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THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

February 19, 1915.

OBITUARY.

The death occurred at Flimby, on Monday, the 8th inst.,
after a long illness, of Mr. Thomas Thompson, a well-known
Cumberland colliery manager. Mr. Thompson was a native
of Cumberland, and has been associated with the mining
industry during the whole of his lifetime. He was formerly
under-manager at the Ellenborough Colliery near Maryport,
and succeeded Mr. George McDonald as manager of the
pit about seven years ago. He retired from this position
in 1912, owing to ill-health. For many years he had acted
as manager and secretary of the Gillhead Coal, Ganister
and Fire Brick Company Limited, Flimby. The deceased,
who was 63 years of age, was twice married, and leaves a
widow and grown-up family.

Amongst the 22 men drowned by the flooding of the
South Wellington Coal Mine (B.C.), was Mr. Joseph Foy
(manager), who was formerly manager of the Bullgill
Colliery, near Maryport, and lived at Crosby Villa.

Mr. C. C. Scott, chairman and head of Scott’s Building
and Engineering Company, the well-known Greenock firm,
died at his Largs residence on the 11th inst. at the age of 47.

The death has occurred of Mr. William Evans, J.P., the
general manager of Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds’
Iron and Steel Works, at Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, and Cardiff,
and of their various collieries in South Wales. Deceased
at an early age worked at the Dowlais Iron Works. He
was furnace manager at the age of 28, when he left to take
up a similar position under the Rhymney Iron Company.
He subsequently went to the Erimus Works, Stockton-on-
Tees, as works manager, but was only there a short time,
as he was appointed general manager of the Cyfarthfa Iron
and Steel Works and Colliery. He continued in that
position until those works became part of the combine of
Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, and he was then
appointed general manager for all their works and collieries
in South Wales. Mr. Evans was keenly interested in the
South Wales coal trade as a whole, and seldom missed a
meeting of the Conciliation Board or of the South Wales
Coal Owners’ Association, of which he had been a member
for many years. He occupied the chair of the association
in 1895. He was a J.P. for the counties of Glamorgan,
Monmouth and Brecon. He was a member of the council
of the Iron and Steel Institute, and a member of the
Institution of Civil Engineers.

The death took place on the 11th inst. of Aid. J. A. Jebb,
J.P., at Brecon. Deceased was first identified with railway
work, but in 1866 he purchased some quarries and limestone
works, and several years later took over on lease the
Crynant Colliery, and also obtained a large interest in
Gwrnos Colliery.

The death occurred on Saturday at Torquay Of Mr. Carl
Ferdinand Henry Bolckow, the oldest surviving representa-
tive of the family of the Bolckows, of Middlesbrough. It
was Mr. Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow, uncle of the
deceased gentleman, who, in association with the late
Mr. John Vaughan, was the founder of the iron and steel
industry which is the chief bulwark in Middlesbrough’s
commercial prosperity. In the early days of Middlesbrough
the deceased gentleman was actively associated with his
uncle in the direction of the industry, which has grown to
great proportions. In 1865, when the firm of Bolckow,
Vaughan and Company was constituted a limited company,
Mr. Carl Bolckow was a member of the original board of
directors, and for many years after he continued his
connection with the firm. For several years past he has
been retired from business, and upon leaving Teesside he
went to reside at Torquay.

Mr. T. Davies, at one time traffic manager for the
Rhymney Iron Company, has died at the age of 65 at his
home in Rhymney.

