July 9, 1915

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

79

OBITUARY.

Pte. John Jeans, of South Moor, who has been killed in
the Dardanelles fighting, was master shifter at South Moor,
and was possessor of the second-class certificate for under-
manager. Keenly interested in ambulance work, he was the
possessor of several medals he had won in ambulance com-
petitions, and also of a medal for the individual best in team,
presented by Mr. Laws, of West Stanley. Five months
ago he joined the St. John Ambulance Corps attached to
the R.A.M.C. Naval Division. He was one of the chosen
35 out of 500 volunteers for the seat of war. He was only
28 years of age.

The death occurred at Bigrigg last week of Mr. Miles
Shepherd, a well-known Cumberland mine manager, who
has been in charge of Lord Leconfield’s mines in the Cleator
Moor and Bigrigg district for the long period of 33 years.
The deceased was manager of the mine at Cleator Moor for
22 years, and during the last 10 years he was in charge
of the mine at Bigrigg. Mr. Shepherd, who was 66 years of
age, leaves a grown-up family to mourn his loss.

Aid. Francis Grazebrook, a well-known Black Country
colliery owner and iron master, and a prominent public man
in the Midlands, has received official intimation of the death
of his third son, Capt. Charles Alverley Grazebrook. Capt.
Grazebrook was attached to the 2nd King’s Boyal Rifles, but
at the outbreak of war was transferred to the 6th. His
widow is a daughter of Mr. A. P. Hickman, of Hagley,
Worcestershire.

For the past 18 years the management of the affairs of the
Northumberland Colliery Mechanics’ Union has. been largely
in the hands of Mr. J. M. Gillians as president, Mr. John
Batey as secretary, and Mr. Dixon Cowie as treasurer. This
triple control has now, unhappily, been ended by the death,
which took place on Saturday last, of Mr. Cowie. Mr. Cowie
has had an official connection with the union of over 30
years, serving five years as committeeman, over seven years
as president, and 18 years as treasurer. He was a governor
of the Northumberland Aged Mine Workers’ Homes Associa-
tion, and a prominent Freemason.

It is announced that Mr. W. H. Murray, H.M. inspector
of mines, Liverpool, and formerly assistant mining manager
to the Broxburn Oil Company Limited, has been killed in
action. He enlisted some months ago as a sapper in the
Divisional Engineers, Royal Naval Division.

Mr. George Schack-Sommer, who was a native of Knuts-
ford, Cheshire, and who received his education at Mulgrave,
Eton, and at the Royal School of Mines, has died of wounds
in Galicia. When war broke out he was engaged as a mining
engineer at Tanalyk, province of Orenburg, Russia, and was
granted permission by the Tsar to enlist in the 12th Artirsky
Hussars. He was promoted corporal in January last, was
three times decorated for valour, and shortly before he received
his mortal injuries was recommended for a commission. He
was 25 years of age, and was the only son of Mr. and Mrs.
J. Schack-Sommer, 10c, Hyde Park Mansions, London.

Second-Lieut. George Eimar Locket, Suffolk Regiment,
3rd Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, who has been
killed in action, was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. G. C.
Locket, of Whitelands, Edenbridge, Kent. Lieut. Locket
joined his regiment in December last, and left for the front
eight or 10 wreeks ago. He was 25 years of age, and was
educated at Clifton College. Mr. and Mrs. Locket’s second
son is serving with his regiment in India.

The death has occurred, at Sutton Coldfield, of Mr. William
Reuben Lane. Mr. Lane was a well-known accountant in
Birmingham, and was closely identified with the metal trades
there. Many years ago he was the manager and a director,
and afterwards liquidator, of the old firm of Winfield’s,
Cambridge-street. He was also appointed on the Royal
Commission concerning the brass trade of the city, and for
a considerable period acted as the local secretary of the Royal
Metal Trades Society. Mr. Lane was in his 58th year.

Maj. H. R. Chapman was killed in France on June 27,
whilst serving with the Durham Light Infantry. He was
the eldest son of the late Capt. Abel H. Chapman, formerly
19th Hussars, and chairman director of Messrs. Clarke,
Chapman and Company’s works, Gateshead-on-Tyne. Maj.
Chapman was educated at Uppingham, and entered his
father’s works, of which he was a director. He leaves a
widow and three daughters.

The death took place on the 1st inst. of Mr. Ernest Pilling,
a well-known shipbroker and coal exporter, at his residence,
8, Roker Park-terrace, Sunderland, at the age of 40 years.
He had been ill only a short period, and leaves a widow and
three children. A native of Gourock, he went to Sunderland
as a youth, entering the office of Messrs. Waldemar Brandt
and Company, shipbrokers and coal exporters. He became
manager, and, about 10 years ago, principal partner in the
firm.

