March 19, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

615

At Cbester-le-Street last week, Ernest H. Oliver, manager
of Ravensworth Colliery; Thos. Hughes, under-manager;
and Richard Holdsworth, horsekeeper,.’were charged with
haying contravened the Coal Mines Regulation Act. Mr.
Oliver was charged that, on November 12, he, being
manager, did not, appoint, in writing, competent persons to
take care of the horses in the stables in the proportion of
one horsekeeper to every 15 horses; that , he failed to see that
the horses, as soon as practicable after their return from
work, were properly cared for and cleaned and groomed; that
he did not exercise personal supervision over the horsekeeper
to secure that the provisions of the Act- were complied with;
and that a certain road at the south landing stables, which
the horses had to pass, was not of sufficient dimensions to
allow them to pass without rubbing themselves against the
roof or sides. The fifth and sixth charges—the latter of
which involved Mr. Hughes—related to the failure to record
reports with reference to horses in a book which had to be
kept in the mine for that purpose. The seventh charge was
that Mr. Holdsworth failed to keep a record in a book to be
kept in the mine of all horses under his care. On the first
charge Mr. Oliver was ordered to pay the costs, and no
conviction was registered; in respect of the next two, he was
fined 20s. and costs, and a similar penalty was imposed in
regard to the fourth charge. The fifth and seventh were dis-
missed, and Mr. Hughes was fined 10s. and costs on the
sixth charge. In the course of the hearing, it was stated
that Mr. Oliver had warned and cautioned the negligent
workmen, and had altogether done his best to supervise
properly the work. The company had punished negligent
men, and improvements had now been made. Mr. Oliver
himself informed the Bench that there was a shortage of
shifters in consequence of the war. One horsekeeper had
been discharged for not performing his work properly, and
many of the complaints were due to that man’s carelessness.

The Hedley Hill Colliery, owned by the Weardale Steel,
Coal and Coke Company Limited, is to be re-started, after
having been idle for several months. It will give employ-
ment to from 300 to 350 men and boys.

Mr. Edward Gales, enginewright at Morrison Pit, Ann-
field Plain, has been appointed resident engineer for the
Craghead and Holmside Collieries. He has received a solid
oak roll-top writing desk, suitably inscribed, at the hands of
the officials, mechanics, enginemen, and others connected
with the Morrison Colliery. Mrs. Gales has been presented
with a case of silver dessert knives and forks. The chairman
at the presentation, Mr. Andrew Morrison, stated that under
Mr. Gales’ supervision, gigantic alterations and improve-
ments had been wrought during the last 14 years at the
Morrison Pit.	..............

We regret to hear that Dr. John Wilson, M.P. for Mid-
Durham, and secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association,
is lying seriously ill, and his condition is causing grave
anxiety to his friends. Mr. Wilson has sat in Parliament
as a Liberal-Labour member, having refused to sign the
constitution of the Labour Party.

The right of a colliery company to make deductions from
men’s wages for damage done to company houses tenanted
by miners was the point at issue in a case heard by the
Lanchester magistrates last week, when Thos. Raine was
charged by Messrs. Ferens and Love, owners of Cornsay
Colliery, with wilful damage to three panes of glass. Wrn.
Kent Hardy, colliery cashier, informed the magistrates that
it was alleged that defendant wilfully knocked three panes
out, because witness withheld 2s. from his pay in respect
of certain cracked panes. Witness admitted that defendant
sent Is. to’pay for the third pane, but witness refused,
under the circumstances, to take it. The case was dis-
missed on the understanding that defendant paid the Is.
for the - third pane.

At Bedlington last week, Thos. Hedley, of Netherton,
was ordered to pay £2 15s. to the Netherton Coal Company
for breach of contract, with Ils. 6d. costs, less the amount
due to him from the company, at the rate of 10s. per fort-
night. Defendant, it appeared, was engaged on February 3,
and commenced work on February 8. On February 11 he
went to the manager and said he was not going to work any
longer. He tendered 14 days’ notice, but did not return
to work. His action entailed considerable hardship on the
company, who had to pay £5 damages in connection with
the delay of a ship. Had defendant worked his notice, that
delay would have been obviated. The company owed
defendant 16s. 7d. for work done. Defendant stated that
he was. not satisfied with the price paid for his work at the
colliery, and was in a different working place every day he
was there.

What is believed to have been a record shipment of coal
cargo from the Tyne was taken by the Norwegian steamer
“ Themis,” which left Tyne Dock on Saturday last, bound
for Lisbon, with a cargo of 11,262 tons of New Pelton and
Lambton gas coal. As the vessel took in 200 tons of
bunkers in the dock and 650 tons in the river before arrival,
her dead weight cargo on sailing was 12,112 tons.

