May 21, 1915.	THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.	1083

viction that the best was not being done, and that the highest
efficiency would not be reached -along the lines that were
first proposed. The delay, they believed, had all been for
the good. It had allowed of very full consideration of what
was the best type of apparatus that ought to be used in con-
nection with rescue stations. They (the coal owners) had
thought at the outset that it might be possible to work the
whole county through one central station, such as that now
being opened. The area they had to cover from that station
—the area within a radius of 10 miles—included the bulk
of the collieries that they required to deal with. They were
not able, however, to convince the authorities that that was
the proper course to take, and they were now going on with
three sub-stations as required by the Home Office Order.
Tne coal fields which would be served by all the stations had
an output of 20,000,000 tons per annum, and the number of
men employed in the area was about 51,500. The number
of men who required to be trained at the individual collieries
of the association would be 336. At the central station there
would be eight men, thoroughly trained and equipped, who
would be in constant residence and would be at the service
of all the collieries of the association; and at each of the
sub-stations there would be six men, who would be kept
more especially for service at the collieries in their imme-
diate neighbourhood. The cost of providing the four stations
would be a little over £18,000. The present station alone
cost the association over £6,000 for building and equipment.
The work had been thoroughly well done, and he thought
he could put forward the claim that it was the finest
equipped station in the United Kingdom.—Mr. James M.
Strain proposed “ The Rescue and Aid Committee.” He
pointed out that in the selection of that committee they
had drawn upon their most highly technical and practical
members of the association. The members were :—Messrs.
Alex. Anderson, Thomas Arnott, James Bain, Jas. Craw-
ford, George Gidd, D. M. Mowat, John B. Thomson, and
James T. I’orgie (convener). Mr. Forgie, whose name was
coupled with the toast, made an interesting reply. Their
full scheme he explained, remained tp be developed in the
future. While the coal owners had placed themselves
entirely in the hands of the committee, the latter had no
desire to dissociate themselves from the responsibility of
any advice they had given the coal owners. Much of the
criticism they had heard had come from those with no
knowledge of mining, and was largely due to sentimental
sympathy. The committee had proceeded in their own way,
and only gave heed to the criticism of those who were entitled
by practical and expert knowledge to speak on the subject.
They had not in any of their deliberations been actuated
by any dog-in-the-manger policy, but had considered the
whole question, and in the matter of cost had been guided
by what was best for the safety of the workers. Proceeding,
he said they had aimed at having a large central rescue
station, like a big city fire brigade. The Lanarkshire area
was peculiarly shaped, and was difficult to reduce to a
number of stations. This central station was the principal
one of the four decided upon, and it covered an area which
had 37,000 workers. He regretted the Home Office attitude
very much, because it meant a great deal of expense that
might have been avoided, as, in his view, all good results
could have been got from the one central station. Con-
cluding, he uttered a word of caution in regard to the use
of the apparatus. It was a mistake to imagine that imme-
diately after a disaster men could go down a pit and roam
about for two hours. The utmost care and caution had to
be exercised. Then the weight of the apparatus was 401b.,
which of itself was a considerable handicap. In the use
of the apparatus, he would give to the men the old Scotch
advice, “ Never put out your arm further than you can draw
it back.” Two hours was the time allowed for using the
apparatus, but it did not follow that half could be used
in the outward journey, as the return journey might take
longer owing to unexpected difficulties. Used with caution,
he believed the -apparatus might prove of service, but, at
the same time, he hoped the Lanarkshire coal field would
be free from disasters.—Mr. Wm. Walker, inspector of
mines, in replying for “ The Guests,” said that whatever
doubts might be thrown on the use of the apparatus, he
could tell them of a practical experience he had three
weeks ago, when in a colliery in Fife the lives of seven
men were in danger. The knowledge that rescue apparatus
was available was in itself a great satisfaction on that
occasion. It was -a great moral help.—The interesting pro-
ceedings terminated with hearty thanks to the chairman
on the call of Provost Moffat, Hamilton.

Some time ago, a Motor Transport Corps was formed by
the students attending the Fife Mining School at Cowden-
beath, and they are ' progressing favourably in their
instruction of mining transport work. A motor transport
lorry has been placed at their disposal by the War Office,
and under the guidance of Sergt. Joseph Parker, of the
Army Service Corps, the students are becoming efficient
in driving, &c. In civil life Sergt. Parker is principal of
the Fife Mining School.

