June 18, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1277 the-advantage of providing more work for the men,, and so of keeping them in better form. When ' the exponents of the new system .make their claims of greater efficiency, are they not using the word in toO narrow a sense? Even though the argument already advanced should be set 'aside, and a resident brigade held to be . more capable of using apparatus underground in an ■emergency than a mine brigade, that is 'all that is required of it? Should not the term “ efficiency ’’ cover more than proficiency with breathing apparatus? The men may be required to work under particularly trying and dangerous conditions, and in circumstances which will call for the utmost practical skill. In fact—as Sir Richard Redmayne, H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines, has put it—to be of real value they should be persons acquainted with the mine, and they should be miners.* The regulations bearing on the old system accept these facts in requiring the members of brigades to be “ carefully selected on account of- their knowledge of underground work ” ; but, strangely enbugh, the rules relating to the new system have no .such specific requirement, substituting, as they do, the vague phrase, “ general suitability for the work ” for “ knowledge of underground work.” The result is that it is possible for others than miners to become members of a permanent brigade. Can a brigade so con- stituted be as efficient in the fullest sense as a brigade made up from the officials’ and workmen of the mine, even though one were to grant it special dexterity with apparatus? The most obvious drawback in the new system is that a resident brigade cannot hope to equal a local brigade in knowledge.of the workings.. The official scheme of training does not make, compulsory any underground practices in the new system—either for the resident brigade, or for the few men drawn from the mines. It is true that in the memo- randum attached to the scheme attention is drawn to the advisability of practices in the mines. Again, it may be asked, Can occasional and optional visits underground give that highly detailed and up-to-date knowledge of the roadways which a pioneer brigade entering after a disaster should assuredly possess? Even if it be provided with a clear plan, can the corps be so reliable and useful in explorations as a brigade consisting of employees of. the mine ? In answer, it may be pointed out that the resident brigade would not enter alone; that the object of training a few men from the mines is to provide the station corps with guides ; but this rejoinder, while admitting the weakness of the system, brings it no support. Either the members of the resident brigade are more efficient in the use of apparatus than the guides (whose training is practically that of the old system), or they are not more efficient. If they -are not more efficient, the new system stands condemned; if they are more efficient, they must depend for guidance, and to no small extent, for their own safety on persons inferior to themselves. Is not the strength of a chain that of its weakest link? In a small district, such as the Edinburgh district, there is another point which militates against the adoption of the new system—namely, the comparatively small number of trained men provided by it, unless the minima specified in the Regulations were considerably exceeded. There would thus arise a shortage of reserves behind the station corps (itself only of six men, and therefore of little more than single brigade strength), if a serious fire were to break out, necessitating the use of brigades in relays throughout the 24 hours. Moreover, the reserve brigades would have to be improvised largely from odd men, or from twos or threes from different collieries. Can brigades built up in such a way—from men meeting probably for the first time, and therefore with no confidence in each other—be expected to be as serviceable as the homogeneous colliery brigades of the old system? The criticism of insufficient reserves does not apply, or applies to a lesser extent, in the case of a large area in which there are several stations furnished with resident corps; although, even there, they would be hard put to it to surpass, or even to equal, the magnificent records in relay work already achieved by the rival system in, for • example, the North Staffordshire district. The opinion of the superintendent of the North Staffordshire rescue station (Mr. Walter Clifford) is of particular value. On the special point now under consideration, Mr. Clifford writes as follows :— In this district (North Staffordshire) we prefer our system to the permanent one, as we think it a great advantage to have a call upon