There passed away, on January 28, a well-known and
interesting personality in the mining world, in the person
of the Rev. G. M. Capell, Rector of Passenham, Stony
Stratford. He was born in Grosvenor-square, London, in
1844, and was a son of the Hon. Adolphus Capell (brother
of the fifth Earl of Essex) and the Hon. Mrs. Capell (eldest
daughter of Viscount Maynard). He entered the Church
and became Rector of Passenham in 1870, which position
he retained until his death. Mr. Capell farmed his own
land, and finding on one occasion his haystacks heating,
applied artificial ventilation by means of a small hand-
driven fan which he constructed in his own workshop
attached to the rectory, and by which means he forced air
through a pipe to the heated part of the stack, thus
successfully overcoming the evil. The construction of this
little fan led him to build up a great development of
ventilating fans, culminating in the construction of large
fans for the ventilation of coal and other mines, and for
other purposes. He took out many patents for the
protection of his inventions, which were a wide departure
from the Guibal and other large fans previously in use for
mine ventilation, the principal features being small
diameter, high speed, curved vanes and large ratio of inlet
to body capacity, thus producing a high efficiency and low
oil consumption—and, owing to the rigidity of the structure,
a very low maintenance cost. The merits of the fan were
first recognised by the Germans and Belgians, who have
now a large number working on some of their principal
coal mines, where owing to the restricted airways in the
thin seams of those countries, the fans were designed to
produce a very high water gauge—in some instances as
high as 15 inches. Some hundreds have also been
installed in England, iFrance, and America, some of
which have been running for 25 years with great economy.
During the last few years of his life Mr. Capell devoted
his attention to propellers for boats and aeroplanes, which
had recently reached the experimental stage. His genial
manner and devotion to scientific matters made him very
popular with mining engineers, colliery proprietors, and
others with whom he came in contact, not only in Great
Britain, but on the Continent and America, where he was
always welcomed by the principal mining engineers of those
countries. His loss will not only be felt from the engi-
neering point of view, but from the social standpoint,
throughout Europe and America, and the absence of his
inventive genius at a time when the development of
aeroplanes and waterplanes has reached so important a
stage in military tactics will be a loss to the nation.

Mr. Sam Willan, an assistant electrician employed by
the Pearson and Knowles Colliery Company, Coppull, who
has been serving with the Coldstream Guards, has been
killed in action.

The death took place recently of Captain W. Parfitt, who
for 40 years was dock master at Newport. Retiring so
recently as Christmas last, Captain Parfitt had reached the
age of 86, and during his period of service was a remark-
ably hale and active man.

From Tasmania comes news of the decease of Mr.
Charles S. Price, F.R.G.S., formerly of Neath, where he was
engaged with the old Neath Abbey coal and iron works.
The deceased gentleman, who had attained the age of
84 years, was a member of an old Quaker family in the
district, and emigrated to Tasmania about 11 years ago.

MINING AND OTHER NOTES.

At a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers on
Tuesday, February 23, at 8 p.m., a paper on “The Electrolytic
Action of Return Currents in Electric Tramways on Gas
and Water Mains ; and the Best Means of Providing
Against Electrical Disturbances,” will be read by Harry
Edward Yerbury, M.Inst.C.E.

Mr. J. E. Abbott and Mr. A. Lamb have been appointed
assistants to Mr. C. J. Selway, the superintendent of the
line of the Great Northern Railway. Mr. Abbott’s duties
lie in the control of the working of the passenger, goods,
and mineral traffic, and those of Mr. Lamb in matters of
staff, special traffics, rules and regulations, and the general
commercial business of the department.

Reference to the development of the Kent coal field were
made by Mr. H. Cosmo Bonsor on the 11th inst. at the
joint meeting of the South-Eastern and London and
Chatham and Dover railway companies. One of the
companies, he said, was in liquidation. The railways were
still taking all the coal they could get from the Snowdown
Colliery, which was practically the only one now at work.

The annual report of the directors of the North-Eastern
Railway Company state that the revenue for the first half
of the year was adversely affected by the strike among the
Yorkshire coal miners. The South Yorkshire Joint Line
Committee are promoting a Light Railway Order by which
powers are sought to construct a short railway connecting
a proposed colliery at Firbeck with the Joint Committee’s
railway, and the draft Order will be submitted to the share-
holders for their approval at a special meeting at the close
of the annual meeting.

It is reported that Japan has recently presented to the
Chinese Government a series of demands for railway
concessions, mining rights and industrial opportunities.
These concessions are said to include mining rights in the
Eastern Mongolia, Shantung and Fukien regions. In the
Yangstze Valley Japan desires to jointly control, with
China, the Hanyang Iron Works, in which Japan has a
large financial interest, the Tayeh iron mines and the
Pingsiang collieries, and that China shall undertake not to
grant to other nationals mining rights calculated to impair
these undertakings.

