March 12, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 549 14s. 4’3d. ; gas coal, 12s. 0’03(1. ; • anthracite, 19s. 8’6d. ; household, 14s. 5*ld. ; other sorts, Ils. 4-Id. The mean value of the coke exported was 15s. 6’6d. per ton, and of the manufactured fuel 16s. 6’3d. per ton. A meeting of the Manchester Geological and Mining Society was held at Manchester on Tuesday, when an interesting paper on roof support was read by Mr. F. N. Siddall. Mr. John Gerrard, late H.M. inspector of mines for the Manchester district, was elected an honorary member of the society. A presentation to mark the appreciation of his services to the society was made to Mr. Sydney Smith, who has just relinquished the secretaryship. A report of the meeting will be given next week. Coal dust explosions forms the subject of a paper to be read by Mr. J. D. Morgan before the North Staffordshire Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers at Stoke-on-Trent on Monday next. The new Lancashire and Cheshire rescue station situated at Denton was formally opened by Sir ■William Garforth on Saturday last. The Home Office Committee which is enquiring into the questions of production of coal and miners’ enlistments have now begun to take evidence. At the resumed inquest on 11 of the victims of the fire which occurred at the New Hem Colliery, Chester- field, on the 25th ult., a verdict of accidental death was returned, with the suggestion that better facilities might be provided for dealing with fire. Mr. Hugh Bramwell has been elected chairman of the South Wales Coalowners’ Association for the ensuing year. In the House of Commons, on Wednesday, a Bill was passed giving the Government power to take over and administer engineering and other works capable of producing munitions of war. The South Wales Coal Owners’ Association are appealing to the Welsh miners to allow the present wages agreement to continue until the termination of the war. The men are offered a war bonus of 10 per cent, on existing rates. A general advance of 20 per cent, on existing miners’ wages warranted by increased cost of living is being advocated by the Scottish miners. Yesterday (Thursday) the joint committee of coal- owners and miners’ representatives for the Federated mining area made good progress with the negotia- tions for a new wage agreement. On the 5th inst. the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal of the plaintiffs in the important action of Foran v. Another v. the Attorney-General. The case raised an important point under the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910. The Appeal Court decided that the plaintiffs were not bound to make a return of unworked minerals on Form IV., and that they were entitled to have a provisional valuation of unworked minerals treated as a separate parcel of land. The fire at the New Hem Heath The ironstone pit in North Staffordshire, Chesterton in consequence of which 12 men, Fire. including one of the proprietors, lost their lives, bears a resemblance in many of its features to the fire which occurred at the Hamstead Colliery in 1908. It is safe to say that the Hamstead fire had as profound an influence upon mining practice as any other disaster in recent years. It directly raised the question of storing combustible articles in non-fiery mines ; the reversal of the ventilation as a practical theory may be said to have dated from it; and it revised the whole of our knowledge on the physio- logical aspect of rescue work. The fire at Hamstead, it will be remembered, was caused by a candle-box near the downcast shaft. Subsequently Special Bules were issued prohibiting, except in cases of special exemption—and then with certain rather drastic precautions—the storage of candles and paraffin wax below ground. These rules have since been embodied in the General Begulations (113-116). In the Hem Heath Pit, the fire broke out in the haulage engine-house, about 40 yards from the bottom of the shaft. Below the wooden floor of this engine-house were two paraffin oil stoves, to prevent the compressed air engines from freezing, and there was a paraffin-oil lamp in the engine-house. Possibly there was no storage of oil here in the sense of the Act, but it appears that a considerable quantity of oil may have accumulated in the sump—which was actually used to “ extinguish ” the flames—and, taking further into consideration the construction of the floor and roof of the engine house, it is regrettable that no means of extinguishing fire were at hand. We are certainly under the impression that sections 69 and 70 should apply to such cases. It was suggested that had the ventilation been reversed in this case lives might have been saved, but Mr. W. Saint, H.M. inspector of mines, stated at the inquest that such a course would not only have been useless, but would have imperilled the lives of other men at the pit bottom. This is a matter that can be thrashed out after the accident, but at the time the question is one throwing a great burden of responsibility upon the management, who cannot know the whole of the conditions existing below ground. In very few cases have managers taken this bold step, and their reluctance has generally been justified afterwards. Nevertheless, a recent instance in Illinois is a concrete example of the advantages that may lie in such a course. On October 27 of last year an explosion occurred at the North Mine of the Franklin Coal and Coke Company, at Boyalton, Illinois, by which 52 men were killed. No less than 305 men, however, who were below ground at the time, were rescued, and their survival is attributed to the prompt action of the manager in reversing the ventilation. Five or six men may possibly have lost their lives through afterdamp in consequence, but the change in the air current enabled the manager to reach 213 men who were in a distant quarter of the mine, and were ignorant that a disaster had occurred. After the reversal of the fan, the men on the surface entered the mine and succeeded in rescuing several men about the shaft bottom. The point is that whichever course the manager takes, he may be called a murderer by somebody afterwards. The chief difference between Hamstead and Hem Heath lies in the success of the rescue operations. At