718

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

April 1, 1915.

Notes from the Coalfields.

[Local Correspondence.]

Payment for “ Waiting Time ” at Swansea—Allocation of
Tips at Barry — New Director for Barry Company —
Strong Appeal that Miners will Shorten Holidays-^-The
Selling Price “ Equivalent ” in Debate.

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

The members of Swansea Chamber of Commerce have
experienced difficulty with regard to railways serving docks.
A letter from the different companies was submitted on
Friday referring to payment for “ waiting time ” at the
docks, and stating that shippers must in future give an
undertaking to pay for the waiting time both during meals
and during the shifting of vessels at night. Mr. T. P.
Cooke, 'Who occupied tne chair, said that the Chamber had
previously resolved that these terms should not be paid by
the shippers, and up to the present this decision had been
acted upon. Some of the speakers at the meeting said that
the railway companies were (themselves responsible for the
delays, and that the men required payment tor waiting time
because the coal was not brought up when needed. A resolu-
tion was submitted supporting the previous decision, and
refusing to make the payments, but it was ultimately agreed
that the matter be referred to the council of the Chamber
of Commerce for its consideration.

Among the speeches made at the meeting of the Cardiff
Chamber of Commerce, where the question of (allocation of
tips was discussed, was that of Mr. John Andrews. He
expressed his pleasure that the Barry Company had decided
to give a trial to the system that the Chamber had been
pressing on ail the dock companies. He understood that
the company could lease tips; but, as he read the opinion
of counsel, if the company were to lease so large a proportion
that the rights of the general trader were interfered with,
the general law could be brought into operation. On the
other hand, however, he thought that if they leased, say,
seven or eight tips out of 36, and it was found that the
general trader had not as a rule (to wait more than 18 or 24
hours for a turn in getting a tip, they would find it very
difficult to prove that the interference with the rights of the
general trader through the leasing of a small proportion of
the tips was serious enough to ensure the operation of the
general law in stopping the practice.

In answer to representations which have been made to
them concerning delays at their docks, the Cardiff Bailway
Company have informed the Chamber of Commerce that
repairs and renewals of the coaling appliances have received,
and will continue ito receive, the most careful attention.
The new engineer, it is stated, is devoting much attention
to this matter, and has received instruction which it is hoped
will result in a substantial improvement.

Mr. Reginald Cory has been chosen to fill the vacancy on
the board of Barry Bailway Company which was occasioned
by the death of his uncle. He is a son of the late M:r. John
Cory, a previous director, who was head of the great coal
firm of Cory and Company, and he is a brother of Sir
Clifford Cory, M.F. Mr. Reginald Cory is also a director
of Millers and Corys.

Mr. Tom Richards, M.P., secretary of the South Wales
Federation, has issued to the miners in that district a letter
wherein he urges close attention to work, thus carrying out
the policy to which the executive has already pledged itself.
Not only has the letter been sent in the ordinary way to the
local officials of the Federation, but large posters have been
published, so that it may be brought individually to the
knowledge of the different men at each pit. Mr. Richards
urges “ the supreme national importance that the output of
coal shall not be curtailed more than is absolutely necessary
at the present time,” and therefore points out that the Con-
ciliation Board decided to limit the Easter holidays to
Monday and Tuesday. He quotes Lord Kitchener and the
Home Office officials, who “ agree in impressing upon us that
if the holidays are extended beyond two days it may cause a
curtailment of the output of coal that would be disastrous
to the interests of the country ” ; and he enforces “ the
importance of this upon every workman, that he may realise
that neglect of returning to his working place on Wednesday
morning may be fraught with as serious consequences as the
neglect of his comrade at the front to return to his place in
the firing line.” After pointing out the need of maintaining
the manufacture of ammunition as well as the home comforts
of the poor of this country, he adds that the efficiency of
Naval operations in the Noiith Sea and the Dardanelles ” are
all dependent in a very large degree upon the extent and
regularity of the supply of coal.” Appeal is consequently
made to every man that he will return on Wednesday morn-
ing in Easter week, and thenceforth work as regularly as
possible, with the assurance that his labour in the mine is
as necessary as the operations in the trenches. This appeal
by the secretary cannot fail to produce a marked effect.

