February 5, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

293

serious had happened than a heavy fall of roof, killing one
man and injuring, three others, But the fall here and else-
where in the pit had been such that the No. 2 pit of the
Cadeby Colliery was rendered unworkable for the time being,
whilst there were circumstances associated with the occur-
rence of an unusual character. It was at first believed
that a severe earthquake shock had been experienced in the
district. There 'are many who still hold to this theory.
Others contend that subsidence in the coal, workings was
responsible for what occurred; whilst a third, and an utterly
unsupported and untrue assertion, was that there had been
another explosion at Cadeby. It appears that about 9.45 on
Monday night a Conisboro’ miner named Emanuel Jordan
was returning to the pit bottom, having finished his after-
noon shift in No. 2 pit. When a short distance from the
shaft there was the sound of a disturbance, and a quantity
of roof fell, burying Jordan and some other men. The
others were got out, but Jordan lost his life. Mr. W. H.
Chambers, the managing director of the Denaby and Cadeby
Colliery Company, expressed the opinion that the shocks
were local earthquake shocks. Another explanation was
that what happened was due to ground weight. Experts
describe the occurrence as an extensive bump. Certainly
its effect was felt over a wide area of Conisboro’, and was
alarming enough while it lasted, many people being under
the impression a German air raid was in progress. Part
of the pit workings underlie the estate of Mr. F. J. 0.
Montagu, of Melton Park, a former High Sheriff of the
West Piding. At the time of the occurrence the Hon. Mrs.
Lindley Wood, mother of Mr. Montagu, was sitting before
the fire in the drawing room. The old mansion of solid
stone masonry fairly rocked, the lady was twisted round in
her chair, and her daughter, who was in her bedroom, was
thrown to the ground. There were many other similar
experiences, pointing to earthquake shock or violent seismic
disturbance.

The inquest on the deceased miner Jordan was opened by
Mr. F. Allen at the Eagle and Child Hotel, Conisboro’, on
Tuesday night. The coroner said the man met his death by
a somewhat extensive fall of roof. There had been many
alarmist and grossly exaggerated reports of the accident at
the pit, and the whole district had been flooded with tales
of explosion, and of so many killed. It was the duty of the
jury to discount all this. There had been what was known
as a bump, followed by a considerable fall of roof. Whether
this was in the ordinary course of coal mining, or was
brought about or contributed to by earth movements, they
were not at present able to express an opinion. It might be
that in addition to the normal subsidence following all
colliery workings there had been a slight earthquake. But
it was very undesirable to have, as had happened that day,
small boys .tearing round the streets of Doncaster and
Mexboro’ talking about another explosion at Cadeby, and
putting the whole towns in, a panic when there was no
foundation for it. What had happened was what happened
every day in England. Those who had been slightly injured
would be able to attend at the adjourned inquest. There
was no reason to anticipate any further lives would be
sacrificed. The enquiry was then adjourned to Wednesday,
February 10, at 10.30 a.m.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Canadian Props for the Bridgwater Collieries — Hulton
Pollution Case.

At a meeting of the members of the Altham and Great
Harwood branches of the: Lancashire and Cheshire Miners’
Federation, held at Accrington on Saturday, Mr. Elce was
presented with a silver salver as a token of esteem from the
miners, on the occasion of his retirement, and Mrs. Elce
was presented by the miners with a silver tea and coffee
service. The gifts were handed over by Mr. Thos. Ashton,
secretary of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, and
Mr. J. McGurk, miners’ agent of the Lancashire and
Cheshire Federation.

Owing to the serious depletions in the ranks of their
workers through recruiting, certain coal owners in the Man-
chester district last week posted up notices intimating that
it would be advisable on the part of other employees to
interview the management before enlisting.

The Earl of Ellesmere, who owns several of the largest
collieries in South-East Lancashire, has purchased some
hundreds of tons of Canadian props averaging 12 or 14 ft.
in length, and these are stacked in a field adjoining his
Tynesbank depot, Walkden. The props will be sawn to the
requisite lengths for “ spragging ” purposes.

Mr. John Allen Parkinson, of Bamfurlong, who has been
elected to fill a casual vacancy on the Lancashire County
Council caused by the death of Mr. E. A. Johnson, colliery
proprietor, of Bickershaw Hall, is the first member of the
Lancashire Miners’ Federation to be appointed to a seat on
the county governing authority.

