1134

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

May 28, 1915.

charged from the Army. The defendant said he had not
received his discharge papers, and he thought that when he
enlisted he had finished with the colliery, and could work
where he liked.

At Lanchester on the 20th inst., Charles F. Scott,
manager of the Consett Iron Company’s Eden Colliery,
Leadgate, was charged with an offence under the Mines Act.
Defendant pleaded guilty.—Mr. J. McCartan, for the Public
Prosecutor, stated that the defendant was directly respon-
sible for the control, direction, and management of the Eden
Colliery. Part of the mine was a drift, being constructed
in February last near the Eden pit by a contractor named
William Hall, and gelignite was used in the operations.
Gelignite was a very high explosive. On February 15 Hall’s
workmen were employed at the drift, when the gelignite was
frozen. A man, named Joseph Crowther, in order to thaw
it, placed the. explosive upon a brazier fire, but another
workman thought it was hardly satisfactory, and he lifted
off the tin containing the gelignite, fixed an iron plate on
the brazier, and placed the gelignite on the top. Less than
half-a-minute later the gelignite exploded, with the result
that two men were killed, and three others were seriously
injured. The Home Office Order made it incumbent upon
the colliery manager to provide a proper warming pan, a
utensil by means of which the explosive was thawed by hot
water, and the defendant had neglected to do so. Hall was
a person who had no scientific knowledge respecting explo-
sives.—Mr. Aynsley, for defendant, called Mr. Hall, the
contractor, who said he was a stoneman, and had long
experience in the use of explosives. He had to provide all
explosives and necessary appliances for carrying out the
work. Mr. Scott paid occasional visits to the drift, and
about a month prior to the accident he advised witness to
procure a proper warming pan, but in his opinion the
weather was such that he did not consider it necessary.
However, he promised Mr. Scott that he would get one.
Mr. Aynsley asked the Bench to decide that Mr. Scott had
inadvertently neglected to provide a warming pan, as the
making of the drift was let by contract, and he believed it
was the duty of the contractor to supply the necessary
appliances.—The magistrates decided to order the defendant
to pay T2 2s. fid. costs, there being no conviction recorded
against him.

News has been received in Northumberland that Capt. T.
0. Wood, of the. 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, has been
wounded in action, after having been at the front only a
month. Capt. Wood received his commission soon after
the outbreak of war, prior to which he was manager of the
Cramlington group of collieries.

Cleveland.

The following local gentlemen have been appointed to act
with the Customs officials of the Tees to grant licences to
export Cleveland foundry pig iron from Middlesbrough to
neutral countries :—Mr. George Scoby-Smith, of Messrs.
Bolckow, Vaughan and Company Limited; Mr. Christopher
Hood, of Messrs. Bell Brothers Limited; Mr. J. J. Burton,
for many years associated with the Cargo Fleet Iron Com-
pany; and Mr. T. Belk, of the firm of Messrs. Belk and
Cochrane, solicitors, Middlesbrough.

Cumberland.

Electrical Plant at an Egremont Mine—Waste Heat Station
at Gleator Moor.

On Friday morning, James Wilkinson, about 60 years of
age, married, and residing at Lawson-street, Aspatria, died
from injuries received in the explosion at No. 4 Pit,
Brayton, on April 26. Eight men were injured by the
explosion, and this brings the number of deaths up to six.
Wilkinson’s son Henry, who was also one of the injured
men, died three days after the accident.

The Wyndham Mining Company Limited, of Egremont,
Cumberland, recently decided to adopt electrical power for
pumping purposes in their Helder Pit. In this connection
two combined centrifugal pumps and motors, each capable
of delivering 600 to 700 galls, per minute against a head of
1,300 ft., will be installed for the 214 fms. level. Two com-
bined centrifugal pumps and motors, each capable of
delivering 300 galls, per minute against a head of 360 ft.,
will be installed for the 58 fms. level. The whole of this
pumping machinery will be in duplicate, and also the cables
in the shaft, so as to avoid any possibility of stoppage.
Current at 3,000 volts, 50 cycles, will be taken from the
Cumberland Waste Heat Company’s supply station at
Gleator Moor, and it will be used at this voltage for the
large pumps, and at 500 volts for the smaller pumps. The
scheme is being carried out to the specification and under
the supervision of Messrs. W. C. and K. W. Mountain, of
Newcastle-on-Tyne and Westminster.

