January 1, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 27 At Bradford yesterday (Thursday) the Clerkheaton Colliery Company Limited and their manager were summoned under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, for not reporting an explosion. The manager was fined £10 and costs, and the case against the company was withdrawn. Expenditure on workmen’s compensation has proved itself such a considerable item that a move- ment is afoot to form an investigation board composed of representatives of the owners and the men to adjudicate upon compensation claims. The North Wales Miners’ Eederation have given notice for an advance of Is. per day on the minimum wage. The coal and iron industries again find representa- tives in the list of New Year honours. Viscount St. Aldwyn, the arbitrator in many coal mining disputes and chairman of the South Wales District Minimum Wage Board, has been created an earl; and Mr. John Cowan, chairman of ' Redpath, Brown and Co. Limited, has received a knighthood. There is a feeling in this country, to The United which Mr. William Watson and States and several other publicists have lately the War. given expression, that the people of the United States are chiefly con- cerned to make capital from our misfortunes. It has been pointed out with some insistence that this greatest of the neutral Powers, which was the prime instigator of the Hague Convention, has been over ready to console herself for the wilful and impudent destruction of her labours in this direction by meditating upon the unrivalled opportunities that now present themselves for the extension of her commercial demesne. We feel that it is rather like the case of the passer-by who neglected the appeal of the drowning man because he was anxious without delay to get his “job.” We shall not attempt to analyse this feeling, nor to discuss the moral aspect of the question, which is much more a matter for the consciences of our American cousins than for British recriminations; nor to say how far this easy acceptance of the facts is justified on purely political or military grounds. Our people should remember, however, in the first place, that the European war has profoundly affected the industries of the United States; and in the second, that it is greatly to our advantage and that of our friends to have the call at such time upon the boundless resources of the New World. When our “hewers of wood and drawers of water” are fighting in the trenches someone else must do their work. Some indication of the extent of the mineral wealth of the United States is given in a bulletin which has just been published by the United States Geological Survey. But this bulletin, which is written by Mr. George Otis Smith, the director of the Survey, and possesses the somewhat grandiose title, “Our Mineral Eeserves: How to Make America Industrially Independent,” does something to explain the comparative failure of the United States up to now to live up to her predictions of commercial conquest. This may have been due to unreadiness, but there is also a suggestion that the Government have no thorough grasp of the problems to be assailed. Taking the section on coal, Mr. Smith says:— The exportation of coal to South American countries must be of advantage both in establishing trade relations and in insuring a balance of trade in our favour. Already shipments to European and South American ports have begun. To us it is incomprehensible that the simple postulate expressed in the first sentence should require a war to enforce it; as to the second, the shipments of American coals both to South America and Europe was started over 15 years ago. The whole passage, therefore, is supererogatory. Apparently this message is intended for the American producer, for there is a little homily on the groundlessness of any fears that exportation on a considerable scale will be dangerous from the standpoint of the country’s resources—which, by the way, seems to show an incapacity to appreciate the commercial attributes of the whole question, which demands more than mere academic discussion. But whether intended for the American coal operator or the potential customer abroad, the bulletin contains some statements that are not well calculated to inspire confidence in either. Thus it is stated “until the present war broke out, Great Britain was the only country that exported coal in considerable quantity ” ' discovered that the ships and business organisation —what of Germany ?—“ but Great Britain is already beginning to feel the pinch of poverty in her coal supplies, and it is probable that when peace is once more established she will place restrictions upon her exports of coal.” This is truly a strange observa- tion, unless the author is looking far into the misty future; there is no indication that we have suffered any such poverty of supplies, and we do not know upon what grounds Mr. Otis Smith contemplates a reimposition of the coal tax. There is nothing in the industrial or political situation to warrant such an assumption. Mr. Otis Smith observes that the total bunker trade at the principal ports—New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Hampton Roads—in 1913 was about 7,500,000 tons, and draws the conclusion that most of the Transatlantic liners have been