December 18, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1277

Wednesday. One of the charges was dismissed, and
the case was adjourned until Wednesday next:

The Coal Conciliation Board, On Thursday, con-
sidered the dispute which had arisen with regard to
the minimum wage award of the West Yorkshire
district chairman. No decision was arrived at, and
the matter was further discussed, ,this morning
(Friday).

A special meeting of the Durham Coal Trade
Conciliation Board was held at Newcastle on Tuesday
to consider the request of the men that the owners
would forego the reduction of 3-| per cent, made in
November. The owners refused the request.

Mr. W. H. Hepplewhite (H.M.I.M.) read an
interesting paper on “ Substitutes for Modern Roof
Supports,” at the meeting of the Midland Counties
Institution of Engineers, at Nottingham, on
Saturday.

Several papers of interest were read and discussed
at a meeting of the North of England Institute of
Mining and Mechanical Engineers, at Newcastle, on
Saturday last.

The Board of Trade announces that from
December 17 the rates charged for the insurance
of hulls under the Government War Risks Insurance
Scheme will be reduced from 20s. to 15s. for single
voyages, and the rate for a round voyage or a time
policy of three months from 40s. to 30s.

We now have before us three
. The Government reports dealing with

Supply Of the supply of pit timber, and these
Pit Timber, show that the Board of Trade have
been alive from the first to the vital
necessity of tackling this question without delay.
Perhaps the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
should be added, since two of the reports emanate
from this department; one of these relates to supplies
of home-grown pitwood, and the other gives much
useful information to forestry owners and others who
may desire to open up negotiations with the collieries.
The Board of Trade report is concerned with the
mission to Newfoundland and Eastern Canada, in
which Mr. E. B. Whalley took part as representa-
tive of the Mining Association of Great Britain.

The reports are summarised in this issue, and on
the whole they are reassuring, for they show that so
many sources of possible supply are open that there
is little danger of an actual famine. The extent to
which these sources will be drawn upon must depend
mainly upon the question of cost, and consequently
it is satisfactory to know that the danger of a
“corner” is now practically negligible, however
assiduous holders of pitwood may have been, on the
outbreak of war, in turning the situation to their
advantage. That the debit to timber in colliery cost
accounts will be considerably higher during the
war is a fact, however, that must be faced, for, in
addition to the closing of normal sources of supply,
the rise in the cost of conveyance and the shortage
of labour are bound to find their reflex in prices.

The main thing is that the collieries now know
approximately where they stand. The Board of
Trade estimates that the total annual consumption
of timber by British collieries is about 4| million
tons. Of these, 3,451,328 loads in 1913 came from
abroad, valued at £4,445,066, or, roughly, £1 5s. 9d.
per load—this, of course, does not include the cost of
carriage to the pits. The import returns for the
11 months show that we are still some 900,000 tons
short, although the imports for November had risen
to 84 per cent, of the average of 1912 and 1913. The
point to which attention should be drawn is that the
average c.i.f. value per load in November was about
£1 15s. 6d.; if this increase were taken as the
average for the whole year it would mean that our
collieries would have to pay about 2| millions sterling
more for the timber used in mines.

The most satisfactory statement in the Board of
Trade report is the assurance that increased supplies
have now become available from Norway, France,
Spain and Portugal, and that, as regards the last
named, our most ancient ally has offered several
crown forests for exploitation for this purpose. If
these additional Supplies are still insufficient to
supply the deficiency due to the cessation of ship-

ments from the1 Gulf of Bothnia, we still have the
colonies and the home forests to fall back upon.
There are Available in Canada and Newfoundland
plentiful supplies of suitable timber, and the Com-
mission consider that they can be placed upon the
market in this country at a price which, having
regard to present conditions, would probably not be
regarded as unreasonable. But it is somewhat
difficult, since most of the quotations are for supplies
in bulk and f.o.b., and the requirements of the
collieries vary so considerably, to make any but a
general comparison between the rates for Canadian
and Newfoundland timber and those which are now
being paid. Mr. Windham, the Board of Trade
delegate, considers that, to arrive at any accurate
estimate of the c.i.f. cost, advice must be obtained
from English shipping firms. Indeed it would seem
to be impracticable for any but the largest collieries
to obtain supplies direct from the colonial shippers...

The question of home supply is even more doubtful,*
although it would appear to be a source that can be
drawn upon to a greater extent than was deemed
possible. The Board of Trade estimates that there
were approximately 1,000,000 tons of pit timber in
the United Kingdom on September 1, and that the
total imports since that date, together with the
amount of home timber put into the market, are
roughly equivalent to the consumption of the mines
during the same period; consequently the stock in
the country would appear not to have appreciably
diminished. The Board of Agriculture report, it
should be noticed, deals exclusively with England
and Wales, which at present supply less than half of
the total of 800,000 tons of home-grown timber now
absorbed by the mines. So far as these countries
are concerned, it is estimated that if from three to
five years’ fellings were anticipated, a supply of
3,410,000 tons would be forthcoming; this could be
raised to 7,870,060 tons at a pinch, but only by
eating heavily into the woodland capital of the
country. We hope that no panicky policy of this
kind will be adopted. The Board point out that the
quantity actually now planned for felling is about
1,880,000 tons, or 22 weeks’ normal supply, making,
with the amount already felled, some 24 weeks’
supply in all.