Mr. Hartshorn, miners’ leader, of Maesteg, has-published
a claim not only for revision of the standard, but also for
alteration of the “ equivalent.” He points out that under
the old sliding scale the men were to receive 30 per cent,
upon the standard when the selling price of coal was
Ils. 3id. per ton, and that when the Conciliation Board
agreement was macle 12 years ago,' the- equivalent selling
price was raised,, the matter going to arbitration, and Sir
David Dale deciding that .the equivalent should be a selling
price of Ils. lOd. Later on, when the minimum was raised
to 35 per cent., the owners pressed for a'further revision of
the equivalent to the selling price, arguing that they were
entitled to this because of the increase in the cost of produc-
tion, and the Conciliation Board agreement of. 1910 added
9d., making the equivalent 12s. 7d. Mir. Hartshorn points
out that whereas, (before the Conciliation Board came into
existence, miners received 50 per cent, on the 1879 standard
when the price of coal was 13s. 7d., they do not now get more
than 50 per cent, until the price is higher than 14s. 9d., and
that under the old sliding scale they would be getting 60 per
cent, on the same selling price as now gives them only
50 per cent. It is upon these statements that he bases his
claim for alteration in the equivalent.

The South Wales Anthracite Colliery Company summoned
two workmen for damages through breach of contract by
leaving work without notice; and it was stated in Court that
the matter had been brought (before the Bench, not with a
view of making money, but in order to maintain the
discipline of the colliery, a large number of men having
recently left without notice. The defendants in court
admitted that they had done wrong, 'and agreed to pay the
costs as well as to apologise to the management. The com-
pany accepted this, and by permission of the Bench the
summonses’ were withdrawn.

One of the miners’ agents has 'stated that the collier,
even with his 60 per cent, advance upon the standard', does
not get more than 2s. fid. a ton for cutting the coal.

No fewer than 52 men were summoned at Blaina on
Friday for neglecting work at the collieries of Messrs.
Lancaster and Company, but when the cases were called
on, the chairman of the Bench suggested that a consultation
between the parties should take place. He said that, in
view of the critical times through which the nation was
passing, the magistrates did not want to see any kind of
trouble in industrial undertakings. The magisterial sug-
gestion was adopted, Mr. Kenshole, on' behalf of the coal
owners, saying that they had no wish to summon their men
for breaches of contract. A consultation was therefore
held, and subsequently Mr. Kenshole said that satisfactory
arrangements had been arrived at. The company sincerely
trusted that each one would do everything possible to avoid
stoppages in the future.

One unexpected outcome of the very high price of fuel
is that the use of anthracite may become more general. It,
is a remarkable fact that whilst such great quantities are
exported to France and other parts, anthracite is compara-
tively little used at" home. In addition to household use,
however, there is practicability of its being employed in
manufactures for steam raising. Indeed, lower grades are
already so used at some of the local works; and a great deal
also in the London district of late years.

Some of the labour leaders in South Wales are urging that
the Government should commandeer shipping tonnage in
order to bring more pitwood to the ports, their contention
being that the output is at present restricted owing to
scarcity of timber.

At Aberdare Police Court a case of considerable interest
to colliers was tried by the Stipendiary, .two men seeking to
recover the sum of £1 5s. 7d. for work done in turning a
heading. The price list provides for a payment in respect of
turning of stalls, but not for turning of headings; and for
the plaintiffs it was urged that they had previously received
payment in respect of similar work. On the part of the
company, it was stated- that this payment was made in
mistake; but the Stipendiary decided in favour of the
plaintiffs,' stating that they were on the previous occasion
being paid at the rate now claimed.

Northumberland and Durham.

A new pit is being sunk at Swarland.

The annual meeting of the Cleveland and Durham Electric
Power Limited was held in Newcastle on Monday. Mr.
James Falconer, M.P., the chairman, presiding, said the
substantial increase in the cost of coal had adversely affected
the company’s business. Referring to the connections, he
slated that they had completed and connected up a very large
supply to' the Horden Colliery, and that the plant was a
complete success, demonstrating that electrical working could
be established satisfactorily on a large scale in all depart-
ments of colliery working,

A new coal seam, between the large Shield Row seam and
the surface, has been struck, and is now being successfully
worked at the East Pontop Colliery. Its discovery will
greatly prolong the life of the colliery, many of the lower
seams of Which have been worked out. The new seam Jias
been named “ The Growcoal.”

As the result of the bursting of a steam pipe running
from the large colliery engine to a small disused engine
house at the . East Pontop Colliery, Annfield Plain, on
Saturday, the building was completely demolished, Fortu-
nately there was no injury to life or limb.

