822 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. April 16, 1915. tion of the seriousness of the situation could account for the regrettable stoppage which recently took place in the Clyde shipyards and engineering shops. While the great majority of British workmen had responded to the call to arms and to work, an unthinking minority had not played the game. For this the preaching of political partisans was much to blame. It would be unseemly if either employers or employed sought to make profit out of the nation’s necessity, and it should be safely left to the Treasury authorities to see that this was made difficult, if not altogether impossible. But want of realisation of our position was not confined to workmen. In the mining industry since the passing of the Act of 1911, a great many men had been engaged in unproduc- tive work. At the present time the Home Office were pressing the coal owners of the "West of Scotland to carry out the’requirements of the Act in connection with the erection and equipment of rescue stations. Indeed, the coal owners had been pointed at in recent Home Office reports for their apparent dilatoriness in this respect. Scotsmen had always been reluctant to entangle themselves with red tape, and, at this juncture, it was reassuring to have it on the high authority of Lord Kitchener that when the Empire was at stake, Scotsmen led the way in trooping to the Colours to fight for King and country and the freedom of the Empire. The arguments in favour of mine rescue apparatus and many Other provisions of the Mines Act were not so convincing but that they might be allowed to stand over until the close of the war. In the mining of coal and ore, the production of iron and steel, the manufacture of guns, and the develop- ment of the steam engine—all factors of primary importance in this war — institutions such as theirs had been of the greatest value. They might therefore congratulate themselves not only on the fact that many of the members had personally answered the call to fight for King and country, but also that those of them who were for any reason unable to take personal action, had assisted in paving the way to victory by providing the nation with a supply of the munitions of warfare. It was therefore peculiarly appropriate that the King, in the midst of such warlike distractions, should have granted a Royal Charter to the Institution of Mining Engineers. As a thorough practical knowledge was essential to the safe conduct of mining operations, so the holding of a first-class certificate of competency should be the principal qualification for membership of the institution. There must also be classes which would admit persons of scientific attainments and those engaged in other branches of engineering, as these were of great assistance to the mining industry. Then there must be provision for the entry of students probably by examination. It would be a mistake to exclude anyone who might be able to further the interests of the industry. An institution such as theirs should be of great service in connection with the drafting of mining legislation, and it might be that as an incorporated insti- tution, the Government would avail themselves of this assistance to a greater extent than in the past. It was most desirable that everything should be done to pre- serve the individuality of the workers in our mines. One of the most remarkable changes in military training in the British Army in recent years had been the encour- agement of individual action. There were something like 150,000 miners presently training with the naval and military forces, and it might be that, after the war, discipline in mines might be improved as the result of this training. In order to get the best results, however, it was necessary that Acts of Parliament for the regula- tion of work in mines should be more declarations of principles to be adhered to, and less masses of regula- tions which were not, and could not be, made generally applicable. Any attempt to make them generally applicable could only lead to the destruction of indivi- duality and personal responsibility, and an increase of accidents. It was very unsafe to prophesy, but it might easily be that after the war the stress of industrial competition would be keener than ever before. In Germany the recovery might be slow, because of the shortage of money, unless foreign capital was found to hasten the recovery. When that recovery did take place, the German nation would again become a powerful indus- trial competitor to Britain, and it .would be one of the provinces of the Institution of Mining Engineers to assist the mining industry So that costs might be reduced, and their ability to face such competition increased. For this purpose, all sources of engineering skill and knowledge should be carefully conserved, and the entrance gate of the institution should not therefore be made too narrow. As an institution, and as a nation, they need not be despondent. The response to the nation’s call had shown that we were not yet decadent, and while our mineral resources were not so accessible as they were in the past century, large strides had been made in engineering science, which had assisted, and would assist, in the solution of the problems they would be called upon to face. On the call of Mr. Robert M’Laren, H.M. inspector of mines, Mr. Mowat was thanked for his address. Election of Councillors. The scrutineers reported that as a result of the ballot the following six gentlemen had been elected to the vacancies on the council :—Messrs. Thomas Arnot, United Collieries Ltd., Glasgow; Wm. Clark, Broxburn; Douglas Jackson, Coltness Iron Works, Newmains; John Paul, Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company Limited; Wm. Smith, Dalmellington Iron Works; and Thomas Stevenson, Bent Colliery Company Limited, Hamilton. Modern Developments in By-Product Coking. Messrs. J. T. Forgie, Bothwell, and Wm. Smith, Dalmellington, joined in the discussion on Mr. S. G. Cooper’s paper on “ Modern Developments in By- Product Coking.” The discussion was closed, and