August 27, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN 419 cavities were filled'with concrete of the following pro- portions, well rammed :—1 Portland cement, 1 lime, 6 screened sand, 14 sandstone ballast (l|in. size). In the lowest section (i.e., next to the crib) the concrete was :—1 Portland cement, 3 screened sand, 7 sandstone ballast. Toward the top of the casing a considerable amount of brickwork was built on the concrete. The casing and concreting took 58 days, and sinking w’as re-started on November 8, 1913. While the casing acted admirably in holding the ground above, on sinking further, as the fault crossed, fresh shaft falls took place from the south side. Two more sections of casing were put in and slung from the 00 oc 00 LAP JOLWED 2"** Solts I s *3 * % sreci. pla tes for 7 SECT,O*s WHi, VHOIO'H nrtiMU f'V /HOM STRAPS U3i£> POP SUPPORTING CAST/HGHXED BELOW C.f. CfU& S */* St* HOLES |OO OOOQ Fig. 2.—Plan and Section 8 U. - c . ~ Z4--« Fig. 3.—Details of Crib. A = plan of C.I. crib 11| ft. in diameter, 14| ft. outside diameter; B and C = section of crib and joint; D = holes If in. diameter to which ropes are fixed; E = I in. bolts at joints; F = P.W. rails let in shaft sides (see fig. 2); G = eye-bolts with two nuts and cotter fixed in crib ; H = open conical socket fixed at top and bottom of suspending ropes; I = tightening scj-ew at top of ropes. crib, and the sinking continued to a depth of 246ft.— as far as necessary. Since that date the shaft has given no trouble. The total cost of securing the shaft in this fashion was Rs. 10,671. Hull Coal Exports.—The official return of the exports of coal from Hull to foreign countries for the week ending Tuesday, August 17, 1915, is as follows :—Amsterdam, 703 tons; Alexandria, 2,022; Belgian Congo, 1,000; Bordeaux, 2,184; Copenhagen, 2,046; Christiania, 917; Christiansund, 52; Dieppe, 1,215; Dunkirk, 2,060; Fecamp, 1,266; Gothenburg, 2,253 ; Havre, 1,359 ; Honfleur, 581; Harlingen, 994; Leghorn, 499; Nakskov, 894; Oporto, 1,436; Rouen, 41,877; Rotterdam, 3,722; total 67,080 tons. Aalesund, 23 tons, omitted from last week’s list. The above figures do not include bunker coal, shipments for the British Admiralty, nor the Allies’ Governments. Corresponding period August 1914, total 16,722 tons. Donetz Coal Production.—The Statistical Bureau of South Russian Mine Owners states that during the six months ending June the quantity of coal produced in the Donetz Basin amounted to 798,740,000 poods, against 912,630,000 poods in the corresponding period of 1914 — a decline of 113,890,000 poods, or 12-5 per cent. The total is made up of 658,450,000 poods common coal, and 140,2uu,000 poods anthracite, the increase being 11-2 and 18-2 per cent, respec- tively. The quantity of coke produced this year was 131,060,000 poods—increase 10-5 per cent. The main decrease is in anthracite, and it is chiefly the shortage of workmen that accounts for the decline in production, plus the disorganised ways of communication. The pig iron pro- duced in the first half of this year made 83,800,000 poods, or 14,400,000 poods less than in the first half-year of 1914. The production of half products amounted to 74,100,000 poods, or a reduction of 13,900,000 poods. Other branches of the industry suffered similarly. COAL MINING ORGANISATION COMMITTEE. DIGEST OF THE EVIDENCE. (Continued from page 373.J Mr. W. Straker. Mr. William Straker, secretary of the Northumberland Miners’ Association, gave evidence on March 31. Witness stated that, in addition to the men who had enlisted, a number of men had gone into Tyneside works from the Seaton Burn and the Backworth districts principally. They were mostly young men, and men who could go into lodg- of 11J ft. Diameter Steel Casing. ings or else could travel on a bicycle. It was rather the elder putters and the younger hewers who had gone. Witness said he had an impression that they were selling in the home markets a larger percentage now than under ordinary circumstances. For instance, coal had actually found its way from Northumberland into London. The Yard seam was an exceptionally good household coal throughout Northumberland, and large quantities might be used in the London market. Mr. Straker said he would put the unavoidable absenteeism at 5 per cent, as the extreme, but during the past winter it might have been larger than that, owing to the prevalence of influenza and bronchitis, and so on. The percentage of elderly men had been higher than normal. Elderly men often took a day off in the week simply because they found a full week’s work was too much for them. Roughly, the absenteeism in Northumberland amongst the hewers would be about 15 per cent., of which 10 per cent, was avoidable. That was during recent years. Previous to that, for many years it was about 10 per cent. He did not think the time lost in the other classes of work was anything like what it was in the hewing class. It could not be denied that part of the time was lost by drinking; but there was a good part of the time