carrying from the other side a sufficient quantity of coal for the round trip. The figure quoted is not quite accurate, as this was the total of the foreign bunkering busi- ness for the whole of the United States, whereas the total for the four ports mentioned is less by over a million tons. Again, of the total quantity, 4,192,000 tons were placed on board at New York, which points to the fact that it is the Transatlantic liners who chiefly take coal in at American ports. As a matter of common knowledge, these fast passenger Prices. Description of fuel. Per ton. January 1, 1914. Per ton. July 1, 1914. Per ton. January 1, 1915. Best Northumbrian steam coals f.o.b. Tyne... ,, „ steam smalls „ Best Durham gas coals „ Durham coking coals ,, Best Durham blast-furnace coke del. Tees-side Durham bunkers f.o.b. Tyne Foundry coke f.o.b. Tyne Best Lancashire house coals at pit „ ,, slacks „ Best Yorkshire Silkstone „ Barnsley thick-seam house „ Best Haigh Moor (London) „ Yorkshire steam coals ,, Best Derbyshire house coals „ Large ,, nuts ,, Best Staffordshire house coals ,, Welsh steam coals f.o.b. Cardiff... „ Welsh small steam coals „ » ... „ Semi-bituminous ,, ,, No. 3 Rhondda, large „ „ ... No. 2 „ „ „ „ ... Patent fuel . „ „ Best Welsh malting anthracite f.o.b. Swansea Special foundry coke, Cardiff Scotch ell coals f.o.b. Glasgow „ steam „ „ „ splint „ ,, Fife steam coals, f.o.b. Methil Fife treble nuts „ ,, Hetton Wallsend, London 14s. to 14s. 6d. 7s. to 7s. 6d. 15s. 13s. to 14s. 19s. 6d. 12s. 3d. to 13s. 6d. 21s. to 23s. 17s. 3d. to 18s. 10s. to 10s. 6d. 15s. 6d. to 16s. 15s. to 15s. 3d. 14s. 6d. to 15s. 12s. 3d. 15s. 6d. Ils. 6d. 18s. 6d. • 20s. 6d. to 21s. Ils. to Ils. 3d. 18s. 3d. 17s. 6d. to 18s. 15s 6d. to 15s. 9d. 22s. 6d. 21s. 6d. to 24s. 28s. 13s. 9d. to 14s. 13s. to 14s. 6d. 13s. 9d. to 17s. 13s. 13s. to 13s. 3d. 21s. 6d. 13s. 6d. to 13s. 9d. 8s. 6d. 13s. 12s. 19s. 6d. Ils. 4^d. to 12s. 6d. 19s. to 21s. 17s. 3d. to 18s. 9s. 6d. to 10s. 15s. 6d. to 16s. 15s. to 15s. 3d. 14s. Ils. 3d. to lls. 6d. 13s. 6d. 9s. 6d. 17s. 6d. 21s. to 21s. 6d. Ils. 17s. to 17s. 3d. 17s. 63. 12s. 9d. to 13s. 3d. 21s. 20s. to 22s. 27s. to 29s. Ils. 3d. tolls. 6d. 10s. 6d. to 12s. 6d. 10s. 6d. to 14s. 12s. 6d. to 13s. 11s. t. Us. 6d. 21s. 6d. 12s. 3d. to 12s. 6d. 7s. to 7s. 3d. 12s. 6d. 10s. to 10s. 6d. 19s. 10s. 6d. to 11s. 6d. 19s. to 20s. 17s. 3d. to 18s. 9s. 6d. to 10s. 15s. 6d. to 16s. 15s. 15s. to 16s. Ils. 6d. to Ils. 9d. 13s. 6d. 10s. 6d. 18s. 6d. 21s. to 22s. 12s. to 12s. 6d. 18s. 18s. 15s. to 15s. 6d. 18s. 22s. 6d. to 24s. 6d. 28s. to 32s. 13s. 9d. to 14s. Ils. 3d. to 13s. 3d. 13s. 3d. to 15s. 9d. 12s. 6d. to 12s. 9d. 12s. 6d. to 13s. Freights. January 1, 1914. July 1, 1914. January 1, 1915. Tyne to— Rouen 4s. 3d. 4s. 6d. 17s. Marseilles 7s. 7s. 9d. 21s. Genoa 7s. 14d. 7s. 9d. 21s. 6d. Alexandria 7s. 9d. 8s. 22s. 6d. London 3s. lAd. to 3s. 3d. 3s. Ils. 6d. Cardiff to— Genoa 7s. 3d. 8s. 17s. 9d. Bordeaux 4s. 3d. 5s. 3d. Us. Marseilles 7s. 7s. 6d. 15s. 6d. Havre 4s. 3d. 4s. 14d. Ils. 6d. Barcelona 8s. 8s. 6d. 16s. Las Palmas 7s. 3d. 7s. 13s. Alexandria 7s. 6d. 7s. 6d. 19s. 6d. River Plate 13s. 14s. 6d. 16s. 3d. Wages. ships find it uneconomical to devote the space necessary to hold the 7,000 or 8.000 tons of coal that would be required for the round trip. Up to the present very little has come of the attack upon our markets in South America; on the other hand, our own shipments to this quarter are steadily recovering lost ground. We cannot say that we are surprised. The United States have got the coal and'the energy, and, as. we have always predicted in these columns, the day must arrive when they would recognise the value of these markets; at the barest reckoning the opening of the Panama Canal must make a difference. But Rome was not built in a day, and, on taking stock, it has been are lacking, the fiscal system is embarrassing, and the British export trade is still a factor to be reckoned with, In a review of trading conditions in The Coal 1914, everything else must be Trade in subordinated to the events of the 1914. last five months. Prior to the out- break of war, the only disturbing element was the trouble in South Yorkshire, arising from the interpretation of the minimum wage award; this caused a temporary rise in prices in Yorkshire and the adjoining areas during April. Otherwise there was a manifest downward move- ment, especially marked in the case of industrial fuel, due immediately to depressive influences in the iron, cotton, and other staple industries. It is sufficient to say that the present position of the British coal trade bears but the slightest relation to the conditions prevailing before the outbreak of war; this has radically affected the industry at almost every point; it peremptorily closed down entirely several important foreign markets, and either temporarily or partially disorganised business in many others; in this country the normal con- sumption in some industries has been curtailed, against which may be set an expansion in several Percentage of wages above standards. District. ----------A------------x Jan. 1, 1913. J11 !y L 1914. Jan. 1. 1915. N orthum berland ... 524 ... 524 ... 47 Durham ... 6o ... 574 ... 53J Federated area 65 65 ... 65 South Wales and Mon.... ... 60 ... 60 ... 60 Scotland ... 874 ... 75 ... 75