The trial of the motion in which the Vice-Chancellor of
the Palatine Chancery Court is asked to grant an injunction
restraining the Hulton Colliery Company Limited from
allowing polluted water to enter the Carr Brook,' has been
continued at Manchester during the past week. Mr. Percy
Bean, analytical and consulting chemist, was called on
behalf of the plaintiffs, and stated that he had analysed
samples of the water taken by himself and others. That
which came from the Pretoria pits was of such a nature
that he did not think any system of treatment would make
it fit for boiler purposes. Mr. Bean added that he did not
think the defendants could have adopted a better method of
treatment than the Archbutt-Deeley process, but even if it
were carried out carefully and skilfully, the effluent would
be unsatisfactory. However, in his opinion, it was impos-
sible to ensure correct treatment; the water would be either
over-treated or under-treated, and the effluent, therefore,
even more objectionable. Analyses of samples taken
recently revealed the presence of excessive quantities of sul-
phate of sodium and chloride of sodium, there being in one
case as much sulphate as 842 parts in 100,000. Other soluble
substances were also found. During the process of evapora-
tion these would concentrate in the boiler, and when the
saturation point had been reached serious consequences
would follow. The water would be thrown into the steam
pipes, and possibly get to the engine cylinders. He attri-
buted the corrosion to the water, but he could not say what
the particular ingredient was; probably some change took
place in the boiler. Mr. J. B. C. Kershaw, of Liverpool,
attributed the corrosion of the boilers to the sulphates,
chlorides, and alkali in combination. Therefore, under
modern boiler conditions, a steel plate might be attacked
which would escape if the temperature was lower. He
should not recommend anybody to use a boiler feed water
containing more than 20 parts per 100,000 of total solids.
Mr. Atkinson, K.C. (for the defendants) suggested that the

eminent Swedish chemist, Berzelius, discovered that caustic
alkali rather preserved iron from rust than assisted corrosion.
The Witness would not agree, and added that he was con-
vinced that in another 20 years land boilers would be worked
on the same basis as marine boilers, that is, with condensed'
waters. Every works would have surface condensers, and
put nothing but pure water into the boilers. That would
get rid of corrosion troubles. Mr. Wm. Henry Booth, con-
sulting engineer, of London, said the water from the
Pretoria pits was shocking; he had never seen the like before.
Even after treatment the effluent was totally unfit for boiler
purposes., It was extremely doubtful whether salts in pro-
portions which had hitherto been regarded as harmless in a
boiler would be really so under modern conditions. For
example, sodium sulphate was extremely soluble up to
104degs. Fahr., but beyond that limit its solubility
decreased. He fixed the limit of total solids at 25 grains
per gallon. The treated water contained common salt
(sodium chloride) and sodium sulphate. Taken separately,
or even in conjunction, they were harmless as regards corro-
sion, but if either were present with carbonate of soda the
water became objectionable. He had heard that corrosion
of boilers was sometimes set up by stray currents of elec-
tricity, but he had not been able to trace any case of that
kind. Mr. William Briscoe Baron, analytical and consult-
ing chemist to the Vulcan Boiler and General Insurance
Company Limited, Manchester, said he was familiar with
the Archbutt-Deeley process, and he thought its adoption
was the best course the mine owners could follow. The
effluent produced in this case was not a desirable one for
use in boilers. The Plodder water was extremely bad,
particularly for boiler purposes, because 47-9 of total hard-
ness was present with a large amount of dissolved solids.
Seeing that the permanent hardness was as high as 38-4,
and the temporary hardness so relatively low as 9-5, while
the magnesium salts amounted to 20 grains per 100,000, he
should say the water was highly corrosive. The calcium
salts, 44-4, would tend to make scale. He admitted that if
the colliery company, on finding the effluent was too high
as regarded hardness, subjected it to re-treatment, the objec-
tion of over-hardness would disappear. Mr. Wm. Ingham,
consulting engineer in practice in Manchester, speaking with
40 years’ experience in the .working and inspection of
boilers, agreed that the effluent from the Pretoria pits was
unsuitable, mainly on account of the presence of a large
proportion of dissolved solids. He had never, before come
across a water like the untreated Pretoria water. It was
particularly corrosive. The Arley and School pits waters
were also objectionable. Cross-examined, witness said that
given, a water without any lime he would not object to 100
grains per gallon of, sodium sulphate. Speaking generally,
sulphate of soda in itself in a moderate degree was less
harmful than the same number of grains of lime per gallon.
Mr. Cunliffe having summed up the case for the plaintiffs,
Mr. Atkinson addressed the Court for over three hours on
behalf of the colliery company. The Pretoria Pit, he said,
was one of the finest coal mines in the country, equipped
with all the most modern machinery, and found employment
for nearly 3,000 men, involving a wages bill of some
thousands of pounds per week. Great attention had been
paid to the treatment of the water turned out from the pits,
and the. defendants had practically reached the limit of
human knowledge—all that science could suggest had been
carried out. There was no other way of purifying the water
than the one they had adopted, and the effect of an injunc-
tion might be to close the mine. Counsel called attention to
the fact that the witnesses for the plaintiffs admitted that
before taking the samples for the purpose of analysis they
disturbed the water in the dam, which in itself was an
unnatural accumulation. He contended that samples should
have been taken before the water was agitated, and any
ochre which might have been deposited on the bed of the
stream had been disturbed. The plaintiffs had shirked the
issue the Court had to try, and there was not a tittle of
evidence to show that, with the natural flow of the stream,
any material quantity of ochre would have been taken into
the various mills. Nor had any witnesses been called to
prove that the hardness of the effluent was, as a whole, worse
than the natural brook water. The relief asked for by the
injunction was limited to water pumped from the collieries
into the stream, and there was no complaint of water
percolating from the shale heaps. An injunction must be
interpreted with reference to the sources of pollution pleaded
in the statement of claim, and it seemed to him that the
introduction of the surface water was not relevant to the
issue, and might have been put on one side. With regard
to the School Pit water, his clients claimed a prescriptive
right, and if they could show that the amount of pollution
coming from that source was no greater now than it was
20 years before the action was brought, it was no answer to
say that the effect produced had varied. Evidence was then
called on behalf of the colliery company. . Mr. Christopher
Thompson, who for many years had acted as mineral sur-
veyor for Sir Wm. Hulton, the owner and lessor of the
mines, produced working plans of the colliery. He made
surveys from 1891 to 1908, and during that time he saw no
change in the quality of the water coming from the School
and Deep Arley pits. Mr. Joshua Bateson, mechanical
engineer at the Hulton Collieries, said he had been employed
there continuously since 1893. In his opinion the quality
of the School and Arley water was practically the same now
as in 1893, and the quantity was rather less. An old pump
which started working in 1867 was capable of dealing with
600 galls, a minute. It was obvious the mining engineer
who asked for the pump, and those who designed it, were in
contact with a large amount of water, and they put in a
pump which was capable of pumping in 12 hours consider-
ably more than the present quantity of water at the School
and Arley pits. In 1900 a duplex pump was put down, each
capable of pumping 22,000 galls, an hour, but they were
worked in turn and not together. The maximum quantity
pumped from the School Pit was about 240,000 galls, in 24
hours, and in dry weather about 200,000 galls. For the
Deep Arley the average was 62,640 galls, per day, and the
average quantity of treated water from the Pretoria pits
was 38,057 galls, per day. The witness was under exami-
nation when the case was further adjourned till Wednesday.