lost by men saying, “ I can afford it; I do not find it absolutely necessary to work every day.” It had always been their experience that as wages had gone up men had taken advantage of it by not working, such full time. Necessity compelled a man to give up a holiday he ought to take in many cases when wages were low. .Men were getting wiser than they used to be. Nearly all the time lost by drink- ing was on the Monday and the Tuesday. In Northumberland the rest was taken about the middle of the week. To reduce the absenteeism, witness could only suggest an appeal to the men, but he wished the Government would trust the people more, and take them into their confidence. With regard to overtime, witness said that in making their agreement in Northumberland as to the method of working under the Eight Hours Act, they had it stipulated that use should not be made of the 60 hours; but notwithstanding that, the men at some pits, without the consent of the association, had agreed with the management that they would go earlier to work on the Saturday morning for the purpose of getting done earlier on the Saturday afternoon. That meant a shorter day on the Saturday. The miners, in Northumberland and Durham, who worked less than eight hours, would have to recognise an extreme necessity before they would agree to work eight hours or more than eight hours; and, speaking of Northumberland men, they could not forget that we were exporting coal to other countries, and that when the Government was in that position, that it required their own coal for the purpose of providing the munitions of war, the thing they had to do was to stop, the exportation and take the coal. With regard to the Eight Hours Act, the fact was that in Northumberland the coal hewers had extended their working time under the Act over what it was previous to the Act coming into operation. Seven and a-quarter hours from bank to bank previous to the Act was the time prevailing at the long-hour pits. Under their agreement, come to when the Act was introduced, the managers were given the right to extend the hours to hours from bank to bank, and men following coal cutting machines—that is, the fillers, 8 hours from bank to bank. It would be difficult to reinstate the bridging shift of putters so as to make one shift of putters serve two shifts of hewers. They might liberate a few young men to become coal hewers, but the effect would not be appreciable. Mr. Taylor, chair- man of the Coal Owners’ Association, had told witness that he thought the re-organisation of the system would be worse than any temporary good that might be got out of it, and he did not see any hope in that direction. Reverting to the subject of the reduction in output, witness said that in Northumberland they had the figure of 22*8 as the reduction in output, and the reduction of coal hewers as 24'12. That at once showed that the output per man of coal hewers had increased, and he should say that was wholly due to the ability of the means of transit to cope with the coal produced, and that applied generally. He thought the management arranged their machinery, calculating for a certain absenteeism. Usually the collieries wound less coal on the Mondays and Tuesdays than they did when the men were wholly there. They had never suffered loss of time in Northumberland through want of trucks or dislocation of traffic on the surface. There was a short leadage to the place of shipment, and the trucks, with a few exceptions, belonged to the railway companies. If some trucks got fastened up somewhere, then they got other trucks from the company. Witness expressed the opinion that before the Govern- ment took any action to prohibit the sending of coal to any foreign market they ought to be prepared to give a guarantee that they would take the coal. As to considera- tion for the poor consumer, witness retorted that he did not know any market to which we send coal, without getting from the market something required by the poor people. Witness did not think it was possible to augment the number of men employed underground by getting outside labour to come into the pits. He did not know any outside labour. With regard to the suggestion that as an emergency measure boys should be allowed to go underground under the age of 14, witness thought the effect would be infinitesimal, and it certainly ought to be the last resort. His impression was that nearly all the elder lads who were able to be hewers had joined the Army, or a very large percentage of them. On the other hand, it was true that in one or two cases in Northumberland the young men who most recently became hewers had been brought back again to be putters, and under the eight hours’ agreement there was a special payment for that class, but to do putting required strong young men, and the exercise of care and skill. As to the employment of women, he thought their women in Northumberland would be sooner prepared to enlist as Amazons, to guard their shores, than go to the pit. Witness was not prepared to comment