January 8, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 87 MINING ACCIDENTS AND LABOUR IN 1913.* The total number of persons employed at mines and at the quarries under the Quarries Act in the United King- dom iand the Isle of Man during 1913 was 1,236,211 (1,155,302 at mines and 80,909 at quarries), or a net increase of 39,176 persons as compared with the pre- ceding year (viz., an increase of 38,154 at mines and of 1,022 lat quarries). Of the persons employed at mines, 926,359 worked underground and 228,943 above ground. Of the latter 6,748 were females. There were 1,332 separate fatal accidents in and about mines and quarries causing the loss of 1,870 lives, or an increase of 476 fatalities as compared with the previous year. Of these accidents, 1,251 causing the loss of 1,785 lives happened at mines, and 81 causing the loss of 85 lives, happened at quarries, or, expressed in terms of the number of persons employed, the death-rate from acci- dents per 1,000 persons at all mines was underground 1*736 (or surface and underground 1-545) for 1913, as compared with 1-273 underground (or 1*181 surface and underground) for 1912. The high rates for 1913 are due chiefly to the Senghenydd Colliery disaster, where 439 lives were lost. The gain in safety over a long period of years is evi- denced by the tacit that, reckoning from the year 1851 to 1910, each quinquennial period (except that for 1906-10), shows a steady decrease in the loss of life per 1,000 persons employed. The rate for the five years ending 1910 was 1*416 as compared with 4-301 for the five years ending 1855. For the year 1913 it was 1*545. The death-rate per million tons of mineral raised at mines under the Coal Mines Act during 1913 was 5-81 as compared with 7*48 for the year 1873, and the average for the decennial period 1904-13 was 4*91. The total number of persons injured by accidents dis- abling them for more than seven days at all mines and quarries was 184,202 (mines 178,962, quarries 5,240), as compared with 156,922 for the preceding year (mines 152,302, quarries 4,620), or an increase of 27,280. During the year 1913 there were prosecutions by the Home Office under the Coal Mines and Metalliferous Mines Act in 31 cases, involving 170 charges, as against 44 cases involving 125 charges in the previous year. In two cases the prosecutions failed; in the other cases con- victions were obtained on some or all of the charges. The number of cases reported to the inspectors of work- men who were prosecuted by mine owners for offences under the Coal Mines Act and the Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act was 1,895 (1,025 for 1912), resulting in 1,799 convictions, 16 cases withdrawn or not proven, and 80 cases dismissed. Table A gives a general summary of the number of persons employed in each of the three classes of mines In Table B the statistics relating to coal mines have been aranged according to the principal coalfields The figures in Table C show the death-rates during the last 10 years In classifying the accidents 'according to place or cause we find (Table D) that in 1913 35-4 per cent, of the deaths were due to falls of ground, 23-0 per cent, to miscellaneous causes underground, 25*9 per cent, to ex- plosions of firedamp or coal dust, and 5*8 per cent, to shaft accidents. Table E institutes a comparison between the different coal fields as regards accidents * From Part II. of the General Report on Mines and Quarries for 1913, edited by Sir Richard Redmayne, H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines. Immingham Coal Exports.—Returns for the week ending January 1, 1915, show that the coal exported from Imming- ham totalled 16,561 tons foreign, and 850 tons coastwise, as compared with 27,880 tons foreign and 1,610 tons coastwise for the corresponding week last year. Shipments : Foreign : To Aarhus, 1,325 tons; Gothenburg, 2,085; Havre, 1,015; Oxelosund, 1,874; Rotterdam, 6,382; and Savona, 3,880. Coastwise : To Cowes, 850 tons. Coal in Peru.—The Coal Age has collected some details relating to the market for coal in Peru. Senor Gio Batto Isola, the leading coal dealer of Lima, gives the following conditions relative to the importation of bituminous coal in Peru :—‘ ‘ (1) The quality of coal best liked is the brand known as ‘ Aberdare,’ which is imported from Australia, and preferred because of its easy burning qualities and cleanli- ness, there being very little ash. (2) After the ‘ Aberdare ’ brand, the ‘ Burwood ’ coal is favoured, because it has the qualities of the former, but has a higher ash content. (3) The conditions that coal for domestic use should have are : It should be compact, without fines, easy burning, and low ash content. We prefer to pay 50c. more for a screened coal which does not carry dirt and fines. (4) The buying here is done c.i.f. Callao, payment being according to the weights given by the dock company, with drafts at 90 days, which are in turn paid in drafts at 90 days sight on London and in English currency. (5) If you can send us samples of coal which have the above conditions, we are ready to examine them, and, after a practical test and the opinion of our customers, are ready to enter into important negotia- tions, as stated above, providing the results have been favourable. (6) The actual price of Australian coal com- prising the above qualities is $9’50 for the ‘ Aberdare,’ and $8’76 for the 1 Burwood ’ brand. Any higher price could not be considered, inasmuch as the prices just indicated are those quoted by the principal importing houses of Lima for this week, from which we have just purchased 1,000 tons.” Table A.