June 25, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

1329

streets in quantities of J cwt. and 1 cwt. This coal is paid
for at a rate per cwt., which is usually a relatively higher
rate than the rate per ton. Then there was a third method
of buying coal in even smaller quantities than a J cwt. or a
| cwt., that is buying it at small coal dealers’ in very small
quantities, sometimes a pennyworth at a time. As regards
these small coal dealers, the same neighbourhood would
have practically the same price. In the winter the ordinary
rate was about 71b. a Id., but that varied, and sometimes
it was 61b. Now 71b. cost IJd. to l|d., so that it had
gone up from 50 to 75 per cent. At one shop in Shore-
ditch 20 quantities of 7 lb. were sold in one day, and
40 quantities of 14 lb..on the average, and that is seven days
a week, including Sundays.

Witness said the trolley men who hawk the coal have the
following system of working :—The coal merchant lends
them a horse and trolley and provides them with the coal,
They have to return to the coal merchant a certain amount
for that coal, and he allows them the sum of 3s. 6d. on
every ton of coal that is sold and a Is. a day driving money,
as it is termed. At normal times the commission is only
about 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d., but the commisssion rises as the
price of coal increases. A great many merchants did both
trades; they send out coal for delivery, and also send out
men for hawking it. Witness said it was his impression
that in ordinary winters London was sufficiently provided
with coal and coal storage.

Co-operators Coal Supplies.

Mr. Geo. Briggs, who next gave evidence as secretary of
the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society Limited, the
largest distributive concern in Leeds, said that the tonnage
dealt with last year was 147,891 tons. They could fairly
well fix the price themselves according to their contracts.
The contracts are negotiated before June 1 in each year,
and they run from June 1 to the following May 31. There
was a little variation in the summer and winter prices, the
difference being usually about Is. Any advances
usually take place about October 1. The coal is
hauled from the colliery to the points of distribution by
boat and by rail. The society own 26 boats, with an average
tonnage of about 90 tons; and 178 coal wagons, with an
average tonnage of 7 or 8. They have two coal wharves on
the banks of the Aire and 14 coal depots besides. The
colliery owners had carried out their contracts. They had
only had one that practically averaged all his customers’
supplies, and said : “ I can supply you to the extent of two-
thirds of your contracts.” The society deal with eight
firms, but some of the firms have five, and some one or two
collieries. They had not suffered from any rise in the
price of coal. Lately there had been a slight difficulty with
respect to supplies, but that would not have been caused
if the demand had been normal. The difficulty there had
been of late caused by the abnormal demand on
account of the threatened strike in the Yorkshire coal fields.
They had some arrears of orders due to that, but in those
Cases instead of supplying a person with, say, a ton, they
had supplied him with a cwt. or two to tide him over. Now
the threatened strike was over, they would probably overtake
the slight arrears, which amounted only to something like
900 tons. Leeds was rather peculiarly placed in that there
are several collieries which do a retail trade themselves in
Leeds.

Mr. W. H. Elliott, representing the Stratford Co-opera-
tive Society, said they sold about 33,000 tons last year, and
had contracted for 25,000 tons this year. Some of the coals
they could not contract for. The collieries had told them
they could only supply a certain percentage of the contract,
and the Wholesale Society had sent it twice over. They
had constantly sent on orders, and had had their own
wagons running, but where they usually ran once a week,
they had only been running once a month. The society own
40 trucks, but they had had to take their wagons from coal
and put them on coke, to keep the bakeries supplied. Then
the collieries could not send coal, because they could not get
the wagons. Witness thought it was chiefly a railway diffi-
culty. Witness said in the case of one coal, the 'Sheep-
bridge cobbles, they contracted for 5,000 tons, and had had
4,469 tons, and for any excess had to pay the market price.
Last year, they stacked about 4,000 to 5,000 tons, but it
was impossible to stack the whole annual consumption. It
cost 6d. per ton to lay down, and it did not do the coal any
good. They made it a rule, as nearly as they could, to
keep the hawking prices to the prices of the bulk. They
put their men on a weekly wage and so much extra a ton
for hawking to make up for what they might get for
delivering in bulk. Of the 33,000 tons, about 20 per cent,
was hawked; 50 per cent, of their sales were Shipley and
Cresswell nuts, with a fair quantity of cobbles.