The board of directors of the H. C. Frick Coke Company,
on January 18 elected Mr. Walter Hicks Clingerman, for 10
years general superintendent of the company, to fill the
vacancy in the presidency of the company created by the
death of the late Mr. Thomas Lynch. To fill the vacancy
caused by the promotion of Mr. Clingerman, Mr. Clay F.
Lynch, son of Mr. Thomas Lynch, was elected vice-president
and general manager, and will be in active charge of the
company’s field operations, with headquarters at Scottdale,
Pa. Mr. Lynch has been in charge of the Steel Corpora-
tion’s Western properties, with the title of president and
general manager of the Bunsen Coal Company, of Illinois
and Indiana.

The Electricity and Tramways Department of Newport,
Mon., have placed a contract for their next 12 months’
requirements of certain electrical accessories including
switches, with Messrs. J. H. Tucker and Co., King’s-road,
Hay Mills, Birmingham.

The annual general meeting of the Hull and Barnsley
Railway Company was held in London on Tuesday. Col.
C. W. Trotter, who presided, said the past year had been a
singularly unfortunate one for the company. In April
there was a miners’ strike in Yorkshire, lasting the best
part of a month. This seriously affected them, as by far
the greater portion of their coal traffic, on which they so
largely relied for revenue, was carried from the Yorkshire
coalfield, and their loss from this cause could not be
computed at less than .£20,000. Following this there was
a strike by the pit timber workers at the Alexandra Dock
for about seven weeks, and this restricted the import of
mining timber. Soon after this was over the war broke
out, practically stopping this import. This was a business
of some value to the company, and they could not put the
loss in dock dues, rents and railway carriage at less than
£10,000.

A meeting of the South Wales branch of the Association
of Mining Electrical Engineers will be held at the Technical
College, Swansea, to-morrow (Saturday), at 6.30 p.m., when
a paper will be read and discussed on “Typical Breakdowns
in Colliery Electrical Plant and their Prevention,” by Mr.
Llewellyn Foster, M.I.E.E. Another meeting of the section
will be held at the Carlton Cafe, Queen-street, Cardiff, on
Saturday, February 27,1915, at 6 p.m., when the same paper
will be discussed.

A meeting of the Notts and Derbyshire branch of the
Association of Mining Electrical Engineers will be held
to-morrow (Saturday) at the University College, Notting-
ham, at 3.30 p.m. The paper on “ Typical Breakdowns
in Colliery Electrical Plant and their Prevention,” by
Llewellyn Foster, will be discussed. A lecture will be
given in the evening at 6.15 p.m., by Prof. McMillan, on
“ Firedamp and its Detection.”

The Scottish railways have announced substantial
increases in their traffic rates between Scotland and
Ireland. The increases, which will take effect on March 1,
are as follow:—On rates not exceeding 12s. 6d. per ton,
lOd. per ton; on rates between 12s. 6d. and 20s. per ton,
Is. 8d. per ton; and on rates exceeding 20s. per ton, 2s. 6d.
per ton. This is the second substantial increase made on
these rates by the Scottish railways since the outbreak of
the war, and it is justified by the increased expenditure
consequent upon the war and by the steamship companies
having advanced their rates.

Notes from the Coalfields.

[Local Correspondence.]

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

Powell Duffryn Company Acquires Additional Property—
Light Railway for Developing Anthracite Field—Heavy
Cost of Allowances to Enlisted Men—Presentations to
Mr. James (Tirpentwys) and Mr. Robson (Dowlais')—
The Doctor Question.

It is announced that the Powell Duffryn Colliery Com-
pany have acquired from Lord Bute the Blaenant Colliery,
Abernant, and the other collieries in that district associated
with it. Mr. E. M. Hann, general manager of the Powell
Duffryn Company, with his son, Mr. George Hann, carried
through the negotiations. One of the chief reasons for
acquisition is that the Powell Duffryn Company will be able
in future to deal more easily with the inflow of water from
all workings in the Abernant district, which affect the com-
pany’s pits in Aberaman. Between 200 and 300 men are
engaged at the Abernant Colliery, which at one time was
the property of Mr. Richard Fothergill, who held so dis-
tinguished a position in the local iron and coal trade; subse-
quently taken over by Lord Bute. The Powell Duffryn
Company a few years ago sought to purchase the property,
but the negotiations on that occasion fell through.