a large body of men rather than on a few permanent ones. In fact, some of the .work has lasted such a length of time that with a perma- nent set we should have been short of strength, and this could not be obviated unless a very large number of men were kept at the station. If the work were to last 24 hours or more, 72 men would be required, and it would be very expensive to maintain such a number. This, too, would only allow one brigade to be in the mine at one time. We have found that in some cases it is absolutely essential to have more than one brigade in the mine at the same time, the reserve teams being in communica- tion with the team actually at work. Our brigades consist of six men.f It is not intended to enter very fully into the relative costs of the two systems — first, for the reason that the majority of the supporters of the new system admit that theirs is the more expensive of the two, and therefore no question is at issue here; secondly, because the writer finds it difficult to make a clear comparison without using figures which he is obliged to regard as confidential; and, thirdly, because circumstances differ so much in different areas that such a comparison, even though exact for one district, may be unjust for another. It will perhaps be sufficient to indicate the main lines of such a comparative estimate as they appear to the writer :— (a) It would be unfair to the new system not to take into account wages and railway fares as well, as station costs, as fewer men are brought to the station on that system. . (b) Wages of the members of the resident brigade should be reckoned approximately at the average of miners’ earn- ings for the time being. Men can be obtained for less, but they would either not be miners, or they would be miners on the look out for “ an easy job,” and therefore of inferior calibre; or they would only stay until they were trained—in which case the brigade may be perma- nent, but the members of it certainly would not be so. *' Evidence before Eord Mersey’s Enquiry into the Use of Rescue Apparatus in Mines, Colliery Guardian, 1914, vol cvii., p. 461. I Extract from a letter to the author. (c) The new system is at a disadvantage when the station is connected to several collieries beyond the 10-mile radius. There is no provision in the Amended Regula- tions for such collieries, and the inference is that they lie under the old- Regulations in. determining the- number of men to be sent in for training. It may also be observed that there is nothing, in the Amended Regulations equiva- lent to the grouping .of pits under the same ownership as is. possible under General Regulation 140 (a).. Cd) The first cost of the station under the new system must exceed that under the old, because of the greater housing accommodation needed. '• It was estimated that ' in order to house six- men properly at the Edinburgh station, and to provide a gymnasium and other necessary rooms and fittings, a further outlay of £3,000 would have been required. This sum' does not include the outlay necessary for the additional apparatus which, under the new system, has to be kept .at the pits. (e) The running costs in. connection with the new system will usually exceed those of the old system. The disparity is the greater the smaller the area, and the more scattered it is. However, in a populous mining district, in which the pits are crowded near the station, and where none lie beyond the 10-mile radius, the disparity may disappear; indeed, with running costs, the advantage may then appear to rest on the side of the new system. In brief, the writer’s conclusions are that the old system is, as a general rule, both more efficient and less expensive than the new one. The general feeling was that the paper was one wdiich required to be carefully examined, and the discussion was adjourned. An Auxiliary and Outfit for Attachment to Self-Contained Rescue Apparatus. Mr. Michael McCormick, resident instructor at the Central Rescue Station of the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, read a paper descriptive of “An Auxiliary and Outfit for Attachment to Self-contained Rescue Apparatus ” :—■ In the writer’s opinion, it is not practicable to assume that a team of rescuers are always capable of carrying separate emergency apparatus with them for the purpose of assisting men who may be imprisoned inbye, or of guard- ing against the possibility of a. breakdown in the self- contained apparatus which the rescuers are wearing. At the same time, it is necessary, in the interests of safety, to have some means whereby it- is possible to bring out any man who may be alive, and also of guarding against the failure of the wearer of the self contained apparatus, or of his machine, in an irrespirable