132 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN July 16, 1915. The Midlands. Coal Cutter Accident at Sneyd—Charter Masters and “ St. Monday ”—Trade on Cannock Chase—Interesting Coal Washing Action. The question of the effect of coal cutting machinery on the roof was referred to on Monday at an inquest on a double fatality at the Sneyd Colliery, caused by a fall of roof. John Jepson, fireman, stated that coal cutting machines had been installed two years, and during that period there had not been any undue falls. He did not consider the tendency of falls had been greater since the introduction of the machinery. —Mr. Marshall, manager of the colliery, did not think the working of the coal cutter interfered with the roofing. As a matter of fact, coal cutting machines had a tendency to improve the roof by working the place faster; they cut more quickly, and there was less risk.—The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental death.’’ Some of the charter masters under Lord Dudley are experiencing difficulty with their men, who cease work on the slightest pretext. The tendency of the men to “ play ’’ on Monday—“ Saint ’’ Monday, as it is called—is much too pronounced for the good conduct of the collieries. As most of the time on the first working day of the week is occupied, in the Black Country, in making good the roads which fall in on Sunday, the loss is stated to be tremendous. Managers state such a large percentage of their men have joined the military Forces that the position is sufficiently serious without men shirking or slacking. Aid. H. Bridgwater, iron merchant, Dudley, “ father ’’ of the local Town Council, has attained his 80th birthday. He has been the recipient of a resolution of congratulation passed by the Town Council. ' Sir George Hingley, head of the firm of Messrs. N. Hingley and Sons Limited, Dudley, issued a circular to the work- people on July 8, in which he stated it was his earnest wish that the men employed in the iron and cable works, the collieries, and blastfurnaces, should take their share in the War Loan. With a view to encouraging the men to take up £5 bonds, and also as a mark of his life-long association with the firm—which he could not expect to actively continue much longer—he offered to give one-tenth of the value of each bond taken up, and to provide the balance, subject to its repay- ment by instalments. Some hundreds of workpeople availed themselves of the offer. The coal trade in the Cannock Chase district continues extremely busy, with a great demand for manufacturing purposes. Town householders are not buying quite so vigorously, but country consumers are pressing keenly for their winter stocks. Prices generally continue firm. Colliery agents have received an intimation that the price of best Cannock Chase and Rugeley coal has been further increased by Is. per ton. The new price—25s. for large household lumps, best quality—is the highest ever known in the district, yet there is expectation in some quarters that values will see a still further increase, as coal agents are unable to get sufficient supplies. In the South Staffordshire, or Black Country, districts, colliery owners and iron masters are alike in reporting that labour is exceedingly short, and that at many pits and works the men are not doing their best. Prices of iron works coal at date in the Black Country are quoted 15s. to 16s. per ton, medium sorts (but not best); house coal, 19s. to 20s. at the pits; and rough slack, 10s. 6d. to 12s. per ton. Other commodities are quoted : Blast- furnace hard coke, 30s. to 32s. per ton; best foundry coke, 40s. to 45s.; pottery mine, 30s.; heavy wrought scrap, 70s. to 72s. 6d., etc. Mr. Edmund Howl, general manager of the South Stafford- shire Mines Drainage Commission, who is recruiting officer for the 170th to the 177th (Tunnelling) Companies, Royal Engineers, this week received a communication from the Commandant of the depot, asking for more men. Mr. Howl, who has a special knowledge of the class of men needed in the western theatre of warfare for tunnelling, has already sent nearly 30, and is now doing his utmost to meet the further requirements. At Staffordshire Assizes last week, before Mr. Justice Bray and a special jury, John Howard Ketley brought an action against Messrs. Settle, Speakman and Company Limited, Alsager, to recover £2,800, balance of money alleged to be due for goods sold. In the alternative, plaintiff alleged breach of contract, for which he claimed damages. Mr. Cecil Walsh, K.C., in opening the case for plaintiff, said that the subject matter of the action was a sale, which took place in 1912, of a large quantity of what was called dant, that being a product of slack. It was of very little value, but contained a certain quantity or' percentage of combustible matter. In 1908 the plaintiff had bought from the Silverdale Company a large quantity of dant, wffiich was stocked on the Silverdale Company’s premises. The defendants pur- chased 50 tons of this, and subsequently Mr. Joel Settle agreed to purchase a heap at a price of 2s. 3d. per ton on delivery. The defendants had a considerable quantity of the dant, but stopped having it in the spring of 1914. — Mr. Powell intimated that the defence would be that there were two heaps, and that they only bought one of them, and that the plaintiff was now wanting them to have the other one.— John Howard Ketley, the plaintiff, said he was a mineral merchant, and carried on business at Stoke-on-Trent. Explaining the meaning of dant, the plaintiff observed that it was the refuse from the original slack from the pits. When slack had been washed, the best part was kept for making coke in coke ovens, and dant was the refuse after the best part had been extracted. It was only when there was a very serious coal strike that dant became of value, because users of steam had then nothing to burn, and they would try to use dant. When slack was scarce, then dant came on to the market. He (plaintiff) purchased a large quantity of dant from the Silverdale Company in 1908. In 1912 he sold Mr. Joel Settle, of the defendant company, about 50 tons of that dant. Shortly afterwards Mr. Settle visited the premises, and saw the heap of dant, which he estimated at 20,000 or 30,000 tons. He agreed to purchase the whole of it as it stood at 2s. 3d. per ton on delivery. Nothing had been added to the heap or taken from it, except what had gone to the defendants. Delivery of the dant ceased in April 1914. Up to then the total delivered was 4,500 tons, and defendants had paid over £500.