Cumberland.

The Solway Iron Works : Movement to Restart.

The re-starting of the Solway Ironworks again came v up
for consideration at the monthly meeting of the Maryport
Urban District Council on Monday evening. It was
decided that representatives of the Council might confer on
the subject, and forward a communication to the Prime
Minister, the Chancellor of the- Exchequer, or the War
Office, setting forth the claims of the district.

Presiding over a meeting at Whitehaven recently under
the auspices of the Cumberland Colliery Underground
Officials’ Association, at which a lecture on ‘ Past and
Present Methods of Ventilaltion in Mines” was delivered
by Mr. E. Eider, A.I.M.E., Mr. G. Cook, H.M. inspector
of mines, said he thought it was a good thing that for the
safety of the mine the officials should be in a union where
they would not have some men pulling in one way and
the’ethers in another way. The Miners’ Union was there
fcr the men, and did a great deal of work. But the officials
should have a union of their own, if only for the sake of
discipline, which was very necessary in the management of
a mine.

At the Old Wordsworth Institute at Cockermouth
recently, Mr. Postlethwaite gave a lecture to ' the
members of the Cumberland Nature Club on “ The Coal and
Iron Field of West Cumberland.” The lecturer stated that
in Cumberland the first mining took place in 1640, at
Whitehaven.. At Bridgefoot an old working had been dis-
covered, and an antiquated pick, tipped at each end with
iron, had also been found. Referring to the West Cumber-
land coalfield, Mr. Postlethwaite said it had a superficial
area of about 100 square miles. It extends along the north-
western flanks of the Cambrian mountains, from Egremont

on the south, to near Allenby on the. north, and from that
point bending to the east, it extends to Sowerby pasture,
about four or five miles east of Caldbeck. At this point?
where the coal is first seen it is only 8 or 9 in. in thickness,
but' as we advance towards the west, it gradually increases
in thickness. On Warnel Common it measures 17 in., and is
55 fins, below the surface; the dip of. the strata is to the
north-west. In the parish of Westward it has increased to
3 ft.; and another seam or band sets in called the Cannel
band; the name of the former is the Main band. In the
parish of Bolton the Main band is 6ft., and the Cannel
band 3 ft. in thickness, and another band has set in called
the Crow coal, which is 2 ft. 6 in. in thickness. Some of
the bands vary, both in form and name, in different localities.
At Workington there is the Main band, 10 ft.; the Hamilton
band, 6 ft.; and the Yard band, 3 ft. in thickness. The
Hamilton band is divided into two by a layer of metal or
shale 18 in. in thickness. The most valuable and productive
part of the West Cumberland coalfield is in the neighbour-
hood of Whitehaven, where there are five workable seams
of coal, namely, the Grow coal, 2 ft. in thickness and 30 fms.
below the surface; the Yard band, 4 ft. in thickness and at
a depth of 80 fms.;. the Cannel band, 8 ft. in thickness and
at a depth of 100 fms.; the Main band, lift, in thickness
and 120 fms. below the surface; and at a depth of 160 fms.
there is another band 5 ft. in thickness. These added
together give a total of 30 ft. of coal. There are also
several other seams which are too small to be worked. The
strata are very much broken up by faults, which in some
cases have a throw of from 15 to 20 fms.; they have
generally an east and west bearing. The dip of the strata
is due west at a gradient of 1 in 10.

Yorkshire.

Urban Powers at Adwick-le-Street—Doncaster and the New
Mining Villages—Coke Oven Gas for Town Lighting—
Maltby Deputies Fined — Housing at Bentley — Shaft
Accident at Snydale—Trailing Cables.

Considerable interest was aroused in the colliery district
around Doncaster last week when it became known that the
Local Government Board had . granted urban powers t<3
Adwick-le-Street and the surrounding neighbourhool, which
may -be said to be situated in a sort of -triangle formed by tfie
great collieries of Brodsworth, Bullcroft, and Bentley.

The omnibus Bill promoted by the Doncaster Corporation,
and rendered necessary through the town’s awakening by
reason of colliery development, concluded its course before
the Local Legislation Committee last week, all opposition
being withdrawn on terms. Doncaster’s connection with
the coalfield frequently cropped up during the hearing of. the
various witnesses. Briefly, the Bill provides for street
improvements, further powers with regard to gas and water
undertakings, new municipal buildings, etc. In regard to
gas, it was stated the Corporation sought to supply the
Edlington model village attached to the Yorkshire Main
Colliery, where there had recently been considerable housing
developments for the workmen of the pit. Hitherto the rate
had been 2s. 9d. per 1,000 ft., but the Corporation . were
willing, if their bounds were extended, to reduce it to 2s. 2d.
for ordinary, and 2s. 5d. for slot meter consumers. The
committee granted the powers asked for.