The death occurred on the 4th. inst. of Aid. George Senior,
of Sheffield. He had been gradually sinking for two or
three weeks. Aid. George Senior was a fine example of the
self-made man. In his eighth summer at Hoylandswaine he
earned Is. 6d. a week at the arduous and unremunerative
work of nail making. When 13 years of age he was appren-
ticed as a hammerman to Mr. George Parkin, steel manu-
facturer, at Kenyon’s Old Forge, Middlewood. About 11
years later he worked for the now famous firm of John
Brown and Company. His first real promotion soon followed
in the shape of the appointment as working manager to
Joseph Peace and Company at the Neepsend Rolling Mills,
where he was placed in charge of all the hammers. After
spending nine years in that position he began business on his
own account in 1872 at Ponds Forge, one of the oldest forges
in the district. To-day his firm are amongst the largest
importers of Swedish steel in the country, and they manu-
facture and forge steel to meet the needs of the staple trades
of Sheffield. He was connected with many companies in
Sheffield in addition to his own business, and was chairman
of the Tinsley Rolling Mills Company, a director of the South
Yorkshire Navigation Company, and a director of the Gwaun-
cae-Gurwen Colliery Company. He was Lord Mayor of
Sheffield in 1901, and Master Cutler in 1910. Aid. Senior
was born at Bradfield in the latter part of 1838, and was
therefore 76 years of age.

The West Riding Divisional Royal Engineers, Sheffield,
has lost one of its most promising officers by the death in
the Dardanelles of Lieut. Edward Watkin Colver, of 1/1 Field
Company, the youngest of the five sons of Mr. and Mrs.
Robert Colver, Rockmount, Fulwood-road, Ranmoor, Shef-
field. Born about the time his father wras filling the office
of Master Cutler, he was 23 years of age, and was educated
at Bakewell School and Wellington College, Salop. After
finishing his studies on the Continent, he entered the business

of Messrs. William Beesley and Company, Universal Steel
Works, Sheffield, and before the war was in the cold rolling
department of the firm.

The death is announced of Mr. John Macdonald, late of
Messrs. John Macdonald and Son, coal merchants, Glasgow.
For more than half a century Mr. Macdonald was connected
with the coal trade of the city. He was 'born in Alloa in
1835, and in 1855 entered the service of Messrs. Merry and
Cuninghame. After five years’ service with this firm, Mr.
Macdonald obtained the position of agent for the Kirkwood
Collieries, then owned by Mr. John Hendry. This agency
he held till 1876, when he acquired a lease of Haughhead
Colliery, Hamilton. Owing to a costly litigation, together
with the depression which prevailed in the coal trade in 1885,
Mr. Macdonald was obliged to abandon the Haughhead lease,
together with all his possessions. With the determination
and energy with which he was so largely endowed, he started
12 months later as a coal merchant, and some years after he
was able to pay in full those creditors who were involved in
his difficulties in 1885. To mark the completion of his 50
years in the trade, and in appreciation of his rectitude and
honourable method of doing business, his friends made him
a presentation of silver plate. Five years ago he decided to
give up business and to settle with his wife and members
of his family in Alberta, where he passed away in his
80th year.

MINING AND OTHER NOTES.

The situation regarding coal in the Netherlands, says
U.S. Consul F. W. Mahin, of Amsterdam, is becoming
precarious. The wholesale price of coal has doubled, bitu-
minous coal having advanced from about 4 dols. a ton, the
normal price, to about 8 dols.; anthracite has increased to
about 10 dols. Attention has been turned to the United
States, but distance and freight rates cause importers and
users to hesitate about placing orders there.

At the end of June (says the Anglo-Norwegian Trade
Journal) an expedition, equipped by the Nordiske Kulgrube-
kompani, which is an entirely Norwegian concern, was to
be sent from Norway to Spitzbergen with the object of
developing their large coal deposits in Spitzbergen, and
British mining engineers were to be called in as experts.

The recent decision of the Republic Iron and Steel Com-
pany to build 75 additional by-product coke ovens of the
Koppers type at Youngstown will bring the number of such
ovens at this plant up to 143. The existing 68 ovens at the
Republic plant are operated on a mixture of 85 per cent, high
volatile and 15 per cent, low volatile coal. The early
practice at the Gary plant used a mixture of 80 per cent, low
volatile and 20 per cent, high volatile coal. At the Republic
Company’s plant at Youngstown the 143 Koppers ovens will
have a capacity of 1,675 net tons of furnace coke per day.
The present battery of ovens is operated on slightly over 16
hours coking time. It is planned to operate both the new
and the old battery on 18 hours coking time, because of the
increased by-product yields from the longer coking period.
The surplus gas per day from the 143 ovens amounts to
15,000,000 cu. ft., of 570 B.Th.U.; the coal tar product per
day will be 21,500gals.; ammonium sulphate, 56,0001b.;
and benzol output, 6,000 gals. The value of these by-products
at normal prices is in excess of 2 dols. per ton of coke. In
addition, there are to be considered about 100 tons per day
of small coke, which can be used as domestic fuel, and 100
tons of breeze available for use under boilers. The H.
Koppers Company have also been awarded a contract for the
erection of 204 by-product coke ovens for the Youngstown
Sheet and Tube Company, Youngstown. The ovens will
have a capacity of 12j tons each, and will be designed for a
coking period of from 15 to 18 hours. The battery will have
a capacity of 2,240 tons of coke per day, and the fuel will be
consumed by the four blastfurnace stacks of the company.

