectively employed in directing the attention of suit-
able youths to that vocation. Selected youths might then
receive preparatory instruction on the lines suggested by
Mr. Garnett in a junior technical school, followed, when the
youths had entered the works, by specific trade instruction
provided in a local centre or in the works themselves. Mr.
Cecil Bentham suggested that one method of dealing with
the education of engineers would be to provide scholarships
for youths, which would be granted in a preliminary manner
when the youth left the elementary school, that scholarship
providing for attendance at evening classes during the two
or three years he might be in the works. If his progress
both in the works and at the evening classes was satis-
factory, he would then proceed to a higher day course of
education, either at one of the technical institutions or at
one of the Universities. Those scholarships would auto-
matically select ’ youths with sufficient intelligence to make
use of higher opportunities, and would also test whether
they had the necessary grit and desire to follow an engi-
neering course before it was too late to change their career
in life. One of the great defects about extensive education
without sufficient contact with works or commercial matters
was that youths sometimes obtained rather an inflated idea
of their own consequence, and they had to lose that idea
before they became really useful engineers. Mr. B. W.
Blakely observed that the “ right ” man was polished, and
improved by the best technical education obtainable, whilst
the “ wrong ” man received a spurious veneer which would
wear off under the stress of life and leave disillusionment.
Mr. A. C. Wilson said the educational method at present
advocated seemed to be based on the general principle of
the survival of the fittest, and consisted in giving to as
many men as possible a training which would equip them
for the higher technical jobs, and leaving them to fight it
out among themselves as to which should get those jobs.
The remainder was left with something which was of no
help to them in finding those interests outside their busi-
ness, without which their life would be a failure. Mr.
Foster thought it was unwise to specialise at too early an
age, and expressed the opinion that the passing of examina-
tions was not a sufficient test of real ability or capacity to
deal successfully with the problems of actual work. In the
matter of organisations of work and the combination of
different firms for certain purposes, this country was far
behind the Continent. In his reply, Prof. Garnett stated
that he thought it was of great importance that provision
should be made for the training of those students of grade 1
who were not able to rise to the higher level of grade 2, but
would probably remain journeymen all their lives. In his
opinion, their training should take a social and economic
direction. There was a considerable difference of opinion
as to the exact combination of training in works with the
college course, but he thought the prevailing tendency
pointed to this conclusion, that for the average student one
year in the works between school and college was probably
the best; at all events, it was better that students should go
from school to college, and then to the works, rather than
spend three or four years in the works before proceeding to
college. He thought also that more use might be made of
cinematograph films to illustrate industrial processes.

A correspondent understands that the Hulton Collierv
Company intend to push on with the opening of new col-
lieries in the neighbourhood of Rainhill. Some of their
mines in the Chequerbent district, near Bolton, are becom-
ing exhausted.

Mr. Arthur Morris, mechanical engineer at the Wigan
Coal and Iron Company’s pits at Westleigh. who has been
appointed to a post at the South Wales and Monmouthshire
School of Mines, Crumlin, has been presented with a hand-
some chiming clock and canteen of cutlery by the employees.

Further additional surface buildings and improvements
are being provided at Messrs. Fletcher, Burrows and Com-
pany’s Chanter’s Colliery, Hindsford,- Atherton.

The Leigh Corporation have decided to spend £48,000 on
a housing scheme (200 houses) and the extension of the
public baths.

Notts and Derbyshire.

Mr. J. Edgar Jones, manager of the Bromfield Colliery,
Mold, has received an important appointment as manager
of the Wollaton Colliery, Nottingham, where about 1,000
men are employed.

The Midlands.

“ Jig Chains ” and the Safety of Pit Ponies—South Staf-
fordshire Mines Drainage Rate.

At Sedgeley Police Court on Monday, before the Stipen-
diary, John Bate was summoned, under the Employer and
Workman’s Act, by the Baggeridge Colliery Company, who
claimed £10 damages for neglect. It was stated that at the
Baggeridge Colliery, where the gradients of the underground
roads exceeded 1 in 12, it was compulsory, according to the
regulations, that “ jig chains ” should be -attached to
descending wagons. Boys were employed to make the
attachments, but, in their absence, it was the duty of the
drivers to perform the operation. On November 2 the defen-
dant, a horse driver, took a loaded wagon to a spot where
the attachment should be made. He told the boy in charge
of the jig chain that he could do without it, put two wooden
lockers on the wheels, and kicked away the stop blocks.
When the wagon had descended the incline a. short distance
the locker on the front wheel broke, and the defendant, who
was in front, lost control of it. He saved himself by rush-
ing into a side road, but the wagon dashed down the incline
and killed a pony which cost £20. Mr. J. W. Newey,
manager at the colliery, said the drivers ran a great risk of
being killed through not putting on the “ jig chain.” This
year no fewer than 11 horses had been killed at the Bagge-
ridge Colliery in consequence of failure to do so. Defendant
was ordered to pay the amount claimed. A stay of execu-
tion was granted pending appeal.