—Persons Employed at all Mines under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, classified according to age and sex. Kind of mine. No. of mines at work. Under ground. Above ground. Total under and above ground. Comparison of total nnmber employed with that of preceding year. Males. Males. Females. Coal mines Iron mines Other mines 3,121 141 660 895,857 14,048 16,454 208,473 3,958 9,764 6,554 6 188 1,110,884 18,012 26,406 + 38,491 + 53 - 390 Total in 1913 Total in 1912 3,922 3,910 926 359 895,485 222,195 215,001 6,748 6,662 1,155,302 1,117,448 -t-38,154 + 20,910 Table B.—Persons Employed at Coal Mines, classified according to the Coalfields. Coalfield. No. of mines at work. Under- ground. Above ground. Total under and above ground. Comparison with preceding year. Males. Males. Females. 1. Scotch coalfields 491 113,253 24,648 2,933 140,834 + 4,178 2. Northern coalfield 429 182,574 44,112 120 226,806 + 7,880 3. Yorkshire, &c., coalfield 618 207,611 54,180 17 261,808 + 10,846 4. Lancashire and Cheshire coalfield 385 84,833 20,330 2,829 107,992 + 2,244 5. Midland coalfields 401 73,977 21,830 96 95,903 4,352 6. Small detached coalfields 122 21,877 5,459 403 27,739 + 1,214 7. North Wales coalfield 46 13,068 2,869 4 15,941 + 261 8. South Wales coalfield 607 198,088 34,851 152 233,091 + 7,608 9. Irish coalfields 22 576 194 — 770 92 Total in 1913 3,121 895,857 208,473 6,554 1,110,884 + 38,491 Total in 1912 3,093 865,119 200,817 6,457 1,072,393 + 22,496 Table C.—Death Rate from Accidents in and about all Mines under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, per 1,000 Persons Employed, from 1904 to 1913. Year. Death rate from accidents per 1,000 persons. Underground workers taken separately. Surface workers taken separately. General death-rate of all persons employed both above and under ground. Explosions of fire- damp or coal dust. Falls of ground. Shaft accidents. Miscel- laneous. All causes under- ground. 1904 *031 •753 •126 •438 1-348 -831 1-243 1905 *251 •758 T06 •404 1-519 •720 1-358 1906 *076 •773 T04 •472 1*424 •767 1’291 1907 *057 *755 T33 •511 1-455 •761 1-316 1908 T57 •741 •111 •458 1-467 •740 1-322 1909 *272 •736 T08 •505 1-621 •670 1-432 1910 *579 •760 •111 •467 1-917 •748 1-686 1911 *041 •721 •124 *422 1-308 •725 1-193 1912 •138 •658 •089 •388 1-273 •808 1-181 1913 •499 •682 T12 •443 1’736 •773 1-545 Average for 10 years ... 218 •731 •112 •450 1-512 •754 1-361 Table D.—Accidents and Deaths at all Mines under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, arranged according to Place or Cause. Place or cause of the accident. Fatal accidents. Non-fatal accidents. Separate accidents. Percentage of total No. of accidents. Deaths from accidents. Percentage of total No of deaths. Average for preceding five years. Separate accidents. Persons injured. Average for preceding five years. Separate accidents. Deaths. Separate accidents. Persons injured. I. Underground accidents: 1. Explosions of firedamp 12 1-0 462 25*9 20-8 203-2 78 131 114 169 or coaldust 2. Falls of ground 608 48’6 632 35’4 598-4 620-0 62,099 62,341 55,276 55,445 3. Shaft accidents 81 6-4 104 5-8 83-2 93-0 768 878 794 874 4. Miscellaneous 374 29-9 410 23’0 367-2 383-6 101,343 101,473 87,476 87,596 II. Surface accidents 176 14-1 177 9-9 154-0 156-8 14,102 14,139 11,758 11,776 Total 1,251 ioo-o 1,785 ioo-o 1,223-6 1,456 6 178 J 90 178,962 155,418 155,860 Table E.—Number of Deaths from Accidents in 1913, and the Death-rate per 1,000 Persons Employed and per 1 000,000 Tons of Mineral Raised in and about Coal Mines in the different coalfields during the ’ ’ years 1912 and 1913. Coalfield. Deaths. Death-rate from acci- dents per 1,000 per- sons employed. No. of deaths per 1,000,0(0 tons of mineral raised. 1913. Percent- age of total No. of persons em- ployed. Percent- age of total mineral raised. Percent- age of | total No. 1 of deaths ' from 1 accidents. 1 1913. 1913. 1912. Under- ground. Above ground. Under- ground. Above ground. Total 1913. 1912. 1. Scotch coalfields 168 32 1*48 1T6 1-17 4-61 3-98 12-7 14-9 11-6 2. Northern coalfield 153 31 0’84 0’70 0’89 3-23 3*75 20’4 19'6 10’6 3. Yorkshire, &c., coalfield 262 36 1’26 0*66 1’23 3-99 4*80 23-6 25’6 17*2 4. Lancashire & Cheshire coalfield 95 14 1-12 0’60 1-23 4-39 5*64 9 7 8’5 6’3 5. Midland coalfield 94 14 1-27 064 1*19 4-28 4’65 8’6 8'7 6’2 6. Small detached coalfields 20 8 0-91 1-36 0’90 5-18 4’97 2’5 19 1*6 7. North Wales coalfield 22 — 1*68 — 0’96 6*21 4'57 1 4 1’2 1 3 8. South Wales coalfield 747 35 377 1-00 1*31 13-72 6*08 21-0 19*6 45 2 j 9. Irish coalfields — — — — — — — 0*1 - 1 Total and average 1,561 170 1-74 0’89 1-17 5-95 4’77 100-0 ioo-o 100-0 ; Some confusion appears to have arisen in the minds of at least certain of the engineers of this country, between the International Electrical Congress, which it was proposed to hold in San Francisco in September 1915, and the Inter- national Engineering Congress, which is to be held during the same month. Owing to the unfortunate situation existing abroad, and the impossibility of convening the International Electrotechnical Commission, under whose authorisation the Electrical Congress was to have been held, it has been decided by the governing body of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to indefinitely postpone the holding of the Electrical Congress. This does not affect the International Engineering Congress, which goes ahead as originally planned.