on the suggestion that a bonus should be paid for regular work. At one of their pits, either Walker or Wallsend, they did pay a bonus to putters for good attendance, but it had so little effect that they ceased it. He thought it was 6d. a shift, in addition to their earnings. However, neither Walker nor Wallsend would be a fair criterion for the other districts. Mr. Pease suggested that a bonus could be given in the form of a holiday, with pay, at the end of the war, of a week or a fortnight, if they worked regularly, instead of giving the money to all the men who had worked regularly. Witness said doubtless there would be a number who would respond to it, for the sake of the week’s holiday with pay. As to the abolition of “ Baff ” Saturday, witness said the whole of their people had grown up in this system of the fort- nightly holiday; and he was afraid if they had to work on the Saturday there might be a tendency to remain absent some other day. Then there was a greater division of labour, probably, in Northumberland and Durham, than there was elsewhere, and that greater division of labour required an extra shift for repairs, at least once a fortnight, to keep the pit right. Witness said that before the war they had 16 pits out of 80 on the three-shift system. A number of these had now gone back to the two-shift system since the war. As to a reversion to the old system, witness said there would be a storm of objection on the part of their lads to going back to the longer hours, and one could not always appeal to the reason of lads. Mr. Straker said he knew it had been argued by the colliery owners that the clerical staffs had been increased owing to the weekly pays, but in Northumberland they had relieved that as much as possible, and he did not think they had weekly measurements. They had a system of making deductions at pays for various things, such as pick sharpers, and in some cases checkweighers, hospitals, and doctors, but these were only deducted fortnightly even where there were weekly pays. There was a good deal of measurement of stone canches and yardage, but the underground officials who did that had not been increased in consequence. Witness said the reason that so large a proportion of the coal from Northumberland was exported was that it was a steam coal, and not so good for gas purposes and household purposes as the coal from other districts. The owners had found in actual practice that they really could not success- fully compete for the home market. If by an arbitrary decree Government cut off their markets, it would be incumbent upon the Government to find other markets before they did so. Otherwise it would mean that their pits would stand; because he did not think they could compete in the home market with other districts. Referring to the question of absenteeism, witness stated that on the banks of the Tyne they had some hot mines. The men worked with a pair of shoes on and no clothing except a pair of drawers just merely round their loins. These men worked as hard as it was possible to work while they were at it, and he felt quite confident they could not expect them to keep up the same percentage of working time as in a cool pit. A few years ago there was a national movement among miners to limit the working days to five per week, and that the Saturday should be the play or idle day. Objection came from some districts by reason of the men wanting not to be confined to the Saturday, but to take a play day during the week in order that they might recuperate from the exertion experienced in these not pits. Witness said there were two changes, which, if proposed, would be opposed bitterly; they were the introduction of women labour, and the reduction of the age at which lads could go into the mine. He was most hopeful of good results in the direction of an appeal to the patriotism of the men to curtail their absenteeism, and he would prohibit the opening of public houses entirely. Where there was time being lost at collieries owing to the lack of the supply of trucks on the railways, something should be done to endeavour to have a more regular supply to keep the collieries going. From their returns the only district where that difficulty was experienced at that time was Scotland. He would suggest that so far as drinking was concerned, where colliery owners own public houses in the colliery villages, they ought to close them. Mr. F. Hall. Mr. Frank Hall, general secretary of the Derbyshire Miners’ Association, was called on April 1. He said that generally, he was in agreement with Mr. Straker; but, of course, in one or two particulars he differed. Thus it was not their experience in the Midlands that when wages rose the percentage of absenteeism was higher. There, where the wages were highest the percentage of absenteeism was the lowest. He had some returns from collieries where wages were very high, and other collieries where they were rather low, and there was a considerable difference in the absen- teeism in those two sets of collieries.