On the occasion of his retirement from the management
of Messrs. Wm. Baird and Company’s extensive works and
collieries at Muirkirk, Mr. John Angus has been presented
by the community with a massive silver loving cup and a
deposit receipt for a substantal amount. .Mrs. Angus was
the recipient of a gold ring set with diamonds and pearls,
while the Misses Angus were each gifted with a gold
wristlet watch. Mr. Angus, who is now leaving the
Muirkirk district, has been stationed there for the long
period of 45 years.

A new colliery is being opened at Law by the Wilson
and Clyde Coal Company. The new pit will be about
35 fathoms deep, and the seams of coal worked by it will
include the Drumgray, smithy coal, and Mill seams, all
of which produce an excellent quality of house coal. The
new colliery is near the main line of the Caledonian
Railway, and will be in operation at the end of the summer.

Messrs. Merry and Cuninghame, iron masters, Glasgow,
have purchased the Auchenharvie coal pits. New plant
is to be installed.

Westrigg Pit, Blackridge, West Lothian, has been
reopened. Arrangements are made to introduce coal-
cutters on a liberal scale, and also to modernise existing
machinery. The United Collieries Limited are the pro-
prietors of the pit.

Messrs, the Herbert Frood Company Limited, of Chapel-
en-le-Frith, inform us that they have appointed as sole
agents for the Ferodo clutch and brake linings for Lanca-
shire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, and North Wales, Messrs.
Hitchen-Blaikie Limited, 28, Cathedral-street, Manchester.

TRADE AND THE WAR.

The Petrograd Council of Ministers has instructed the
Minister of Commerce to inform Russian trade circles that
the port of Archangel is being used for Government trans-
port, and will be impracticable for private cargoes until
further orders.

A meeting-of the members of the Yorkshire Coal Exchange
in Leeds, on Tuesday, unanimously passed a resolution
requesting alien enemy members to abstain from attendance
on the Yorkshire Coal Exchange during the period of the
war.

The trial has been fixed for June 14, in the High Court
of Justiciary, Edinburgh, of the four Glasgow iron mer-
chants who are charged with a breach of the Trading
with the Enemy Act. A pleading diet will be held in the
Sheriff Court, Glasgow, on Friday, May 28. The accused
are members of a Glasgow firm. Two of them came before
the sheriff for declaration on the charge, on December 4
last, and in February the two others were before the
sheriff in connection with the charge.

In the House of Commons, on Wednesday, Sir Richard
Cooper asked the President of the Board of Trade if he
would cause enquiries to be made of the cost at pithead of
railway freights to London, Bristol, and Manchester, the
prices charged to merchants, and the prices charged to con-
sumers in these towns, for certain of the well-known grades
of coal on March 1, 1915, compared with March 1, 1914,
in order that the public may know where the additional
charges are being absorbed.—The President of the Board
of Trade said most of the information which the hon.
member desired is contained in the appendices to the evi-
dence taken by the Retail Coal Prices Committee, which
will be published shortly. Railway companies’ charges for
the carriage of coal have not been increased, but as regards
other charges, the Committee reported that they were not
able to apportion the extra sums paid for coal among the
different interests concerned, because the proportion sold
under contract in each case could not be ascertained. He
was afraid he could not apportion the rise in prices between
the different interests.

In the House of Commons, on the 13th inst., Mr. Duncan
Millar asked what steps the Government had taken in
carrying out the recommendations of the Committee on the
retail price of coal; and whether any effort had been made
to secure action on the part of the Scottish coal owners in
restricting the price of coal to home consumers?—Mr.
Runciman replied that in addition to the action stated in
his answer to questions on April 28, an Order in Council
had been issued restricting the export of coal to neutral
countries as from last Friday. The Scottish coal owners were
represented at the Board of Trade conference at which the
resolution was passed recommending that the question of
the prices of coal for home consumption should be considered
by the coal owners in the various districts. He was not
aware of the exact steps which had been taken by Midland
coal owners, but he was conferring with them, and hoped
to give further information. He heard that some of the
coal owners in the north of England had raised the price
of coal in one day by 7 s. 6d. per ton for household con-
sumption, but had not been able to verify the statement.