the author thanked for his contribution. The Training of Mining Engineers and Colliery Managers. The discussion was afterwards resumed on the papers by Mr. Robert W. Dron, on “ The Training of Mining Engineers,” and by Mr.. John Gibson, on “ Some Notes on the Education of the Colliery Manager.” Mr. Wm. Smith, Dalmellington, said that under the present system Mr. Gibson believed it possible for someone to receive a certificate who would be a positive danger as a mine manager; but one might ask, was this inefficiency confined to the mining profession alone? He thought not, for no stated curriculum of any profession could turn out men all equally capable. In seeking for the ideal, the diversity of human nature must not be overlooked. Again, Mr. Gibson said the oral examiner had too many marks at his disposal, and that this told against the nervous candidate. He (Mr. Smith) did not agree with that opinion. Fortunately or unfortunately, he happened to be one of those stumbling blocks in the way of the candidate, and from experience he could say that the nervous candidate could very soon be put at his ease by a little tact on the part of the examiner. If the candidate were given two or three simple questions to start with, possibly relating to his first experience in the pit, he soon found himself being led to answer quite freely questions that would have been impossible for him a short time previously. Mr. James Hamilton, Glasgow, remarked that Mr. Dron had chosen an opportune moment to raise this much-discussed question. He said in the course of his paper, “ The Institution of Mining Engineers should take an active part in securing proper training” of mining engineers, and with that opinion he (Mr. Hamilton) agreed. The coming of the charter could scarcely fail to change the situation radically, and a readjustment of the relation of the institutes to the institution would certainly follow gradually, he hoped, but inevitably. The institution’s control of the mem- bership was increased, while admission was still through the institutes, and the problem seemed to be how the relationship between the two was to be modified to suit the position consistently with the maintenance of the usefulness of the several institutes. There were no doubt compensating advantages, apart altogether from that hoped for in some quarters as the end and aim of the charter — the raising of the professional status of the members. One of these advantages was that the institution, as a corporate body, should be in a position to regulate the training of the engineer, and secure the improvement that Mr. Dron and all of them wished to see. Comparatively little, in this way was possible to the institutes. Still, the institution could only act indirectly through the qualification it insisted on for membership, and through its control over its members. Its success in moulding the mining engineer would depend on its success in making membership a prize to be grasped at. He (Mr. Hamilton) trusted that a carefully considered policy would be adopted, and con- sistently followed. Mr. Gibson’s paper was exclusively concerned with the training of the colliery manager. He was scarcely fair to the State, as he termed it, if by that he meant the Home Office. It was not its business as responsible for the administration of the Mines Act to suggest a curriculum, though undeniably it did so by issuing a detailed list of subjects of examination. Mr. Gibson, as evidence of the defects of the system, says it might pass a man who would be a positive danger as a colliery manager. That was an inherent defect of all examinations. One could only attempt to test a man’s knowledge by examination, and not in any efficient way his ability to apply his knowledge. Mr. Gibson sug- gested no cure, and there was none. Mr. Robert McLaren, H.M. inspector of mines, also joined in the discussion, which was eventually adjourned. ___________________________ Exports and Imports of Mining Machinery.—The values of imports and exports of mining machinery during March were as follow :— March. Jan.-March. _____________ _____________ 1914. 19'5. 1914. 1915? <£ ^8 <£ £ Imports .......... 7,672 ... 3,366 .. 27,836 ... 19,223 Exports ___________ 95,777 .... 47,032 ... 271,888 ...130,900 These figures are not inclusive of prime movers or electrical machinery. According to destination, the value of exports was as under :—■ March. Jan.-March. ___________________ ________________ 1914 191?. 1914. 1915. 21.811.. . 8,799... 69,443... 16,997 100 .. 16... 390... 16 4.506.. . 776... 10,768... 2,774 36.921.. . 17,007... 81,413... 55,414 4.822.. . 3,840... 25,775 12,064 3.165.. . 1,352... 15,842... 8,236 1.573.. . 234... 4,437... 1,776 22.879.. . 15,008... 63,820... 33,623 exports of prime movers other To— Countries in Europe..... United States of America.. Countries in S. America ... British South Africa ... ,, East Indies ..... Australia ............... New Zealand ........... Other countries ......... The following shows the than electrical :—• March. " Jan.-March. _____________ ______ ______ 1914. 1915. 1914. 1915. All prime movers (except <£ £ £ £ electrical)— Rail locomotives........453,465...247,535..1,224,672...759,013 Pumping _______________ 63,107... 44,886 143,653... 116,671 Winding................. 6,645... 305... 8,438.. 