atmosphere. As the result of some experiments, it has been found possible to affix to the modified Meco apparatus an attach- ment which enables a man to be brought out, and, at the same time, gives a member of the rescue party a chance in the event of the breakdown.of his own instrument. The attachment is of a temporary character, and was used for demonstration and for the preliminary experiments. The weight of the attachment in final working form will be 2|lb., and it can be fixed to any instrument which pro- vides. a constant supply of 2 litres of oxygen per minute. The inhalation tube of the attachment is taken away from the top of the inhalation bag of the self-contained apparatus ; the exhaled air is drawn away by the injector, enters the metal tube on the bottom side of the regenerator, and is purified in the usual way. The attachment, in fact, works in parallel with the apparatus proper. The French Tissot apparatus (an oxygen regenerator appliance) was, the writer believes, the first wherein an attachment was adopted, consisting- of a single tube, by means of which oxygen was fed from the cylinder of one man’s apparatus -into that of a second person’s apparatus, the oxygen.supply of which was exhausted; but, so far as he knows, it was not possible to use the attachment to add some person other than a member of the corps. Again, the Aerophor liquid air apparatus provides a single tube attach- ment.. This approximates more closely to’ the writer’s intention, in that it does allow assistance to be given in rescuing a person found in the roadways, who may have to be .brought to safety through an irrespirable zone". As. is well known, the Meco apparatus gives an oxygen supply of. at least 2 litres of pure oxygen per minute, and has an air circulation of 56 to 60 litres per minute. To prove the practicability of the attachment, reference may be made to Dr. Haldane’s first report to the Doncaster Coal Owners’ (Gob-Fire Research) Committee, where he states that the amount of oxygen required for a man to walk at the rate of two miles per hour is 0*78 litre per minute, the percentage of carbon dioxide given off is 0-662 litre per minute, and the air circulation is 18-6 litres per minute.* Now, if it be assumed that two men are wearing an apparatus and an attachment, and the speed is not more than two miles per hour, the oxygen required will be 1-56 litres per minute, the carbon dioxide given off will be 1-324 litres per minute, and the circulation of air 37-2 litres per minute. It will be seen from these figures that there is a fair margin of safety. The attachment is intended to be carried on at least two of the self-contained appliances of the rescue party. The author and his assistant, Mr. W. Smith, gave an interesting demonstration with the attachment to the apparatus. A large number of questions were addressed to Mr. McCormick at the close with, a view to ascer- taining the possibilities of the outfit. The discussion was, however, adjourned till next meeting. < * Trans. Inst. M.E., 1914, vol. xlvii., p. 727. Partnerships Dissolved.—The London Gazette announces the dissolution of the following partnershipsElizabeth Grindrod, as executrix of the will of Robert Grindrod, deceased, and Edwin Thornley, carrying on business as engineers, at Helsalls Yard, King-street, Southport, Lanca- shire, under the style of the Southport Engineering Com- pany; G. H. Jupp, G. H. Jupp the younger, and M. V. Jupp, corn and coal merchants, at Brentford and the Corn Exchange, Mark-lane, under the style of Jupp and Sons,, so far as regards M. V. Jupp; J. H. Hobbs and J. Andrews the younger, art metal manufacturers, at Angelina-street, Birmingham, under the style of Shaw and Hobbs; J. Barker and’ J. T. Wainwright, colliery proprietors and coal dealers, at Cotterell’s Farm Collieries, Toll End, Tipton, Stafford, under the style of Barker and Wainwright. INDIAN AND COLONIAL NOTES. Australia. The secretary of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company has received official advice to the effect that the first furnace at Port Waratah, Newcastle, containing 50 tons of stqelj was drawn, and that everything is running smoothly. This is the first rim of the company’s open-hearth furnace, and indicates that the second stage in the manufacture of iron and steel has been satisfactorily reached. In the Maitland district, the Stanford Merthyr Colliery has struck a second seam of coal. For years boring has been carried on, and has now been rewarded with success. The new seam is 8 ft. 3 in. in thickness, and will, it is expected, broaden as it goes down. Matters in some of the collieries on the south coast still remain very unsettled, and prospects of an improvement occurring appear to be remote. Commonwealth' Export Trade.