The Russian Railway Department has issued an order
respecting anthracite as fuel on the Government railways.
It is to be used principally for heating premises, carriages,
and fuelling stationary boiler furnaces, and finally loco-
motives. The hardest and most ash-free varieties are to
be used for locomotives.

A national factory for the manufacture of shells and
other war material is to be established in Leeds. The
announcement was made at a meeting of engineers in Leeds
last week by Major-Gen. Sir Percy Girouard, of the Leeds
Munitions Committee. He said he had consulted the War
Department, and, after careful consideration, they were
fully persuaded that the best means for utilising the assist-
ance of Leeds was by establishing a national factory in the
district on the ordinary Government basis of cost without
profit. The early success of the scheme would depend
primarily on the acquisition of works for concentrating
machinery. The Leeds Forge Company were prepared to
provide a large and suitable factory. To control and
manage such a factory they must have some form . of
organisation, based upon a management board consisting
of five gentlemen who had already been nominated. They
would act as trustees for the Government with the object of
turning out the work in the most expeditious and economical
fashion, giving their services without remuneration. He
was placing the whole of the proposals before the Govern-
ment, and he hoped for an immediate and favourable
decision.

The following official announcement has been made by
the Board of Trade :—“ As the result of conferences at the
Board of Trade, the principal London coal merchants have
now arranged with Mr. Runciman for a limitation of the
profits to be made by them from the sale of household coal
during the summer months. It is anticipated that the
arrangement will be carried into the winter.”

The Coal Exports Committee makes the following
announcement :—“ As applications for licences to export
coal to neutral countries can now, in case of need, be made
without stating the name of the ship, applicants should
submit their applications at the earliest date. In future
the decision of the committee will not be influenced by the
fact that the coal or coke in question has already been
shipped, or that the ship may be delayed, or by other
extraneous considerations. Applicants must clearly under-
stand that the Coal Exports Committee is not itself the
licensing body, and that it is useless to telegraph to the
committee on the contrary assumption. Such telegrams
will not be considered.”

The Metropolitan Water Board on Friday accepted the
tender of Messrs. Robert Dempster and Sons Limited,
amounting to £3,625, for the provision of coal unloading
and transporting plant for the Hampton and Kempton Park
stations. The other tenders were :—Messrs. A. D. Dawnay
and Sons, .£3,660; Sir W. Arroll and Company, £4,383;
and Messrs. Ransomes and Rapier Limited, £5,002. For
the supply of 100 steel tipping coal trucks of 20 cwt. each,
the tender of Messrs. McLachlan and Company, at £22
each, was accepted.

LABOUR AMD WAGES.

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

The Conciliation Board met on Monday, and, in addition
to routine business dealing with disputes, took up the
question of revising the -agreement, as to which considerable
feeling has been manifest on the men’s side. The work-
men’s representatives pointed . out that the notice termi-
nating the present arrangement would. mature at the end
of June; and they urged the need of an early meeting of
the Board for considering a new agreement, and thus
avoiding a stoppage. It was decided, after the request
had been . discussed, that a special meeting to consider
the workmen’s proposals should take place on May 31.

Another issue debated at the meeting was that of the
employment of non-unionists. The Federation, being
wishful to debar these from work, had asked the employers
to grant on colliery premises the facilities for “ show
cards.” This request the employers had declined to accede
to, and Mr. Brace, M.P., now urged its importance,
because of the men giving notices and probably stopping
work. The discussion on this matter was lengthy, and
ultimately the employers desired that the proposal should
be submitted in writing, so that it may come before the
.next meeting of the Coal Owners’ Association.