On the 12th ult. a meeting of by-product coke oven
managers of the Sheffield district was held, at which a
practical beginning was made with a view to the formation
of a national Coke Oven Managers’ Association. Mr. G.
Chrisp (of Silverwood) occupied the chair, and expressed the
opinion that one of the principal objects should be that of
the status of the coke oven manager, which was not always
what they would like it to be. Where the coke ovens were
part of a colliery plant, they were legally under the super-
vision of the colliery manager. Generally speaking, there
was no difficulty so far as the colliery manager himself was
concerned, but it followed, of course, as a consequence of the
legal position, that if the colliery manager was away, the
under-manager took his place, and this served to emphasise
what was really an anomalous situation. Mr. Marshall
(Holbrook), Mr. Haigh (Barnsley Main)> Mr. J. T. Price
(Manvers Main), and Mr. Riley (Tinsley Park) also spoke,
after which a motion to form an association was carried unani-
mously, with the suggestion that it should include chemists
and properly qualified assistance. Mr. Chrisp was appointed
president, Mr. Price secretary (pro tem.), and Mr. Haigh
treasurer.

A settlement has been agreed to in a case heard by Mr.
Justice Atkin, in the King’s Bench Division, in which Messrs.
Cory Brothers and Company Limited, of Bute Docks,
Cardiff, sued Messrs. Mather and Platt Limited, Salford
Iron Works, Manchester, for damages for alleged breach of
warranty, totalling some £28,000, with regard to a gas
power plant installed at their colliery in South Wales. On
behalf of the plaintiffs it had been urged that the defendants
submitted to the plaintiffs a scheme which they adopted,
and that as they had not delivered a plant in conformity
with the scheme, plaintiffs ought to be given damages. The
defence was that the contract was not a scheme as a whole
for the working of a colliery, but it was a deliberate selection
by the plaintiffs of certain machinery and plant out of a
complete scheme which was originally submitted by defen-
dants to plaintiffs. Defendants’ contract was, first of all, to
deliver a gas engine capable of working at 750-brake horse
power, which would work continuously, and defendants said
that the engine supplied would do this, and more. As to
the gas generators, it was contended that these were supplied
on a separate contract, under which they were to be worked
with the same kind of coal as was sent for the test. Defen-
dants said if the coal had been supplied the producers would
have given the results specified in the contract. In record-
ing the settlement, his lordship remarked that it became
apparent, as the case progressed, that there was room for a
settlement between people engaged in business of the distinc-
tion of the parties in this case, and it was all the more satis-
factory to think that the settlement had facilitated the
employment of the energies of the parties concerned in, if he
might say so, more useful work under the circumstances.

LABOUR AND WAGES.

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

The general situation in this coal field is dealt with in
another column under the heading of “ Notes from the
Coal Fields.”

A singular dispute has led to the stoppage of several
hundreds of men in the Rhymney Iron Company’s collieries.
It is stated that the overmen, about 40 in number, were
members of the local Colliery Examiners’ Association, and
that they had been required to sever their connection with
this organisation. The firemen, sympathising with the over-
men, also tendered notices, which expired at the middle of
last week; and negotiation was refused unless notices were
withdrawn. Consequently a deadlock arose, and the
Examiners’ Association have taken up the matter, declaring
that no negotiations are to be entered into until the reinstate-
ment of the overmen has been secured. Owing to the cessa-
tion of work, allowances made to dependants of workmen who
have enlisted will, it has been stated, be suspended. By an
arrangement a certain number of men were kept at work in
order that the ventilation might be maintained—a request to
this end having been acceded to by the workmen’s repre-
sentatives. The difficulty has now so far been arranged that
work has been resumed.

The Western District of miners on Saturday was occupied
with a matter of consequence, namely, refusals to pay the
increased subscription of 2s. a month. One member
appealed to the executive against the ruling of the chairman
of his lodge—that he could not be a delegate owing to his
refusal to pay—but the chairman’s position was upheld and
endorsed by the meeting; and a resolution was passed that
all members refusing should be regarded as outside the
Federation.

The Avon Valley miners, at a meeting on Saturday,
received a deputation appealing for pecuniary aid to the
Port Talbot Hospital, and a resolution was passed recom-
mending the lodges to make contribution.