North Wales.

Llay Main Colliery—Van Lead Mines Closed.

Mr. Thomas Davies has succeeded Mr. E. T. Davies in
the management of the Wynnstay Collieries, where he has
been employed in various posts throughout his career. Mr.
T. Davies is highly popular among the men at this colliery,
and highly 'successful as a teacher of mining under. the
Denbigh County Council, under whose Education Committee
he has successfully conducted classes for a number of years.

Lieut.-Col. J. S. Hughes, of Nevin, Carnarvon, who was
fot many years manager of the Festiniog Railway Company,

and consulting engineer to several North Wales collieries,
has left estate valued at £8,194.

With reference to the new colliery which is being sunk
by the Llay Main Collieries Limited near Wrexham, the
Hawarden District Council have made a claim on the com-
pany on account of alleged extraordinary traffic over the
Council’s roads. In suggesting a meeting between both
sides on the matter, the colliery company have pointed out
that the Council stood to gain very considerably in the long
run by the establishment of a large colliery concern in the
neighbourhood, and that this should be taken into consider-
ation in dealing with the matter of the claim. The clerk
to the Council has replied to the effect that no more than
a fair settlement was desired, and it has been decided that
the chairman of the Council, together with the clerk and the
surveyor, shall meet the representatives of the colliery com-
pany, with a view to an amicable settlement of the matter
in dispute.

The Van Lead Mines, near Aberystwyth, have again been
closed, whether temporarily or permanently has not yet been
decided, but a majority of the men have hastened to join the
Colours. This mine has suffered vicissitudes of fortune, and
is one of the oldest known mines in North Wales. It is
stated that mining took place in the locality of these mines
even before the coming of the Romans, and were worked
regularly during the Roman occupation of these islands.
Subsequently the industry was neglected until the 17th
century, and it was not until the middle of the 19th that any
appreciable efforts were made to win the minerals located
there.