With regard to the delay in arranging the new agree-
ment, some noteworthy statements have been made; and, as
indicating their nature, it will be sufficient to quote one
of them, especially as it shows the spirit in which any
negotiation will be entered upon, and the terms that will
be submitted. This is .the striking declaration made by
Mr. Hartshorn, one of the miners’ leaders. He stated
that the miners were face to face with a tremendously
important problem; that when the present agreement comes
to an end in about six weeks’ time, terminating not only the
general wage agreement, but individual contracts as well,
unless a new arrangement had been made, the workmen
would be without any terms on which to continue their em-
ployment. On several occasions, he said, the employers
had been asked to fix ,a date for discussion of the men’s pro-
posals for the new agreement, but they refused to do so.
Whilst recognising that the nation is engaged in a deadly
struggle with an unscrupulous enemy, whom every miner
wishes to see completely vanquished—their duty being to
leave nothing reasonable undone to bring about an amicable
settlement of their claims, thus avoiding responsibility for
a stoppage—the miners were not, he declared, called upon
to sacrifice their interests because the coal owners choose
to take up an unreasonable and unpatriotic attitude.
Should the owners adhere to their blank refusal to negotiate,
there was nothing further the miners could do in order to
bring about, a settlement without a stoppage.

The proposals which the men have put forward are, Mr.
Hartshorn suggests, based on resolutions passed at national
conferences. They wished to have 50 per cent, merged
into the standard, with the establishment of 10 per cent, on
the new standard as a minimum; and these terms have
been accepted by coal owners throughout the area of the
English Conciliation Board — Nottingham, Lancashire,
Derbyshire, Yorkshire, &c. He added that “ The South
Wales owners are deliberately incurring the practical cer-
tainty of a stoppage, rather than accept, or even negotiate
upon, terms which have already been accepted by their
English colleagues and by a large proportion of their own
number in South Wales. Therefore, it is clear that
responsibility for a stoppage, which will most likely follow
the maintenance of a stiff-necked policy, will rest entirely on
the employers. The recent conference of men was very
determined in respect of the bonus claim; and that deter-
mined feeling still exists, very much intensified.” He then
suggested that there should be another conference, which
should authorise the executive to draw up an agreement
embodying the proposals already submitted to the owners;
and that that agreement should be sent to the coal owners,
with the intimation that work would be continued only upon
those terms. It would then be for the owners , to decide
whether they would bring about the calamity of a stoppage.

The men employed at the Coed Ely (Welsh Navigation)
Colliery, Tonyrefail, have decided to withdraw their notices
on the non-unionist question.

Lord St. Aldwyn, independent chairman of the South
Wales Conciliation Board, has issued his award in
respect of the war bonus. The miners had asked 20 per
cent, on their earnings, which stand at 60 per cent, above
the standard, and the employers had offered 10 per cent, on
the standard. The demand of the- miners was therefore
equivalent to 32 per cent, on the standard; and the
difference between the two parties was very wide. After
hearing statements from both sides, and taking two days
to consider his decision, Lord St. Aldwyn made an award
of 17J per cent, on the standard, so that the men received
14J per cent, less on the standard than they asked for, but
71 per cent, more than the employers offered them.

One important point in this award is that, whereas the
employers made their offer of 10 per cent, conditionally
upon the men working until the end of the war under the
agreement which is, now expiring, the award of the inde-
pendent chairman gives them an advance without any such
condition. As a matter of fact, the employers had prac-
tically withdrawn it during the London conference. The
award brings the rate of wages to 77J above the standard
of 1879, an increase representing about 3s. 6d. in the £.
This war bonus is to merge in any future rise of wages
which may hereafter be granted in the district. At present,
the collier’s standard rate is about 4s. 7d. per day, and
the award brings his wage-rate ^up to about 8s. ljd.
The award has been well received by the men, it
being recognised that a number of the coal owners are
at present at work under contracts which differ widely from
the high prices in the current market. But it has been
pointed out on the men’s behalf that as the contracts run
out, and present prices continue to prevail, a further
advance will' be sought.

The executive council of the Colliery Enginemen and
Stokers’ Association has had before it a letter from the
Miners’ Federation' answering a request to be allowed to
take part in negotiations for .a war bonus, as well as in the
revision of the Conciliation Board agreement. Mr. T.
Richards, M.P., secretary of the South Wales Federation,
in his reply, pointed out that as inasmuch as proposals for
merging the Enginemen and Stokers’ Association in the
Federation had been dropped, the Federation could not
countenance any joint action in the forthcoming' negotia-
tions for an -advance in wages or revision of the Conciliation
Board agreement. This letter was received by the
enginemen’s executive council with surprise, several
speakers declaring themselves unable to realise why the
Federation should state that the question of merging had
been dropped. They pointed out that at a previous meeting