Witness said he thought it was the retail people who fixed
the prices, not the colliery people; and a number of these con-
tracts were made on the sliding scale—for every Is. put on
at the Coal Exchange the colliery put on 6d. All the big
merchants fix up the price, and the other people follow. He
had heard the question discussed of raising prices on many
occasions, and of its being suspended. It depended a great
deal on the weather, and there were one or two big com-
panies which were rather difficult to deal with; for instance,
the Tyne Main Company, who had a habit of cutting under
other people, especially in summer time. Witness added
that the collieries were very independent people, and usually
got all their own way. It was not often the merchants
could beat them; it was only in- the warm weather they
could do so, and in a very quiet time. There was nothing
in the way of preferential treatment, but the men who could
pay got preference over other people who could not pay; and
the colliery owners liked their business.

(To be continued.)

The United States Bureau of Mines will soon issue a
report detailing the coke-oven accidents in the United States
during 1913 and 1914. During the two-year period 96 men
were killed, 644 seriously injured, and 4,059 slightly injured.
The death-rate for each 1,000 employed was 1’89 in 1913
and 2'02 in 1914. The report states that “ since 37 per
cent, of the fatalities at coke ovens is due to haulage
systems, greater care and precaution should be taken to
safeguard the employees who operate or work adjacent to
transportation equipment. Inasmuch as electric haulage is
used extensively, a large, percentage of the electrical acci-
dents may also be classified with those resulting from
haulage systems, or over 40 per cent, of all the fatalities.
It is in this department of the coke industry that there
appears to be an excellent field for accident reduction,”

L.C.C. AND ITS COAL.

At the meeting of the London County Council on
Tuesday, the Stores and Contracts Committee gave
particulars of the tenders which had been accepted for
some of the coal supplies. With regard to the supply and
delivery of coke for 1915-16, the committee reported
having made special arrangements with the Gas Light and
Coke Company and the South Metropolitan Gas Company,
prices being based on market rates current from time to
time. In districts served by the Commercial Gas Company
supplies had been obtained through Messrs. Abbott and
Sons at 30s. 6d. a ton delivered. Mr. Smallwood, com-
menting upon the coal prices, urged that the committee
should arrange for them to be reduced if Board of
Trade intervention brought about any reduction during
the periods of the' various contracts. Prices 'were
up 6s. and 7s. a ton, notwithstanding the fact that the
Departmental Committee had reported that there was no
reason why coal at the mine should be more than a shilling
a ton more. If the Board of Trade were able to secure
lower prices, there was no reason why the Council should
not benefit, even under the contracts just made by the
Stores Committee. Last year some of the collieries paid
35 per cent, and 50 per cent., which indicated the manner
in which undue advantage had been taken of the present
situation.—Mr. Parsons, chairman of the Stores Committee,
said the committee had considered the question of having
in the contracts a proviso for lower prices, in case of the
Board of Trade fixing reduced prices, but the committee had
to recognise that in such a case it might not be able to get
tenders at all. In the circumstances tenders were accepted
without such a proviso. It was not altogether the collieries
which were getting the extra money, for it would be found,
when the prices of coal direct were put before the Council,
that the increase was not so great in the case of colliery
coal.—Mr. Eostron said colliery owners had undeniably
been abusing their monopoly. There was no justification
for such enhanced prices.—The report of the Committee
was agreed to.

Details of contracts made by the London County Council
were submitted at Tuesday’s Council meeting, as follows : —

J. H. Beattie and Company Limited, 20 tons Cradley
Hill steam slack, 22s. lid.; 90 tons Holly bush Tanfield
(smiths*), 36s. 5d.; 270 tons Griff cobbles, 30s. 2d.; 3,150
tons Apedale Wallsend, 33s. 2d.—July 1, 1915, to June 30,
1916.

Wm. Dowell and Company Limited, 250 tons Admiralty
large washed nuts, 40s.—July 1, 1915, to September 30,
1915.

James Edge, 150 tons Cefn Merthyr, 40s. 9d.—July 1,
1915, to June 30, 1916.

Chas. Eranklin, 500 tons Ynisarwed large, 34s. 6d.—
July 1, 1915, to December 31, 1915; 250 tons Griff
screened cobbles, 29s.—July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916.

Geo. Hinchliffe and Company, 900 tons Griff steam,
26s. 9d.; 900 tons Gedling loco., 28s.; 400 tons Gedling
hard cobbles, 27s,—July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916.

Thomas Arthur King, 350 tons Graigola large, 32s. 8d.;
1,600 tons Charity large hard, 25s. 8d.; 300 tons Gedling
hard cobbles, 25s. lid.; 2,900 tons Mansfield bestbrights,
26s. 2d.—July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916.