Messrs. J. R. V. Marchant, G. A. Lewis, and H. S. Childe,
arbitrators for the South Staffordshire Mines Drainage Com-
missioners, attended at Trindle House, Dudley, on Tuesday,
for the purpose of making a draft award for a mines
drainage rate for the Old Hill district. Mr. E. Howl
(general manager) submitted the estimates for the Old Hill
district, stating that they showed a decrease in the revenue
from the rates of about £1,000, compared with that for the
year ending December 31 next. Mr. W. B. Collis, Com-
missioners’ engineer for the Old Hill district, brought under
the notice of the arbitrators certain facts in connection with
No. ,23 Pit, Saltwells Colliery, and the ‘‘Half-mile Gutter
Pit,” Dudley Wood, belonging to Messrs. N. Hingley and
Sons Limited, with the view of showing that there were
grounds for increasing the existing rates of 2d. and 5d. It
was stated, on behalf of the company, that the only reduc-
tion in the expenses at each pit was that due to the working
of one engine less, but that, when they had to deal with the
water due to the autumn rainfall, the cost of pumping at
each colliery would be practically the same as when the
present graduations were made. So far as the pit at Dudley
Wood was concerned, they were now practically drawing the
same quantity of water as when the present rate was fixed.
The arbitrators decided that the mines referred to should
remain in the same schedules, but that, owing to the esti-
mated decrease in the revenue for the ensuing year, there
should be an increase of |d. per ton all round. This would
make Messrs. Hingley’s rates 2|d. and 5|d. The arbitra-
tors, consequently, made an award of 3d. per ton on fireclay
and limestone, the same as before, and 7|d. per ton on iron-
stone, coal, slack, and other minerals, an increase of |d.

Kent.

Tilmanstone Colliery : Financial Proposals Fall Through.

The efforts of the board during the last few months to
avoid reconstruction of the East Kent Colliery Company
Limited, owners of Tilmanstone Colliery, near Dover, have
failed, and the directors have decided that it is necessary to
reconstruct the company, and to make an assessment on the
shares. This assessment will be payable by easy instal-
ments. The directors have worked hard to prevent the
necessity of this course being taken, but the times are
unpropitious for obtaining capital for undertakings of this
kind. The board are now engaged in formulating the scheme
by which the reconstruction proposal is to be carried into
effect. If the scheme receives the approval of the share-
holders, who are shortly to be called together for the purpose
of considering the position, a new board of directors is to
be appointed to carry through the operation of placing the
colliery on a satisfactory basis. In the meantime, in con-
nection with this decision, the employees of the colliery at
Tilmanstone have received a fortnight’s notice. It is
hoped, however, that there will be no necessity to absolutelv
close down the coal getting work at the mines, as it would
cause considerable hardship in the countrvside.

The connection of the No. 2 and 3 Pits at Shakespeare
Colliery (Kent Collieries Limited) is now practically com-
pleted, and work is going along steadily and satisfactorily
in the development of this mine.

Scotland.

Restricting Navigation in the Firth of Forth : Effect Upon
the Collieries—Housing in Ayrshire.

The Admiral Commanding the Coast of Scotland has
issued an important notice that for purposes of national
defence it has become necessary to impose restrictions on
all vessels navigating the waters of the Firth of Forth until
further notice. From Friday last no vessel of any descrip-
tion will be allowed to come within a distance of one mile
from Forth Bridge either eastward or westward, nor will
vessels of any description be allowed to remain under way
in the Firth of Forth to the westward of Inchkeith* unless
under the charge of a pilot authorised by the Admiral Com-
manding the Coast of Scotland. Further, after November 25
all the mercantile traffic is to cease to the west of Oxcars
for both outward- and inward-bound vessels. The effect of
this proclamation on labour will be serious, and the imme-
diate result will be that about 1,000 men, consisting of
coal trimmers, pig iron workers, wood workers, and general
dockers, will be thrown idle. Several of the local mills
have lately purchased cargoes of wood and pit props at high