North of England.

A somewhat extraordinary position has arisen with respect
to Northumberland miners’ wages. A little over a year ago
a sliding scale for the regulation of wages was agreed upon
between the coal owners and miners. A month ago that
scale was endorsed afresh—a procedure rendered necessary
by the Miners’ Federation resolution that all existing wages
agreements should be abrogated, and new agreements, more
uniform nationally, sought. In Northumberland, therefore,
the old- agreement was formally terminated, and then
renewed. That sliding scale provides that, when.the selling
price of coal is less than 7s. 5d., wages shall be 25 per cent,
above the basis, thereby securing to the miner a minimum
of 25 per cent, above the basis of 1879, i.e., 25 per cent,
above 5s. 2d. per shift for hewers, making about 6s. 5d. per
shift. Having fixed a minimum, it was only reasonable that
a maximum also should be fixed. It was provided, there-
fore, that for every Id. increase in the selling price of coal,
wages should rise by 1 per cent., until a maximum of 65 per
cent, was reached, that figure being attained when coal was
10s. 8d. per ton, “ or any price above that figure.” We
quote from the sliding scale agreement itself. Now, prior to
the most recent ascertainment of prices, wages were 48 per
cent, above the basis. A special war bonus of 15 per cent,
was recently conceded, bringing wages up to 63 per cent.,
on the definite understanding that the 15 per cent, should be
merged in any future advances to which the miners became
entitled. Now comes the difficulty. The ascertainment of
prices for the three months ended May 31 shows an advance
of 2s. 4d. per ton on the quarter—an unprecedentedly great
increase, due, of course, to abnormal circumstances induced
by the war. Had no maximum been fixed, the miners
would, of course, have been entitled to an advance of 28 per
cent, upon the 48 per cent., at which, leaving out of account
the war bonus, their wages stood, making 76 per cent, in
all. Under the sliding scale agreement, however, their wages
cannot rise above 65 per cent., and, therefore, they are
obviously entitled to only a 2 per cent, advance on the 63 per-
cent., at which their remuneration now stands. With con-
siderable ingenuity, however, their leaders are arguing that
Mr. Asquith’s award, that “ any advance shall merge in
any rise of wrages that may hereafter be accorded in the dis-
trict owing to a rise in the price of coal,” means, in the
present instance, that the war bonus should be tacked on to
the agreed maximum, if prices justify the procedure, until
wages attain 80 per cent, above the basis. They are, there-
fore, pressing the point that wages should now stand at
76 per cent., made up of the aforesaid 48 per cent, and the
28 per cent, warranted by the ascertainment. The matter is
to be discussed at a joint meeting of Northumberland coal
owners and members of the Wages Board of the Northumber-
land Miners’ Association, to be held in Newcastle to-morrow
(Saturday). The paragraph in Mr. Asquith’s decision of
May 5, on which the miners’ spokesmen appear to pin their
faith, is as follows :—“ I therefore decide that the amount
of advance shall be determined forthwith as a special ques-
tion by the conciliation boards and sliding scale committees
in the various districts, notwithstanding any rule or agree-
ment in force in any district as to procedure, notice, maximum
rates, or any other matter.” Should there be any question
as to the meaning of the Premier’s award, it is as well to
note, that question is to be referred to him for determination.

The strike at the Brayton Domain Nos. 4 and 5 pits at
Aspatria has been settled, and work was resumed on Monday
morning. Delegates from the two pits met the management,
with Mr. Thos. Cape (financial secretary of the Cumberland
Miners’ Association) and Mr. T. P. Martin (secretary of the
Cumberland Coal Owners’ Association), at the Coal Associa-
tion Offices, at Workington, on Friday afternoon, when it
was agreed to recommend the men to resume work on Monday,
and submit the dispute to the Cumberland Conciliation Board.
The employees of the two collieries, numbering about 1,000,
ceased work on Monday of last w*eek, because the miners
having received a war bonus of 15| per cent., the manage-
ment advanced their coal from 5d. to 6d. per cwt. The
colliery has, therefore, been idle a week, at a loss of about
£2,000 in wages, and a resultant slackness at the Elizabeth
Dock, Maryport, the port where the coal is mostly shipped
to Ireland. The strike, under present circumstances, over
such a trumpery cause, has been generally condemned
throughout the county. At the same time, however, it has
been a case of each side standing up for principle, rather
than a matter of the petty sum involved.

A meeting, adjourned from June 22, of Northumberland
coal owners and miners’ representatives, was to have been
resumed in Newcastle last Saturday, to discuss the advisa-
bility of the total or partial suspension of the Eight Hours.
Act in the county for the duration of the war. The Miners’
Federation committee has met, however, and has expressed
itself strongly against any district dealing sectionally with so