The Cumberland Waste Heat Owners’ Company Limited,
who are erecting a new plant at Gleator Moor for the conver-
sion of the waste gases from the blastfurnaces into electrical
power for the iron ore mines, expect to have it in operation
by the end of June or the beginning of July. The project is
an excellent one, as it makes both for economy and efficiency
at the mines. The new plant will have a capacity of
2,200 kw. The Whitehaven Haematite Iron and Stee] Com-
pany have a considerable financial interest in the scheme.

Yorkshire.

Collieries and the Transport of Wounded—A Price List
Case—Another Seam Struck at Rossington—An Obstinate
Dataller—The Harworth	Colliery—Yorkshire Coal and

Toluol.

At the 49th annual meeting of the Beckett Hospital
(Barnsley), a vote of thanks was passed to district colliery
owners for their readiness to provide motor ambulances for
the transit of wounded soldiers treated in the hospital. The
hon. secretary said he had asked the colliery proprietors to
provide motor ambulances in place of the ordinary horse-
drawn vehicles, and to place them at the disposal of the
hospital. The response had been very gratifying, the
following having accepted the suggestion :—The Barron
Colliery Company, Monckton Main (in addition to having,
along with Mr. Ellison, provided three motor ambulances
for the front), Mitchell Main, Earl Fitz william, Carlton
Main, Wharncliffe Silkstone, and Houghton Main. When
they remembered, added Mr. Pawsey, that these ambu-
lances cost from T500 to ^600, he thought the response of
the colliery proprietors had been very satisfactory.

An important decision in regard to miners working under
price lists has recently been given in the Rotherham County
Court. Three miners claimed from Messrs.. J. and J.
Charlesworth Limited, of the Thrybergh Hall Collieries,
Kilnhurst, the sum of T4 3s. 6d., arrears of wages, and
counsel appeared to enforce their claim. For the plaintiffs,

it was stated that there was a strike, and when work was
resumed in 1906 a price-list was agreed upon between masters
and men. For certain work done defendants had paid under
item 8 of the price list, which read : “ cutting ends in
banks Is. 10^d. per yd.,” but plaintiffs contended they should
have been paid under item 42 : “ opening out alongside
old levels 2s. ll|d. per yd.” By their work plaintiffs had
left coal ready to work 77 yds. in length. The question was
whether plaintiffs were opening out alongside old levels,
and it was submitted that nothing could be clearer than
that this was opening out ready for the working of the coal
face. The men were providing a new road in place of the
old level. The defence was the men were only entitled to
item 42 when they were working within 5 yds. in width,
that the place became a bank after 5 yds., and was paid for
under item 8. The judge took the view that this particular
work was for the purpose of developing or opening out the
colliery, and gave a verdict for the miners.	■	:

Another seam of coal has been discovered at the Rossing-
ton Pit, near Doncaster, where the Barnsley bed was
reached a few weeks ago. This is the Dimstal seam, which
was located 25 yds. below the Barnsley bed. The seam is
5 ft. 6 in. thick, and is reported to be house coal of the best
quality. The discovery of this seam “aroused a good deal
of interest, and it will, so it is said, make the Rossington
Main Pit one of the most profitable in the South Yorkshire
coal field.

A case of considerable interest was heard at the Doncaster
Police-court on Saturday, when John Soar, a dataller,
employed by the Denaby Main Colliery Company, was
summoned under the Employers and Workmen’s Act. It
was stated defendant had refused to “ fill ” in a certain
stall in place of a man who had failed to turn up, although
he could not have suffered any financial loss by so doing.
The company’s solicitor pointed out that the whole indus-
trial system of the country was affected if the output of coal
was restricted. The manager of the colliery, Mr. H. W.
Smith, said it was the duty of a dataller to do anything
except coal-getting, but the defendant declared it was
optional whether he went filling or not. The Bench held
that defendant should have done the work, especially at a
time like this, when every Englishman ought to do his best
to help in any emergency. Defendant would have to pay the
colliery company’s claim, 15s., and the costs.

Once again, prominence has been given to the projected
German colliery at Harworth, the proposal to establish
which, it will be remembered, caused such a stir in the
South Yorkshire coal field a year or so ago. Harworth is
about 9 miles from Doncaster, and is just over the York-
shire border into Nottinghamshire. Its future has been
raised in the House of Commons', and not for the first time
either. Sir John Rolleston, last week, asked the Home
Secretary if the Court sitting on the Bawtry and Worksop
Railway Bill had granted a clause for the protection of the
Northern Union Mining Company, thereby continuing it
in control as lessees of 28,000 acres of coal-bearing land in
Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, and whether these aliens
are to be allowed to continue. Also whether arrangements
were made last year to build houses and place 4,000 German
workmen at this pit. Mr. McKenna’s reply was that
sinking operations had been suspended, and that nothing
which came under the category of trading with the enemy
had been done.