Mr. John Cairns, financial secretary of the Northumber-
land Miners’ Association, has been selected, by 85 votes to
17 given for Mr. A. Bellamy, president of the National
Union of Railwaymen, to contest in the Labour interest the
Parliamentary irepresentation of Morpeth when Mr. Thos.
Burt, M.P., retires.

rJt is stated that the Hedley Hill Colliery, near Tow Law,
belonging to the Weardale Steel, Coal and Coke Company
Limited, will ibe re-opened on April 11, after having been
closed for several months. It is expected that between 200
and 300 men and youths will be re-engaged at the pit.

At the Northumberland Education Committee meeting at
Sunderland last week, Aid. Bell said he felt that there was
not that economy exercised by school managers in regard to
coal that there might be. At the present time they were
faced with advanced prices, and goodness only knew how
far the prices of coal would go up. He wondered if the
managers had ever thought of mixing screened with
unscreened coal, of mixing the best with the small, and of
thus reducing the cost. He throw that out as a suggestion
to the managers, in view of the present high prices of coal,

Cumberland.

The Royal Humane Society’s medals have recently been
presented to Messrs. Ernest Shaw, Win. Franklin, and A.
Heap, for bravery shown in endangering (their lives to
rescue comrades from a tar still at the West Cumberland
By-Product Works, Flimby.

The Little Main, a splendid scam of gas coal, was won
last week in the new pit which is being sunk at Risehow,
near Maryport, for the Flimby and Broughton' Moor
Colliery Company. The coal is about 2 ft. 6 in. in height,
and has been struck at a depth of 40 fathoms.

Yorkshire.

Nearing Coal at Rossington — The Colliery Battalions—■
Progress at Hatfield.

Reference was recently made to the excellent progress at
the Hatfield Main sinkings, near Doncaster. But the eyes
of those interested in the South Yorkshire colliery world
are now more particularly centred upon ■ another Doncaster
pit, viz., that at Rossington. Interesting events are about
to happen here, for the sinkers are expecting to reach the
Barnsley bed within the next few days. It was on June 10,
1912, that the first sod of the Rossington. Colliery was cut
by Mrs. Maurice Deacon, wife of the managing director of
the company. Since (then the work has progressed without
interruption, and soon (there 'will be in the Rossington area
a replica of Bentley, Woodlands, Edlington, Carcroft, and
other colliery centres of the Doncaster district. The
Barnsley bed is expected to be (reached at Rossington at a
depth of between 850 and 900 yds., and coal is confidently
expected to be tapped early this month. The sinking of the
No. 1 shaft has been accomplished without much difficulty.
The water problem never presented itself in aggravated,
form. In fact, none of the other local collieries have had

the experience of Bulcroft and Thorne; nor do they desire
it. The winding plant has been erected, and is in .readiness
for coal winding, and the screens and sidings are well on
towards completion. The winding plant includes two high-
pressure horizontal winding engines, with conical drums,
worked by Lancashire boilers at 1601b. pressure. The
steam plant comprises five 30 ft. by 8 ft. 6 in. Lancashire
boilers, capable of generating power sufficient to haul to
the surface some 3,000 tons of coal daily. There is a large
electrical generating station for the surface machinery. The
Rosisingbon Main Colliery is the property of a company asso-
ciated with the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company, of
which Lord Aberconway is chairman. The area of the coal-
field to be worked is 9,000 acres, and the two shafts are
each 20 ft. in diameter in the clear. A handsome model
colliery village is provided for the miners upon a freehold
site consisting of about 85 acres, lying to the east of Holmes
Garr Wood. The colliery is, in fact, one of the most
picturesquely situated in all Yorkshire. The water supply
is being provided by the colliery company, and the Don-
caster Rural District Council. is looking after the sewage
disposal scheme. In course of time there will probably be
a population of 5,000 in the model village, and a large, new
hotel is in prospect, the only licence at present in the dis-
trict being one for the colliery canteen. The whole neigh-
bourhood is being completely transformed by the progress
of the pit, and is changing its character from the peace and
quietude of (the countryside to the activities associated with
a centre of coal and commercialism.

There seems to be a sort of (mania among the local mining
communities just now to acquire urban powers. Ever since
Bentley secured them, a few years ago, other districts have
been on the warpath. Adwick-le-Street is the latest -to
succeed, and now Hemsworth is making application. A
resolution to go forward with the matter bias just been passed
at a parish meeting, and a poll of the ratepayers is to be
taken.

The Sheffield and District Coal Merchants’ Association
have held their annual meeting and dinner at the Black
Swan Hotel, when there was a large and representative
attendance. Mr. Geo. Longbottom was re-elected president
and treasurer, and Mr. G. C. Brooks secretary.