The Doncaster Bill includes power to purchase gas in a
crude or partially purified state, and when the Bill . was
before the Local Legislation Committee of the House of
Commons, Mr. Robert Watson, the gas engineer to the
borough,.expressed the opinion that the clause was likely to
be of advantage to the Corporation within the next few
years. At present there were no coke ovens within their
limits of supply, but there had been projects for establish-
ing them. The Corporation had also -been in communication
with people who had a process of coal distillation, and who
were thinking of putting up works in Doncaster. That
process involved the production of gas, for which they would
have no market, except the Corporation.. It was estimated
that the Corporation would be able to buy the gas thus
produced at a price cheaper than they could manufacture it
themselves. * The same clause as this was given to the
Middlesbrough Corporation last year, and, as a result of
•the arrangements made under it, they found they had saved
3d. per 1,000 cu. ft. A similar power.was also given to the
local authority of Little Hulton.

The attention of the Doncaster West Riding magistrates
was last week called to a peculiarly reprehensible.practice in
the pit, during the prosecution of a Denaby pony driver,
named Geo. William Swift, for a breach of the rules in
Cadeby Colliery. The prosecuting solicitor described it as a
most serious case of deliberately throwing stones against the
side of the road to cause a fall of roof in order to prevent
defendant from working. Defendant brought down from 15
to 20 tubs full of dirt, which put six stalls out of action for
the remainder of the shift, and which imprisoned five ponies
in the workings. Some years ago this offence was, he said,
an almost daily one, but. -the prosecution of a good many
offenders by the colliery company led to its being stamped
out. Now, however, there were signs of a revival. It was
hinted the case was one for imprisonment. The Bench,
however, decided to give the lad another chance, and ordered
him to pay a fine of .£3 and costs, in default one month.

The somewhat unusual spectacle of three deputies being
summoned before the magistrates was seen at Doncaster last
week, when Percy Webster, Geo. Best, and James Rolinsqn,
of the Maltby Main Colliery, were charged with breach of
rules. It was stated that the manager went into the dis-
trict of which the three men were in charge, and found the
ventilation to be defective. Going into one of the roads along
which the air travelled to the working places, he discovered
that a door, which had been broken down, had not been
replaced. The consequence was that the air short circuited,
and did not enter the working places. All the defendants
expressed regret, and explained that, having a big job on,
they overlooked the damage. Each man was ordered to pay
a fine of £1 and the costs.

Success is attending the housing experiment of the Bentley
Urban District Council, undertaken to mitigate the house
famine in the district, of which so much was heard some
time ago, in view of the difficulty of many miners employed
at the colliery in finding abodes for themselves and their
families. Several of the Council’s houses are already
approaching completion. They are situated about midway
between Bentley old village and the rapidly developing Toll
Bar estate. Five and a-half acres are being laid out, the
land having been purchased from the proprietors of the pit,
Messrs. Barber, Walker and Company, at £250 per acre.
One hundred houses, of three distinctive types, are in course
of erection, and present a very neat appearance in red pressed
bricks, Yorkshire stone facings, and stuccoed, gables.
Eighteen houses are built to the acre, town planning prin-
ciples having been applied as far as possible. The smallest

type of house is intended for old people ousted from unin-
habitable houses. There are 12 of these small houses to be
let at a maximum rent of 4s. 3d. weekly. • The second type
is a miner’s excellent dwelling, wuth entrance lobby,’ living
room and kitchen, enclosed bathroom on ground floor, and
three bedrooms upstairs, rental 7s. 6d. weekly. Of these
houses there are 52. The third type have a frontage, of
18 ft., front parlour with bay window, living room kitchen,
and a scullery; upstairs, three bedrooms and bathroom lava-
tory, and an attic for storage purposes. Rent will not exceed
8s.- 4d. per week. An external washhouse and coalhouse are
provided, and there are gardens behind varying from 29 ft.
to 37 ft. in depth and 18 ft. in width, and allotment gardens
are to be provided at each end of the site. The Council have
already had sufficient applications to let the whole of the
houses twice over.

An accident occurred on Sunday morning at the Victoria
Colliery, Snydale, near Wakefield, as a result of which one
workman lost his life and another sustained very severe
injuries. The two men, Henry Radforth, shaftman, and
Arthur Higgins, bricklayer, were engaged on repair work
in the upcast of the fan shaft, and at about 9.30 gave the
signal to be drawn to the surface. The engine was put in
motion, and by some means the cage and occupants were
overdrawn into the headgear.