C. Miller and Company, 2,500 tons Griff large, 26s. 3d.
—July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916.

M. A. Eay and Sons, 2,800 tons Flockton best or similar
quality, 33s. 6d.; 1,130 tons Manners* Rutland brights or
similar quality, 33s. 9d.—July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916.

Eickett, Cockerell and Company Limited, 70 tons
Bwllfa No. 1, 41s.—July 1, 1915, to September 30, 1915 ;
1,450 tons Moira best (steam), 29s. 9d.; 700 tons Moira
best (steam), 30s. 9d.—July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916.

Thorpe, Head and Company Limited, 50 tons Bwllfa,
38s.—July 1, 1915, to September 30, 1915; 1,500 tons
Griff and/or Wyken and/or Nuneaton (steam), 29s. 3d. ;
3,300 tons Maltby main, Hardwick Black shale and/or
Ireland main (house), 33s.—July 1, 1915, to June 30,1916.

John Waddell and Sons, 1,200 tons Allerton By water
bright Hartley (house), 33s.—July 1,1915, to December 31,
1915.

Spenser Whatley Limited, 120 tons Holly bush (smiths’),
31s. 5d.; 100 tons Hollybush (smiths’), 32s. 8d.—July 1,
1915, to June 30, 1916.

Three months ago the Contracts Committee of the London
County Council reported on the question of the arrange-
ments to be made for the supply of coal and coke required
for the several services of the Council (except for the
Greenwich Generating Station) during the year com-
mencing July 1, 1915, and in view of the special conditions
prevailing in consequence of the war, the Council on
March 30 authorised the committee to make any arrange-
ments which might appear desirable or necessary, on
emergency, for obtaining the supplies required. Now the
committee lays before the Council particulars of the steps
it has taken in the matter. The report first deals with the
question of coal, mainly seaborne steam coal, required for
pumping stations, sludge vessels, ferry boats, &c. In this
case it is necessary to maintain more or less equal and
regular weekly deliveries throughout the year, and in all the
circumstances the committee has deemed it advisable to
make special arrangements with the present contractors to
continue their existing contracts after June 30, 1915, on
terms which it is thought will be equitable, the actual prices
to be paid for deliveries being settled monthly in advance.
The precise conditions of contract as to certain matters of
detail are still under negotiation. Coming to the question
of the coal required for offices, schools, tramway depots,
parks, fire stations, &c., the report states that for the last
few years it has been the practice to invite tenders in the
ordinary way from merchants and others for the supply and
delivery of the greater portion of this coal, and to obtain the
remainder direct from collieries, and to make separate
arrangements for the cartage and distribution in London.
Having regard to the difficulty experienced during the past
winter in maintaining adequate supplies, the committee has
arranged for a larger proportion of the total quantity
required during 1915-16 (about 53,010 tons, including
reserve supplies) to be obtained direct from collieries,
leaving a correspondingly smaller quantity to be obtained
in the ordinary way from merchants. Under this arrange-
ment tenders have been invited by public advertisement
(1) for the supply and delivery of coal of the various descrip-
tions required, during periods of three, six and twelve
months from July 1, the respective estimated quantities for
the periods in question being 10,220 tons, 15,825 tons, and
28,890 tons, and (2) for the supply direct from collieries of

24,120 tons of different kinds of coal during the 'year.
Special intimation was also given to the effect that firms,
in addition to, or in lieu of, submitting tenders on the
official form, were at liberty to make any offers they might
think fit in order to assist the Council to secure the
requisite supplies. It was further stated that the Council
would favourably consider any offers from merchants for a
ground stock to be kept in reserve and to be at the CounciTs
disposal at any time, and any tenders from collieries for
the conveyance of coal in wagons supplied by them in view
of the difficulty of obtaining railway wagons. Tenders and
offers were received from 23 firms and were dealt with
during the Whitsuntide recess. From the summary, it is
shown that the prices quoted show a considerable increase
as compared with last year’s prices. The committee will
later on report upon tenders and offers for the supply of
coal direct from collieries.