The manner in which the miners have enlisted is strik-
ingly shown in the annual report of the board of manage-
ment of the West Riding Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund.
The 'membership at the close of the year was 9,679, as com-
pared with 12,245 at the end of 1913. Enlistments, in his
Majesty’s Forces totalled 1,692.

The past few days have produced a crop of sad fatalities.
A pony driver, named Prosser, was killed by a fall of roof
at Orgreave Colliery; at Woolley Colliery a bye-worker,
named Landers, died from injuries following his being
knocked down by corves. There had been a train of 34
tubs, and 30 of them had run away, the “ D ” link of the
fourth tub having broken, as the result of a flaw. At
Edlington (Yorkshire Main) Colliery a miner, named
Leatham, twisted himself whilst turning a tub, with fatal
result.

Splendid, accounts come to hand of the efficiency of the
Yorkshire miners’ battalions enlisted for service at the
front. The West Yorkshire Coal Owners’ Battalion is doing
splendidly, and so is the Barnsley Battalion. By the way,
the continued persistence of the efforts to help recruiting for
the second Barnsley Battalion are being rewarded. The
strength is now 950, and during the past week 80 recruits
were obtained. Every effort is being made to complete the
unit.

A smart penalty was meted out at Doncaster West Riding
Police Court on Saturday, when Matthew Ross, miner, of
Conisboro’, was charged with endangering the safety of the
Cadeby Colliery. It was stated there was a fall of coal near
the defendant’s working place, which it was necessary should
be removed and not left in the gob, because one end of it
abutted on to the main intake 'airway. The defendant was
instructed to remove this, but instead of doing so, it was
found that he had commenced to build a pack round the rib
of the coal, with the (intention of burying it. Defendant,
who denied the allegation, was ordered to pay 60s. and costs.
In another case, Thomas Price, pony boy, Mexboro’, was
charged with endangering the safety of the Denaby 'Mine.
It was alleged that whilst (there was a run of tubs on the
main haulage road, defendant deliberately released the
bottom tub, which ran down the gradient for 200 yds. and
crashed, into another train of tubs on the same metals. If
the chain had broken there would have been a serious acci-
dent, .as the men were leaving work. It was believed to be
a deliberate piece of mischief, to gratify defendant’s spite
for a previous conviction. The Bench thought imprison-
ment the best punishment for such offences, but resolved
to give defendant another chance, and fined him .£2 and
£1 3s. fid. costs, or a month.

Mr. J. P. Houfton, presiding at (the annual meeting of
the Hatfield Main Colliery Company Limited on the 26th
ult., said the progress made during the year had been satis-
factory. It was expected that the Barnsley seam of coal
would be reached, at a depth of 800yds., before the next
annual meeting. The No. 1 shaft was now 414 yds. deep,
and was in the coal measures. All the water difficulties had
been overcome in one shaft, and it was hoped within .three
months to get through all the water-bearing strata in the
other. The rapidity of the subsequent sinking, in the dry
strata, would depend entirely upon the supply of labour.

Mr. Justice Eve, in the Chancery Division on Tuesday,
granted a declaration that the Masters and Fellows of St.
Catharine’s College, Cambridge, are entitled to the mines
and minerals under the lands of the townships of Campsail,
Norton, and Askern, belonging to Frances Cassandra,
Dowager.Countess of Rosse, of Womersley Park, Ponte-
fract, and Mr. George B. C. Yarborough, of Campsmount,
near Doncaster. The lands are those known as the Rosse
and Yarborough lands, under which it was stated valuable
mines and minerals lie. The decision will be appealed
against. Mr. MacSwinney, for the plaintiffs, the lords of
the manor, said, the question that arose was the true con-
struction of an Act of George III., which was passed for
the purpose of enclosing the lands in question. About 1,600
acres was involved. The 'action was admittedly governed
by a decision of Mr. Justice Neville, given, in 1912, in an
action for a declaration on the same issue asked for by the
same plaintiffs, but against different defendants. ' The
present defendants wished to test the correctness, of that
decision in the Court of Appeal. "What the plaintiffs said
was that the fee simple in this Act on the face of it gave
the ownership of the soil with the ownership of the mines.
Mr. Wood, for the defendants, said that he was not assent-
ing to any consent judgment. But he would assent to
judgment, as he thought he could not ask his lordship to
review the case now, having regard to Mr. Justice Neville’s