This is all right as far as it goes, but the future of the
colliery undoubtedly opens up .a very interesting problem.
The statement that pit sinking operations had been sus-
pended is perfectly true; indeed, they had not much more
than commenced when the war broke out. At this time,
some headgear and surface works and offices had been
erected, and everything indicated that the work of pro-
ceeding with the pit was to be pushed on at all speed. A
large staff of workmen had already obtained employment
there, the bulk of them foreigners of various nationalities,
with the Teutons predominating. Just before hostilities
commenced the majority of the foreigners were recalled to
their countries for fighting purposes. A good many of the
Germans remained, some failing to get through, others
declaring they did not want to fight for the Kaiser. Then
the police and military came along, arrested and interned
them; and ever since the Harworth Germanic colliery has
been a dead letter. It has been rumoured over and over
again that only German labour was to be employed when
the pit got in full swing, and that a great German colliery
village was to be built on model lines, even down to the
pithead baths.

As events have turned out, however, nobody seriously
entertains the idea that a German colliery will ever be
found in South Yorkshire or North Nottinghamshire. Those
who are best informed believe that undoubtedly the Har-
worth pit will be sunk in due course, but that it will be a
purely British concern. It has been an open secret for a
long time past that a well-known Yorkshire and Midland
Counties colliery magnate has his eye on the undertaking,
and that only the provisions against trading with the
enemy have, so far, made it impossible for negotiations to
be opened up to acquire it, and divest it of its German
origin. Nobody exactly fancied this projected German col-
liery, least of all those in whose midst it was to be, and they
are very glad at the turn events are taking.

The Brodsworth Colliery has a fine war record. About
600 of its men have joined the Army, and the colliery war
relief fund still has a balajice of nearly Tl,000, after having
met the requirements of the cases for which it was estab-
lished. Last week it made donations to the extent of T150
to organisations performing work in connection with the
war.

At last week’s meeting of the Conisboro Parish Council,
the clerk reported that the Edlington Brick Company had
withdrawn their opposition to the new pathway to the
Yorkshire Main Colliery at Edlington, but suggested a
slight deviation of the path. A sketch of the proposed
deviation was produced, and was approved.

Prof. Vivian B. Lewes lectured at York on the 19th inst.
on ” High Explosives and the Need of the Hour,” and,
incidentally, referred to the importance of the South York-
shire coalfields in this connection. When we started the
war, he did not suppose we had got more than 20 tons—
certainly not 50 tons—of trinitrotoluene in the market. We
had been gradually working up the quantity, and our supply
was getting more and more satisfactory. It was interesting
to know that Yorkshire coal gave more toluene than any
other coal, especially South Yorkshire coal, and it was from
the distillation of South Yorkshire coal they would probably
get the largest supplies, which would be flowing in in a very
short time. The quantities were increasing and the
arrangements for nitrating were going on perfectly satis-

factorily, so one hoped the trouble of shortage of explosives
would be less and less.

Mr. Arthur Hayes, of Hawshawe House, Hoyland, has
been appointed to the post of manager at the Hoyland Silk-
stone Collieries, in succession to Mr. R. E. Horrox, resigned.
Mr. Hayes was appointed five and a-half years ago to the
position of under-manager in the Silkstone Pit, and 16
months ago was given the post of assistant manager. Mr.
Hayes previously held the position of under-manager at the
Eckington Collieries under Messrs. J. and G. Wells Limited.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Tub-lockers—The Production of By-products—Travelling
on Haulage Roads—Wigan Mining College. ,

An inquest was held recently at Golborne into the circum-
stances attending the death of Wm. Holland, who was
killed while following his employment as a haulage hand at
Messrs. Richard Evans and Company’s Colliery, Golborne.—
John Andrews, a haulage hand, stated that he was standing
along with Holland in the. haulage way of the Nine-feet
mine. After some full tubs had gone by for about 30 yds.
they crossed over from alongside the full tub road, to the
empty tub road. They then heard a noise as though the full
tubs were funning back, and while witness remained stand-
ing in the empty tub road, his companion ran in the
direction of a manhole about 8 yds. further down. After the
tubs had passed, witness heard someone shout, ** Reverse
him, I am fast,” and just then the motion stopped.—A
verdict of “ Accidental death ” was returned. The jury
made a suggestion to the inspector as to whether some device
could not be made in order to prevent the tubs coming back.
The inspector intimated that this matter was already being
considered.