The availability of this supply is dependent upon
several factors—labour, haulage, cost of carriage,
and prices. We have also to consider the personal
attitude of forestry owners, who may be either
greedy . or genuinely anxious to preserve their
properties intact. The most important factor
undoubtedly is the cost of carriage. The Board of
Trade, who now exert a greater influence over the
railway companies than ever in the past, have
intimated that the latter have agreed to make a
number of temporary reductions of railway rates on
home-grown pit props required for use in the mines
in order to meet the emergency. It would be more
than interesting to know what the railways are
actually prepared to do in this matter, for some cases
that have come to our notice seem to show that the
question is not being dealt with in a very intelligent
manner; in some cases concessions have been offered
which, in practice, are of little use to the collieries.
The economic existence of the country now depends
to an enormous extent upon the railways, and
managers must be prepared to open out entirely
new classes of freight and new routes of traffic.
Coal that formerly went by water must now go by
rail, and other supplies must similarly be diverted to
relieve as far as possible abnormal local dislocations
in manufacture and transit facilities.

As regards the question now under consideration,
the coal mining industry owes a debt of gratitude
to the Mining Association of Great Britain for its
forethought and exertions, but it is too much to
expect that this capable body can actively engage in
the work of marketing timber—an impression that
seems to have gained ground. The articles of
association would forbid such a course, but the
association can be trusted to keep a watchful eye on
the efforts of third parties to extract an exorbitant
profit from the situation. For the rest, the collieries
must make their own arrangements, and as regards
the new sources of supply, it is important that these
should not be delayed.	. . -	>

We have a horrible suspicion that
The the Board of Examiners under the
Duties Of a Coal Mines Act number amongst

Colliery them a genuine humorist I The
Manager, examination for first-class certificates
of competency comprises six subjects,
of which the last is entitled “General Management
and Mining Legislation ” ; the November paper in
this subject is short and the questions are laconic.
Let the vainglorious candidate, who with self-
satisfaction has conquered the five preceding papers,
beware ; this brevity is a trap. For what are we to
think of the following ‘‘question”:—“Describe
briefly the duties of a colliery manager ” ?

The vista that reveals itself stretches back through
all the years of study that have gone, and all the
troublesome years of practice to come ; in it may be
seen the domes of many sciences, but it is a Black
Country at the best with hardly a pleasaunce upon
which to rest the eye. It may be the element of
time or it may be the summation of the joke to ask
the candidate to give no more than a lightning
sketch of the prospect, which properly covers the
whole of the Act and Regulations—not forgetting the
unrepealed sections—and would provide us with
subjects for leading articles for a year, by which
time, no doubt, the duties of the manager would have
sufficiently expanded to justify further treatment.

We can imagine many ways of answering such a
"question—some of them monosyllabic; the safest
would possibly be in the classic Cantabrian model of
the student who described a pump by inference from
the binomial theorem. The task, indeed, admits of
so many renderings that we had almost reached the
point of attributing to the examiners the wisdom of
serpents in seeking so cunningly to plumb the soul
of the candidate and test the hidden depths of his
character, until we noticed that only five of the six
questions in the paper, were to be answered—a
reservation which seems to defeat this Machiavellian
object.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE.
COURT OF APPEAL.—December IS.

Before Lord Justice Buckley, Lord Justice Phillimore, and
Lord Justice Pickford.

Minimum Wage Act: Production of Certificate.

Barwell r. Newport-Abercarn Black Vein Steam Coal
Company Limited.—The plaintiff appealed from the judg-
ment of the Divisional Court (Mr. Justice Ridley and Mr.
Justice Bankes) on an appeal from the Newport County
Court. The case raised a question under the Coal Mines
(Minimum Wage) Act, 1912. The plaintiff, who was a
collier in the employment of the defendant company,
brought an action in the County Court to recover certain
wages under the Act. A dispute w’hich liad arisen between
the parties had been considered by the tribunal which had
been appointed under section 1, subsection 2, of the Act, and
the district rules, to decide whether any workman in the
district was a workman to whom the minimum rate of
wrages was applicable, or whether a workman had complied
with the conditions laid down by the rules, or whether a
workman who had not complied with the conditions laid down
by the rules had forfeited his right to wages at the minimum
rate. The defendants gave notice of the following ground
of defence : that the matter in dispute between the parties
had been referred to the statutory tribunal, which had
certified that the plaintiff was not entitled to the amount
claimed. But no certificate of any decision of the tribunal
was produced in the County Court. The County Court judge
gave judgment for the defendants on the authority of Randle
v. Clay Cross Company Limited (1913, 3 K.B., 795), in
which it was held that no proceedings could be taken in the
County Court to recover a minimum wage fixed under the
Act and district rules until the tribunal appointed by the
rules had certified that the workman claiming such wages
was one to whom the minimum rate was applicable. The
Divisional Court affirmed the judgment of the County Court
judge. The plaintiff appealed.

The Court allowed the appeal, remitting the case to the
County Court judge.

Lord Justice Buckley said that a question whether any
particular workman W’as a workman to whom the Act
applied would, of course, depend on the definition clause,
and would not be a matter of arbitration before the domestic
tribunal, but such a question as what class of workmen, a
particular man belonged to might depend on the district
rules, and would be a matter of arbitration. . The notice of
defence stated that the matter in dispute had been referred
to an umpire under the district rules, and that the umpire
had certified in writing that the plaintiff was not entitled
to the amount claimed. Before the County Court jud.ge, in
the opening of the plaintiff’s case, it wqs stated that a
dispute had arisen between the parties, and that.it had been
properly submitted to an umpire under one of the district
rules. Except the evidence of the plaintiff as to the time
he worked and the wages he received, that was all that
was brought to the knowledge of the County Court judge—
that a dispute had been properly submitted to an umpire.
He was not informed of anything that had happened since.
Thereupon counsel for the plaintiff, admitting that he could
not put in a certificate of the umpire in support of the