The importance of sparing no expense in the provision
of every possible precaution in connection with electrical
apparatus in the pit was insisted on by Mr. John Bentham,
electrical engineer at the New Sharlston Collieries, in a
paper entitled “ Experiences with Various Kinds of Coal
Cutter Trailing Cables,” read before the Yorkshire branch
of the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers, at Wake-
field, on Saturday. The troubles with the early types of
cables was that they were a source of great danger, the
insulation was mechanically weak, and the cable was not
sufficiently flexible. To use it with any degree of safety
it was necessary to enclose it in hose pipes. Mr. Bentham
explained his preference for the cab tyre sheath cable,
which, he -argued, was well worth the extra first cost, as it
was a fairly safe -and durable cable, and would outlast
several other types. He recognised that these, however,
had their drawbacks, and would like to see them made more
flexible, with the conductors further apart, and more cab
tyre between them, and also separating them from the earth
conductor, and more cab tyre in the sheathing. With these
improvements he thought the cab tyre cable would be ideal
for coal cutting and other portable machinery in the mine.
In the course of the discussion, Mr. Chaytor said that in
all cab tyre cables that had recently come under his obser-
vation there was cab tyre sheathing round the individual
cores, as suggested by Mr. Bentham. He did not think
the dangers of deterioration were so great as Mr. Bentham
feared. Mr. Bentham, in reply to the discussion, urged that
an additional 50 or even 100 per cent, on the cost of cables
was nothing-when compared with the safety of the mine.
He had had 13 years at New Sharlston without a single
accident, and hoped never to have one, thanks to the safe-
guards taken. Considerable interest was also taken in a
gate-end switchbox of a new type designed and patented by
Mr. Bentham, which he explained to the members. This,-
he assured them, was flameproof, although permitting the
outlet of the products of combustion, in the unlikely event
of an explosion inside the box.

At an inquest on a young rope runner, who met his death
in the Askern Colliery recently, the coroner’s jury at
Doncaster, in returning a verdict of “Accidental death,”
added a rider that they thought a little more supervision
might be employed in regard to the work in which the
deceased was engaged. The evidence showed that a new
rope, which had a certain amount of play, was in use. Six
tubs came off the road. They were put on. Three were
lashed and were started up the incline, but after going some
distance commenced to run back. Everyone darted for safety,
and it is presumed that deceased was trying to make for a
manhole. Anyhow, he was caught by the tubs, and so
shockingly injured that he died in the Doncaster Infirmary
not long after. A miner was killed in the Yorkshire Main
Colliery at Edlington last week by a fall of coal.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

The annual report of the directors of the Manchester Ship
Canal Company states that up to the end of July there Was
a steady increase of Ship Canal revenue, but the weight of
traffic and the revenue during the five war months were
considerably smaller than during the corresponding period of
the previous year. There was a large falling off. in the ,
imports of manufactured iron,from Belgium, and in imports
of timber. The traffic, and revenue of the Bridgewater
department were very seriously prejudiced by the war. On
the Ship Canal the receipts on mineral traffic amounted to
£66,521, as against £67,534 in 1913; the receipts in respect
of railway working on coal, coke and patent fuel amounted
to £23,918, against £21,591; the receipts in respect of the
working of the Bridgewater canals fell from £296,093 to
£263,758. Over the railways 1,609,369 tons of coal, coke
and manufactured fuel were carried, as compared with
1,658,340 tons in 1913; and 1,035,783 tons of other minerals,
as against 887,205 tons.

Notts and Derbyshire.

Notts Mining Students' Association — The Advantages of
Superheated Steam.

Mr. C. Chandley, lecturer on mining under the Notts
County Council, presided on Saturday evening at a meeting
of the Notts Mining Students’ Association at the Notting-
ham University College. He explained that since the
resuscitation of the association in 1910, the members had
not taken the interest in it that was anticipated, and since
the secretary, Mr. Willis Beckett, had left the district, and
over 20 Saturday class students had enlisted, the association
had been inactive. That meeting had ‘been called with a
view to considering the position of affairs, and it was a
question whether it should be disbanded or its operations
postponed until the war was over. Mr. Kelsall, treasurer,
stated that there was a balance in hand of £2 4s. After
discussion, it was decided to approach Prof. McMillan, of
the Mining Department of the University College, and if
he thought there was a prospect of re-establishing the asso-
ciation and making it a success, when the present conflict
was ended, to hand over the funds to the treasurer of the
university for that purpose; if not, thafthe balance in hand
be given to the General. Hospital for the help of wounded
soldiers.

Mr. James Strachan (president), Stanton Hill, was in the
chair at the meeting of the Midland branch of the National
Association of Colliery Managers, held at the University
.College, Nottingham, on Saturday afternoon. The election
of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows :—Presj,