Notts and Derbyshire.

At a meeting of the Nottingham City Council on Monday,
February 1, the Mayor (Aid. J. H, Gregg) and Mr. A. R.
Atkey, the chairman of the responsible committee, moved
and seconded respectively the confirmation of the resolution
approving the promotion in Parliament of the Bill to transfer
to the Corporation the powers of the Trent Navigation Com-
pany, as they apply to the river between Newark and
Nottingham. The Council passed the resolution by 37 votes
to 5.

The Midlands.

Coal Famine in Warwickshire.

A coal famine is reported from the Midlands this week as
the result of the extraordinary shortage in the supplies of
fuel from the pits which has recently been so marked a
feature. Colliery owners and merchants have given pre-
ference to the demands of the manufacturers and ironmasters,
with the result that many householders are now almost
without coal. But even among the manufacturers supplies
coming to hand by rail and canal are by no means equal to
necessity, and the consumers of steam coal report the famine
to be quite as acute with themselves as it is with respect to
domestic sorts. Certain of the leading local coal merchants’
associations have this week supplied the information that
the chief difficulty is that the Warwickshire pits cannot
raise fuel in sufficient quantities to meet current needs on
account of the shortage of men, because of; their having
enlisted, and that, further, when the fuel is brought to bank,
there are not sufficient men on the top to fill the trucks.
Prices in Warwickshire, and also in Staffordshire, are now
higher almost than they have ever been known to be, except
in times of strikes, and at many of the collieries prices are
practically up to a strike period. Coal merchants this week
declare that at some of the pits current rates are 3s. to 4s.
per ton higher than the customary winter prices, and an
early repetition of the colliery price lists of rather better
than a month ago, showing advances varying from Is. to
Is. 6d. per ton, is considered entirely likely. On Cannock
Chase the ruling prices for domestic coal are about 24s. 6d.
for best, down to 21s. fid. for smaller coal of reliable domestic
quality. Contractors everywhere are considerably harassed
to complete their orders. Boats are leaving the pits loaded
to not more than half their weight, and it is even said that
in some cases 30-ton boats have to leave the colliery wharves
with not more than seven or eight tons of coal. Supplies
sent from Cannock Chase to London and the south are held
up for days in transit through the lines being blocked with
military traffic, and although the colliery companies are
doing their best, it is evident that in the present extra-
ordinary circumstances the carrying out of contracts is
absolutely impossible — a point which buyers should care-
fully note. The Gas Department of the Birmingham Cor-
poration have made known this week that ever since the
coal strike in August 1911, the policy of the department has
been to keep a very large stock, and that the stock now in
hand is of good proportions. Even 'should no further
supplies be received, it is sufficient to tide the department
over for several months, but exactly how long it is impos-
sible to say. The coal used comes mainly from the Derby-
shire and North Staffordshire pits, while some is supplied
from Yorkshire. The greatest distance over which it has to
be transported is about 70 miles. In this respect
Birmingham is not so much handicapped as are the London
gas undertakings.

Kent.

In connection with the effort to raise from the shareholders
.£100,000 for the Snow’down Colliery deep sinking and other
works in the Kent coalfield, a representative meeting of
shareholders in seven companies of the Concessions Group,
viz., Kent Coal Concessions, South-East Coalfield Extension,
Extended Extension, Deal and Walmer Coalfield, East Kent
Contract and Financial Company, Intermediate Equipments,
and Guilford Colliery Syndicate, was held under the pre-
sidency of Mr. John Dewrance, chairman of the share-
holders’ committee. Mr. Dewrance outlined the scheme of
the committee for saving the properties, and a resolution
was unanimously carried approving of the programme set
forth by the directors, which includes the opening out of
the deep seams of the coalfield by continuing the sinking of
one shaft of Snowdown Colliery right through the coal seams
proved by the borings. Another resolution, recommending
shareholders to subscribe for the bond issue, was also
carried unanimously. It is understood that promises repre-
senting something like half the money were made in the
room by various large shareholders. Amongst the seams
below the Snowdown Hard, Mr. Dewrance mentioned are
seams of 6 ft. 9 in., 4 ft. 7 in., 4ft., and 9 ft. 6 in., the
borehole samples of which have all given good analyses.

Scotland.

Compensation Costs—Railway Rates.

Mr. Wm. Liddell, oversman at Greenfield Colliery,
Hamilton, has received a well-filled purse of sovereigns on
the occasion of his leaving to fill an appointment in
Wellington, New Zealand.

The joint meeting with representatives of the Scottish
coal owners and those of the miners on the question of