—Mr. Powell, for the defence, quoted an authority which gave the meaning of dant as soft, sooty coal. It was only people who wanted to sell and deliver “ dump ’’ as dant who said there was no dis- tinction. In support of his contention that it was not dant that his clients received, counsel referred to a letter of August 8, 1908, from the Silverdale Company to Mr. Ketley, confirming a telephone conversation as to the sale of “ the whole of the heap of ‘ dump ’ situated between the workshops at Is. 6d. a tbn.”—Mr. Joel Settle, principal partner in the firm of Settle,. Speakman and Company, said that they used slack and dant for the purpose of firing a large number of their own boilers. In 1912 he bought dant from the Silver- dale Company, and about that time the plaintiff told him he had got some dant to sell. A contract was entered into for 50 tons, and that proved satisfactory. There should not be above 20 per cent of ash in dant. Subsequently the plaintiff said he had a heap of dant, and they went together to the Silverdale Company’s colliery and inspected the heap. Witness, describing the heap, said one portion was fairly good, and the other, which was easily distinguishable, wTas nothing but dirt. A contract was entered into for dant, but the bulk of what they received was inferior. A series of analyses revealed that there was an average of 45 per cent, of ash, and that, he said, was not Silverdale dant. On January 26, 1914, his company wrote to the plaintiff that they had fulfilled their obligations as regarded the heap of dant, having taken about 4,000 tons. He thought that was more than ever there was in the heap. He did not estimate that there was 30,000 tons in the heap. In the course of cross-examination, witness said he had bought dant from the Silverdale Company as high as Ils. a ton.—The jury found in favour of the plaintiff on all the points put to them by the judge. The heap under consideration they considered was dant. Judgment was entered accordingly for the plaintiff, the defendant to take the whole of the dant as originally con- tracted for, and the costs of the action to the plaintiff. Kent. Dover Coal Dues. Coal dues of Is. 7d. a ton have to be paid on all coal brought into Dover, and since the opening of the local collieries this has caused some friction, owing to dues having to be collected from miners living in the town who are allowed coal for their own use by the colliery companies. Judge Shortt some time ago upheld in the county court the powers of the Council to collect such dues, but on Tuesday another effort was made to get rid of this tax on the miners’ coal through the Dover and District Trades Council, with which the Kent Miners’ Association is affiliated. This body wrote to the Town Council that the Kent Miners’ Association had brought to their notice that their members had to pay a tax on household coal wThich is given free to them by their employers for their consumption, and asking that the Council would receive a deputation on the subject. The town clerk reported that the collector of coal dues had very considerable difficulty nearly 18 months ago in collecting the coal dues upon the coal which was given by the colliery proprietors to the men who worked there, and which was brought into Dover. This was subject to the coal dues, and the matter was reported to the full committee of the Council, and by their instructions proceedings were taken, by way of a test case, in the county court, and an order was made for payment of the coal dues. It was decided, after discussion, to send a reply to the effect that whatever the Council might think con- cerning this matter, they were absolutely bound by their legal position, which was that dues on all the coal coming into the town must be collected, whether the quantity was large or small. The number of miners employed at the Snowdown and Tilmanstone collieries is gradually increasing, the manage- ment having succeeded in engaging some additional men. The Kentish collieries are making some satisfactory contracts, but the comparatively small output has naturally restricted business. The acquisition of further labour just now is therefore something the management is to be congratulated upon. A certain amount of work is proceeding on the East Kent Light Railways in connection with the collieries, but the effects of the war have been to hold up the operations to a very great extent, otherwise the whole system would have now been in use. Scotland. Corporations and the Price of Coal—New Plant at Bowhill. The announcement is made that Col. R. J. Douglas, the officer commanding the 5th Battalion of the Scottish Rifles (T.F.) has recommended Col.-Sergt. David Martin of the same regiment, for a commission. Col.-Sergt. Martin has been in the fighting line since November last, and he is referred to by Col. Douglas as “one of the best non-com- missioned officers the battalion ever had.” In civilian life Col.-Sergt. Martin was in business in Glasgow as an elec- trical engineer, and he had a particularly close connection with the mining industry. In point of fact, he was one of the founders of the West of Scotland Branch of the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers, and until the outbreak of the war was the honorary local secretary of that branch. He took a prominent part in the discussions of that body as well as the Mining Institute of Scotland. Mr. P. J. Dollan, a member of Glasgow Town Council, has aroused a considerable amount of controversy in mining circles by the publication of an article dealing with the crusade which Glasgow Corporation are meanwhile con- ducting against high coal prices. In the course of his article he points out that Glasgow Corporation is actually at the present moment on strike against the prevailing high prices of coal. Not one of the city’s big coal contracts, he says, has been placed, although the time for fixing them has long since passed. He says :—“ Assuming that the Corporation had placed its annual coal contracts in May, as in former years, and at the then current prices, what would have happened? The various departments of Glasgow Corpora- tion consume more than 1 million tons of coal per annum, and if this quantity had been bought at market prices in May, the ratepayers would have had to pay no less than, it is estimated, £400,000 more than the price paid for the same quality and quantity of coals