The Wigan Town Council has resolved to apply to the
Local Government Board for sanction to borrow Tl,200,
required for the necessary transformer, switchgear and cable
for the proposed supply of electricity to the Pemberton Col-
liery Company Limited.

A correspondent understands that further additions are to
be made to the coke ovens at Lord Ellesmere’s Brackley
Collieries, Middle Hui ton, near Bolton, with a view to
increasing the output of by-products, which ‘are in aug-
mented demand.

The surface workers employed at the Astley and
Tyldesley Colliery Company’s pits have presented Mr.Henry
Tate, the mechanical engineer at the pits for the last
17 years, with a gold watch, and Mrs. Tate has been given
a gold brooch. Mr. Tate is retiring on account of ill-
health.

The Bradford Colliery Company (the Fine Cotton
Spinners’ Association) are opening out new seams and
working places, besides effecting other improvements on the
surface at their collieries in Bradford, a densely populated
part of Manchester. Messrs. Platt Bros., the well-known
Oldham firm, -are carrying out improvements on the surface
and below at their Moston Collieries, near Manchester.

An interesting case under the Coal Mines Regulation Act
was heard at the Wigan County Police Court last week,
when five men, named Herbert Ashcroft, Richard Kenyon,
Hugh Kenyon, Joseph Molyneux, and James Molyneux,
were summoned for travelling on foot in the main haulage
road, of which the haulage was worked by mechanical
power, whilst the same was in motion. The Bench found
the offence proven, and the men were fined 10s. each.

Over 70 applications from leading educationists all over
the country have been received by the governors of the
Wigan Mining and Technical College, in response to the
advertisement for a principal to take the place of Mr. T. T.
Rankin, who has resigned. The sub-committee has
reduced the number to six, and the following will appear
before the governors for the final selection :—Arthur
Hop wood, D.S.C., principal of the Tunstall Mining and
Technical College, Stoke-on-Trent; Thomas Dean, M.A.,
M.Sc., vice-principal of the Swindon and North Wilts
Technical Institution; S. C. Laws, M.A., B.Sc., principal
of the Loughborough Technical Institute; David Paton
Grubb, B.Sc., principal of the Barnsley Technical School;
Henry Briggs, M.Sc., head of the mining department,
Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh; and William S. Houston,
B.Sc., head of the department of mechanical engineering of
the South-Western Polytechnic Institute, London.

North Wales.

Coal Merchant and an Insurance Card.

Mr. Thomas Griffiths, coal merchant, Wrexham, was
charged before the Wrexham borough magistrates this week
by the inspector for the National Insurance Commissioners,
with not having stamped the insurance card of an employee,
named J. T. Davies, and, further, with having illegally
detained the card of an insured person. Davies was
employed by the defendant on January 7 last as a carter,
and the insurance was payable even though a man worked
only one day, the first employer in the week being liable for
the stamping of the card, but Davies’s card was left
unstamped for the week in question, which it was stated
by the solicitor for the prosecution had prejudiced the
man’s chances of gettting employment. Eventually the
card was ordered to be returned to the Insurance Commis-
sioners at Cardiff, which was not complied with until May 4.
After hearing the evidence of the man in question, the Bench
decided that the case was duly proved, and imposed a fine
of 10s. in each case.

Trade is particularly bad in the iron trade around Elles-
mere Port, and also at some works in Flintshire just now,
and men are being stopped weekly, many of whom are
leaving for other parts of the country where work is more
plentiful, while many of the younger men are joining the
ranks. The same may be said of the staple industry (apart
from mining) of Denbighshire—that of brick, tile, and terra
cotta making. All the works are short of orders. Some
have closed down partially, others are following suit, and,
in some cases, a complete stoppage is predicted in the near
future.

Notts and Derbyshire.

Accident at Moor Green Colliery/. The Use of Stop-blocks.

The circumstances attending a serious 'accident at
Messrs. Barber, Walker and Company’s Moor Green Col-
liery, near East wood, were investigated by the Nottingham
coroner, on Monday, when he held an inquest on the body
of Edward Smith, miner, the only one of the six men
injured who succumbed after admission to the Nottingham
General Hospital. The accident was caused through the
running away of 18 tubs, which dashed into a party of men
who were making their way to work from the pit shaft half
a-mile away. William Rowley, a corporal at the pit, spoke