Hamstead one.of the rescue party lost his life ; at Hem Heath, the rescue brigades succeeded in bringing three men out of the pit alive, although one, who had been 24 hours below ground, subse- quently died. In each of the other cases, the men were revived by means of oxygen apparatus. This case does not stand by itself. At the Crackley Colliery, Chesterton, on September 15, 1914, the Parkhouse brigade recovered two men who had been rendered unconscious by an explosion, and restored animation by means of oxygen revivers. In the case of the Illinois explosion, above referred to, within an hour and a-half after the accident, the Illinois Mine Bescue Station Committee had a team of rescuers, equipped with breathing apparatus, on the spot, the call being upon a station some 20 miles away over very rough roads. These men succeeded in bringing out one man alive from the affected section. At the disastrous explosion at Hill Crest in Alberta on June 19, we had another example of prompt rescue work, under considerable difficulties, no less than 43 men being saved in this case by the rescue crews. In Dr. Holmes’ last report, the life savers of the U.S. Bureau of Mines are reported to have saved more than 100 lives, whilst trained volunteer rescuers in the employ of mining companies have saved many more. We think the gibe that breathing appliances have caused more deaths than they have saved can no longer pass current. Undeniably both apparatus and organisation have been very greatly improved, and it is with a high sense of satisfaction that we find that British manufacturers are now capable of producing apparatus that on all points can success- fully compete with Continental designs. In every one of the particular instances cited above, the uProto” apparatus was in use, and this machine, which has gradually been evolved from the appliances devised by Mr. Fleuss and used at Killing worth and Seaham many;years ago, is typically “ all-British.” The rescue apparatus owes a large part of its success to British research, and, as Sir William Garforth pleaded, in putting the finishing touch last week on the Lancashire and Cheshire coalowners’ scheme, this is one of the industries which we should make our own in the years to come. In conclusion, we must refer to the excellent work that has been done by these North Staffordshire teams. At Norton Hill, at Chesterton, and in several other isolated instances, their behaviour has been such as to reflect the greatest credit upon both the men and their instructors. The new Defence of the Bealm An Bill, which was introduced by the Experiment Chancellor of the Exchequer on in Tuesday, and was further considered “Kultur.” on Wednesday, came as a bomb- shell to the industrial world, and it is impossible as yet to measure the full extent of its influence. The Bill gives the Government power to take over any factory, 'workshop or plant; to require any factory or workshop to be devoted entirely to the production of war material; to regulate or restrict the carrying on of work, or to remove the plant; and to take possession of unoccupied premises. Pre-existing contracts will be over-ridden, but it is understood that compensation will be paid for non-fulfilment under these conditions, although the Government give no pledge on this point. A crowd of considerations follow upon this drastic legislation. Every employer of labour may be affected, for even if his works, plant or staff are not touched, his business may be interrupted by the non-execution of contracts. These are sacrifices which would be made cheerfully without the exercise of compulsion, but it may be that the Bill is necessary to regularise and legalise proceedings the legitimacy of which few would dispute. What the business man doubts is that the Government can do more work cr better work than those whose lives have been spent in these milieux. Mr. Lloyd George, who is generally quick to see practical difficulties, if he is also always ready to meet them, is clearly alive to this. He wishes to act through committees of employers, and is on the look-out iC for a good strong business man with some push and go who will be able to push the thing through.” Such men may be just as difficult to find as the much-talked-of ‘‘Business Government.” Although the working man was kept carefully in the background in the discussion in the House of Commons, there is a general feeling that the symptomatic Clyde strike is at the root of the Government’s proposals. The men on the Clyde were clearly gambling on State intervention, and this dangerous movement does not represent merely an agitation for added means to meet the increased cost of living. In referring, in our issue of the 26th ult., to the unconstitutional demand of the miners for higher wages, we observed that the president of the Miners'’ Federation has always been impatient of the slower methods of the orthodox trade unionist, and it would almost seem that, having seen the State embark upon all sorts of new enterprises, he is making a rash effort to force the country to adopt a policy of nationalisation against its will. There is little doubt that the trade unions have this power, because the country cannot now afford to allow questions between employers and their work- men to be fought out by recourse to strikes and lock- outs—quite legitimate tests in normal times ; to-day every industry in the country that is worth carrying on has became a public utility, and in such cases the argument in favour of intervention, and, beyond that, of State control, has always been stronger. As to whether State regulation has any real substanta- tive value, beyond the avoidance of greater evils, is seriously open to question. In any case the trade unions will probably find that they have; exchanged King Log for King Stork. Even in the case of the Clyde trouble, the “intervention” was of a brand rather different from that which they anticipated. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.—-The 24th annual general; meeting ofthe Institution of.. Mining and Metal- lurgy will be held at the. ’Rooms, of the Geological Society, Burlington House, ^Piccadilly, W.‘, on Thursday, March 18, 1915; a't„8 p.m. Sir Thomas K-irke, Bose- will'deliver his. presidential address. ‘ ’ f’....