Coal Price Comparisons. — At the meeting of the Metro-
politan Asylums Board last week, the contract committee
decided to accept various tenders for the supply of coal direct
from the collieries, subject in certain instances to satis-
factory results from tests of the coal tendered for. The
committee mentioned that pursuant to practice it had
arranged for tests of the coals offered not hitherto used by
the Board. Acceptance of tenders in such cases was subject
to satisfactory results from these tests. As was expected,
there were substantial increases in prices this year. Detailed
particulars of the increases are shown in the subjoined com-
parison of pit prices of the tenders recommended for accept-
ance with those of last year :—

Average price.

This year. Last year.

Per ton. Per ton.

House coal (about 23,000 tons)........ 15	7	...	10	1

Large inland steam coal (about 20,000
tons) .................................. 15	8	...	10	2

Small steam coal (about 33,000 tons)... 15	1	...	8	2

Nuts steam coal for reserve stock
(about 6,000 tons) ..................... 16	3	...	9	6

Gas coal (about 3,000 tons)............. 17	2	...	10	11

It was also reported that the price of coke had advanced
very considerably, and would cost from 7s. to 12s. per ton
more during the ensuing contract year. The Board also
arranged for cartage, the charges for which had advanced to
50 per cent., and in some cases even to 100 per cent., more
than last year’s quotations. In connection with new con-
tracts, the committee stated : “ In the exceptional circum-
stances now prevailing, it has not been practicable to obtain
tenders in all cases in accordance with the Board’s usual
specifications and conditions, and in the majority of cases
firms make reservations and stipulations. We have, how-
ever, considered each ease on its merits and with a view
to the Board’s interests, and we consider that the tenders
recommended are such as will secure for the Board as satis-
factory supplies as can be expected in present circumstances,
and that no avoidable difficulty or disadvantage to the Board
will arise from any of the departures from the usual con-
tract conditions.”

Preserving Process for Pit Props. — A new process for
preserving pit props, for which it was said there was a
large demand' in Northumberland and Durham, was the
subject of an application on Monday in the Patents Court
set up-to deal with the patents of alien enemies. Messrs.
Calder, Dixon and Company Limited, of Middlesbrough,
Newcastle, Immingham, and Bowness-on-Forth, applied for
licence to use the German Euping process, which is covered
by three patents—6844 of 1902, 24451 of 1904, and 19737 of
1904—in the name of Hulsberg and Company, of Charlotten-
berg. The process provides for the preservation of wood by
driving creosote into the cells by atmospheric pressure after
the wood has been placed in a vacuum. The virtue of
economy is claimed for the process, because, after a lapse
of time, under pneumatic pressure, the creosote is forced out
of the cells of the wood again. The cells are left impreg-
nated and coloured, but not clogged. Eighty per cent, more
creosote is said to be extracted by this process than by any
other.—Mr. Angus Mackenzie Christie, manager of appli-
cants’ Newcastle branch, said there was a large demand for
these pit props in Northumberland and Durham; also for
props for ironstone workings. Seventy-five per cent, of the
applicants’ work was in Northumberland and Durham. There
was a great demand for creosoted timber in the collieries of
those counties. Creosote cost 4d. a gallon. About a gallon
was put into 1 cu. ft. of timber. The weight of this would
be 101b.—The Controller of Patents (Mr. Temple Franks)
observed that this added to the weight of the wood.—The
Euping process, Mr. Christie replied, while it put in 101b.,
took out 8 lb. This brought down the cost to fd. The firms,
however, at Sunderland, Newcastle, West Hartlepool, and
Hull, who used this process by arrangement with the
German firm made before the war, had nob brought the
price down by 3Jd. He desired to receive a licence from the
Board of Trade, and to have an opportunity of reducing the
sale price. There was an enormous demand for these props
in Northumberland, and it was one of the sights of the ports
on the north-east coast to see the props being stacked as they
came in from Norway.—Messrs. Calder, Dixon and Com-
pany’s application was opposed by seven firms who used the
process, including Messrs. Wade, Sons and Company, of
Hull and West Hartlepool, who before the war received a
general licence from the German firm; and the following,
who had received licences under a consequent arrangement :
Messrs. Burt, Boulton and Haywood, London, Grimsby,
and Hartlepool; and Messrs. Armstrong, Addison and Com-
pany, Sunderland. —■ The Controller observed that if Mr.
Christie could show there was anything in the nature of a
ring which was keeping up the price, or acting in restraint
of trade, the court would consider whether it should not say
that the licences of the opposing firms ought to be set aside.
The policy of the Board of Trade was to do everything it
could for the promotion of British trade. He would report
to the Board of Trade on Messrs. Calder, Dixon and Com-
pany’s application,