—Our Sydney < jorre- respondent writes :—For the quarter ended March 31, the export of coal from Newcastle, as compared with the corre- sponding period last year, shows a falling off of 351,717 tons, and a decrease of value to the extent of £190,548. The total exported during the first quarter of last year was 1,364,729 tons, valued at £711,464, as compared with 1,013,012 tons, valued at £520,916, for the same period of 1915. The amount sent to Commonwealth and New Zealand ports was as follows for the years 1914 and 1915 ■respectively :—■ 1914. 1915. Tons. Tons. Victoria 258,055 ... 250,516 South Australia 196,030 ... 176,805 New Zealand 186,145 ... 103,382 West Australia ‘ 56,090 ... 39,499 ' Tasmania 35,685 ... 34,680 Queensland 34,100 ... 30,805 766,105 ... 635,687 The amount sent to oversea countries was as s follows Chile.... Java ... Strait Settlements .. United States Sandwich Islands .... Mexico India British New Guinea .. Guam, Ecuador Argentine Other countries 1914. Tons. 157,035 123,852 80,868 76,812 ■ 28,468 21,263 16,328 2,9>7 Nil Nil .'. Nil 91,031 1915. Tons. ... 67,248 ... 24,452 ... 15,361 ... 31,681 ... 15,702 ... Nil ... 73,550 ... 4,241 ... 27,457 ... 17,474 ... 15,935 ... 84,224 598,624 ... 377,325 Canada. Alberta Mining Industry and State Aid.—In the course of a speech in the Alberta Legislature recently, Mr. J, L. Cote, M.P.P., adduced some facts in proof of his contention that mining in Alberta was deserving of and had a right to demand more attention and service from the Dominion Government than it Was at present receiving. After pre- mising that nearly all the non-metallic minerals, clay, marl, gypsum, bituminous sand, salt, and natural gas occurred in commercial quantities in Alberta; that the presence of petroleum in commercial quantity was considered highly probable; and that the Province contained larger „ coal reserves than all the rest of Canada, he proceeded to point out that having regard to.the extent and value of these resources, their development and utilisation as so'. far made was disappointing. The only really- important developments that had taken place were in respect of coal, but while the production in 1913 was 4,144,377 tons, this in 1914 declined to 3,820,770 tons, and Mr. Cote feared a further and serious decrease was to be anticipated. Even a production of 4 million tons annually was not particularly satisfactory, considering that the producing capacity of the mines was in the vicinity of 12 million tons annually; and, he argued, this great difference between the actual produc- tion and productive capacity should be sufficient to call for Government investigation and attention. Mr. Cote said, “ A market must be created; a united effort must be made to force back the importation- that invades our interior, which is our natural market. To meet the competition, Alberta coal must get the freight rate to which it is entitled, and a constant check must be kept on the railway companies. Furthermore, our coal must be manufactured in order to render it more marketable, and wasteful methods of mining must be discontinued.” After indicating the directions in which the Province’s coal and other mining industries might be .stimulated, Mr. Cote showed that while the Dominion Government derived in 1913-14 a revenue of approximately 2 million dols. from Alberta coal rentals and royalties and petroleum leases, it had actually done a great deal more to assist the development of mining in the Provinces from which it received no direct revenues from mining, and over whose mineral resources it held no juris- diction, and so in effect had unfairly discriminated against Alberta. He added in conclusion :—“ Our Provincial Government spent about 30,000’00 dols. for the protection of life in the mines, ’and this year subscribed 20,000'00 dols. for the dependants of those who lost their lives in the Hill- crest disaster. But the Provincial Government is not receiving one cent of revenue from the mines. This Province is tied up, she has to foot the expense without getting the revenue. „ Do the people of Alberta realise the injustice of the situation, and do they realise that their mining industry is on the verge of collapse? Before, how- ever, the collapse comes, the Dominion Government should either give a large subsidy to the Provincial Government to encourage mining or give us the control of our natural resources.” Immingham Coal Exports.—The following is the official return of the quantities of coal exported from Immingham during the week ending June 11 :—To Boulogne, 732 tons; Dieppe, 1,444; (Copenhagen, 1,915; Gothenburg, 647; Harlingen, 739; Nakskov, 1,402; and Treport, 864—total, 7,743 tons, compared’ with 16,011 tons in the corresponding week of the previous year.