Some time back reference was made to the construction of
a light railway for the development of the extreme western
anthracite field, a line being projected from Nolton to
Milford Docks. The work was commenced, but suspended.
The borings which have taken place, however, now fully
justify the railway project ; and it is stated that the full
amount of capital required having been subscribed, con-
struction will shortly commence. ' Rich seams of anthracite
have been proved, and the line will be of material service
to a good agricultural district, as well as serve the new
collieries that it is intended to sink.

Speaking at a meeting held in Tondu to protest against
the high prices of food, Mr. F. Hodges, miners’ agent,
criticised the Prime Minister. He said that Mr. Asquith
had stated that increased cost of coal was due to shortage
of labour owing to the miners having enlisted. But, said
Mr. Hodges, this was not the fact, for one of the large
collieries in South Wales, with a daily output of 2,000 tons,
had had to be closed because of the shortage of orders.

At the meeting of the Albion Colliery Company, the chair-
man (Mr. W. H. Mathias) stated that the company’s
contribution to the families of soldiers who had joined the
Army had amounted to nearly £1,000.

Representatives of the South Wales Miners’ Federation
waited upon Sir David Burnett, who was Lord Mayor of
London in 1912-13, and, in the name of the South Wales
miners, presented him with a silver salver in token of the
services rendered in connection with the raising of the
Senghenydd Fund.

Mr. Godfrey W. James, who for 12 years has been
manager of the Tirpentwys Colliery, Pontypool, was pre-
sented on Sunday with an illuminated address and silver
plate by the workmen and officials of the colliery, on the
occasion of his retiring from the management. Mr. James
does not sever his connection with the company, but joins
the directorate in succession to his late father, Aid. W.
James.

The employees of the engineering department at Dowlais
Works made a presentation on Saturday to Mr. George
Robson, at one time locomotive superintendent, and later in
charge of the engineering shops. Mr. Robson has secured
an appointment in Rhodesia as works manager of the
Rhodesia, Mashonaland, and Beira Railways.

The doctors’ question is again occasioning difficulty among
the miners of the Garw Valley. Since the Insurance Act
came into force a medical aid society has come into existence,
directed by a committee constituted by representatives from
the different collieries. For more than 30 years one gentle-
man has been the chief medical attendant of the employees
at the Ffaldau Collieries, and he accepted the position of
chief medical officer under the new society, but on February 9
he resigned this position—it is said, at the request of the
British Medical Association; and his assistant has also
resigned, other members of the staff, nurse, and dispenser
following suit. Amongst the workmen there is a protest
that theyxwill not support the medical aid society or'any
other society which engages a staff not authorised by the
British Medical Association, as such engagement would be
a violation of trade union principles.

Yesterday was to have witnessed the opening of the
by-product plant at the Victoria Works of the Ebbw Vale
Company, but the very unfavourable weather of the past
week or two has so far hindered completion that the official
opening had to be postponed.

Northumberland and Durham.

Embezzlement by a Former Ruskin College Student—More
Pits Re-opened.

Mr. J. Adair, general secretary of the Durham Aged
Miners’ Homes Association, informed the members of the
Hare Law district, at their annual gathering recently, that
1914 was a most successful year from the association’s
standpoint. The sum of £10,000 was contributed by the
workmen of the county, as compared with £6,000 subscribed
in 1913. There were now 28 groups of homes, sheltering
1,000 aged people. The cost of coals for the homes was
£150 per month.

When the Northumberland miners select one of their
number and send him for a term of months—usually 12—
to Ruskin College, they do so because they think he is a
youth of promise who, with a little more education, would
be of great service to their class. As a matter of solemn
fact, most of the returned “collegians” are “awful
examples ” of the truth of the dictum that “ A (little learning
is a dangerous thing,” for, fortified with a superficial insight
into Socialistic economics, and sustained by a smattering of
some other sciences, they are usually very objectionable
samples of working class prigs, and their capacity for indus-
trial mischief is only limited by the knowledge and influence
possessed by the older and wiser miners—wiser, not in book
learning, perhaps (although not always deficient in that
respect), but in the ways of the world and of young men in
particular. Nevertheless, the motive underlying the
“ higher education ” of these young fellows is good, and it
is to be regretted, therefore, when it is found that one has