2,497 Notes from the Coalfields. [Local Correspondence.] South Wales and Monmouthshire. Further Sale of Colliery Property by Lord Bute — An Unfounded Rumour of Cambrian New Amalgamation— Swansea Recovers from War Decrease — Home Office Explains Pit Head Baths Ballot Question—Mr. Leonard Llewellyn and the Abstinence Crusade — Freedom of Cardiff for Sir W. J. Thomas. The annual report of the Monmouthshire Collieries Rescue Association states that there are now approximately 389 men fully qualified for rescue work in the mines of the district served by the association. Many of the trained men have enlisted. The committee have recommended the British “ Proto ” type of self-contained apparatus as being generally the best for the purposes of the association, and this type is being installed at the central station, and also at the collieries of contributing companies. The follow- ing additional equipment has been supplied to the central station :—(1) 50 Pearson’s fire extincteurs; (2) a 25-horse power Studebaker (semi-ambulance) motor-car. Two calls have been made upon the station during the year 1914, viz. : (1) Three officials were reported missing in the Whitworth Colliery on February 21, 1914. Wearing breathing appa- ratus, the superintendent, with a brigade of trained men from the Tredegar Company’s pits, made a search* in a temporary abandoned district of the Whitworth Mine, which was. filled with poisonous gases, and found the missing officials unfortunately dead, and recovered their bodies. (2) On Saturday, July 18, 1914, the superintendent was asked to assist the police in making a search down a disu'sed shaft at Nantyglq, where it was suspected a body had been thrown to conceal its birth. Accordingly the superintendent, with an assistant,, explored the shaft on July 19, and found the body of an infant, which they handed over to the police. The shaft was unapproachable by ordinary means owing to the presence of blackdamp. A fresh announcement is made this week as to Lord Bute’s colliery properties in South Wales, and this has the added interest of demonstrating further extension of the United National Collieries undertaking. It was announced a week ago that Lord Bute had disposed of his Abernant Colliery to the Powell Duffryn Company; and on Tuesday his lordship transferred to the United National Company his properties at the top of the Rhondda Valey in the Treherbert area—known in the trade as the “ Bute Merthyr.” These at present give employment to about 600 men, and a.s they immediately adjoin the Tylacoch property now held by the United National, it is understood that the company will be saved the expense of sinking a pit. The extension of the United National enterprise in recent years has been most marked. Their original holdings were in Monmouthshire and in the Rhondda Each; and from these there was an annual output of about a million tons. About two years ago the largest interest in Messrs. Burnyeat- Brown’s colliery, adjoining the United National in the Sir- howy Valley, was acquired; .and this (with the Abergorky property at the top of the Rhondda Valley, adjoining the Bute property) had .an annual output of 1| millions of tons. Since then the United National directors have taken over the Standard Colliery at Ynyshir, in the Rhondda Each, adjoining their own Wattstown Colliery; and the whole of the properties now have an output of at least three million tons per annum. Developments are taking place in the provision of by-product plant, as well as the erection of a coal washery. The dividend of the United National Com- pany last year was 20 per cent., and it has not been below this figure for five years. In 1909 the dividend was 10 per cent., and in the two preceding years 30 and 25 per cent, respectively. A report was current on Tuesday morning that the Cambrian Combine would be extended by acquisition of the Lewis-Merthyr undertaking, with which the late Lord Merthyr was so prominently identified; but it proved to be without foundation. No negotiations have taken place to that end, although it is more than probable that preliminary enquiries have been made; but it is stated that even had the late Lord Merthyr’s interests been acquired by Mr. D. A. Thomas, on behalf of the Cambrian Combine, this would not carry with it a controlling interest in the Lewis-Merthyr collieries. As a matter of fact, Mr. D. A. Thomas is at the present time in America, and this adds to the force of the denial that any negotiations have been in progress. It is announced that the Government representatives have rejected the suggestion of Cyfarthfa Works being used for manufacture of war munitions. One reason suggested is that the Bessemer process was that for which the works were formerly used, and that it would be necessary to intro- duce the Siemens-Martin process. At the adjoining Dowlais Works the latter process is in full operation, and the pro- posal now made is that the Government will make use of these works, introducing any necessary new plant. Both works are owned by Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. No confirmation of the proposal as to Dowlais Works has been issued, and the idea is believed to be without foundation. . Swansea Harbour Trust had a very satisfactory report on Monday, the returns showing that for the first time since war commenced, the month had had an increase over the corre- sponding period of last year. The trade of the port during March amounted to no less than 40,000 tons above that of March of last year; 6,000 tons of the import increase was due to pitwood. Coal and coke were higher by 77,000 tons in the export list, but there had been a shrinkage in patent fuel exports of 23,000 tons. The drop in patent fuel ship- ments was due entirely to the war, particularly because of the high rates of freight. Mr. W. T. Farr (Graigola Com- pany) said that the decreased exports were due to shortage of labour and high freights, for his firm had almost daily to refuse to quote for business placed before them. By an explanatory circular, the Home Office has removed any doubt as to the precise meaning of .a section of the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1911, that which relates to the provision of pit head baths. The workmen engaged at the Eastern Valley collieries of Messrs. Partridge, Jones and Company balloted upon the question of baths, and there was a majority—more than two-thirds of those who voted being in favour of the provision. Consequently it was assumed that the matter would go forward. The employers, however, held that the provision of the Act was that the two-thirds- should be a majority of the workmen employed, and not merely of those who voted. The section reads : “ Where a majority 'ascertained by ballot of two-thirds of the workmen employed in any mine to whom this section applies represent to the owners of the mine that they desire,”