September 24, 1915. 625 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. ________________________________________________________________________________ tons of coal, 3,400,000 tons of coke, and 54,000 tons of briquettes. The next largest member is the Gelsen- kirchen Company, with close upon ten million tons of coal, 1,800,000 tons of coke, and 216,000 tons of briquettes, besides consuming 810,300 tons in its own works. The foregoing agreement was accepted unanimously, and the date of execution was, fixed for the 14th inst. The president, Dr. Kirdorf, emphasised the necessity for those firms who were not represented at the meeting to come into line in order to save the industry from the fetters of compulsory control by the,State, and to afford time for the negotiations for establishing a permanent Syndicate. ____________________________ TRADE AND THE WAR. An Order in Council now prohibits the exportation of iron ore and Cumberland haema/tite to all destinations. In order to provide for an adequate supply of timber for military and other purposes, the French Minister of War has exempted from military service those normally engaged in arboriculture, including wood cutters, foresters, charcoal burners, etc., and men already mobilised have been returned to their former occupations for a period of two months. The Minister of Munitions of War, with the concurrence of the Home Secretary, has appointed a Committee to con- sider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue, hours of labour, and other matters affecting the personal health and physical efficiency of workers in munition factories and work- shops. The chairman of the Committee is Sir George Newman, M.D. Mr. E. H. Pelham has been appointed secretary to the Committee, which will hold its meetings at the offices of the Board of Education. All communications should be addressed to Mr. Pelham. There is said to be great anxiety all over Sweden because of the non-delivery of coal as arranged with England. The gas works are especially short, and many private factories are in a desperate position. From September 1 250,000 tons of coal was expected per week, but instead the import of coal from England has practically stopped. Germany has sufficient coal, and is willing to export it, but most of her coal is of an inferior quality. A train on a small Danish private railway stopped the other day on account of the bad German coal. It is understood that the reason for the restric- tion of the export of coal from Great Britain is the refusal of the Swedish Government to allow an agreed amount of goods to pass to and from Russia. The War Trade Department have at last been persuaded to adopt a more generous policy with respect to the prohibi- tion of the export of tool steel, and, as a consequence, permits will be granted freely in respect of Allied countries, except in cases where the authorities have reason to suppose that its shipment would be undesirable from the standpoint of national interests. There is also likely to be less difficulty than in the past with the progress of export trade generally in steel material. The Department have initiated a depar- ture which the trade regard with much favour. This is a system of granting permits to manufacture to foreign orders, which will amount to provisional permits to ship. Hitherto the process has been for the manufacturer to complete his orders before applying for an export licence, with the result that in the event of refusal the goods are thrown upon his hands, or they may be lying in the warehouses at some seaport. Last week Scottish coal masters communicated with the Coal Exports Committee, London, regarding delay in the issuing of licences to export coal. The secretary of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has now received notice from the Committee that arrangements have been made whereby applicants for coal export licences, who desire to do so, may make pre-entry, and commence loading upon or shortly after the receipt of a telegram from the Coal Exports Committee stating that a licence has been recommended by them. Appli- cants who desire to avail themselves of this arrangement should attach to their applications two prepaid telegraph forms —one addressed to themselves 'and the other to “ Customs* London.” The latter should contain the following parti- culars :—(a) Applicants’ own reference number of applica- tion ; (b) port of shipment; (c) applicant’s own name; (d) if known, name of vessel. Shippers and ship owners who thus act upon telegraphic notification of the Coal Exports Com- mittee’s recommendation do so at their own risk, and clear- ance of the exporting ship will not be granted until the Privy Council licence is presented to the Customs authorities at the port of shipment. The Stockholm Dagblad states that Sweden has secured 500,000 tons of coal from Germany. Most of it is reported to come from Belgian mines. A Royal Italian decree, unexpectedly issued, establishes an export duty during the war on all goods of 1 per cent. ad valorem, with certain exceptions. Thus, on sulphuric acid and sodium nitrate the duty is to be 50 c. (5d.) per quintal; on nitric acid, 80c.; sulphate of copper, 1 lira (lOd.); iron ore, 10 c. ; copper ore, 20 c. The import excise duties on mineral oils are varied by 8 lire per quintal. The tenders for 500,000 to 600,000 tons of coal for the Panama Railroad Company have been opened. The coal required was best quality semi-bituminous, unscreened, and the bids are on the basis of 2-85 dols. per ton for Pocahontas or New River, delivered at Hampton Roads. The American export trade continues to expand, and prices at seaboard are generally firmer. During August, 215,796 tons, valued at 624,389 dols., were loaded at Baltimore on foreign account. At Hampton Roads the dumpings were 1,561,284 tons. Ocean freights are as follow :—West coast of Italy, 9'84 dols. to 10’08 dols.; Barcelona, 9’12 dols. to 9’36 dols; Marseilles, 9’36 dols. to 9’60 dols. ; River Plate, 8’16 dols.; and Valparaiso, 7 dols. ______________________________ On July 1, 1915, 134 explosives had been placed on the “ permissible ” list for use in fiery mines in the United States. A Petrograd paper says that seven versts from Manchuria and three versts from the Transbaikal Railway, coal deposits have been discovered of good quality. Messrs. Worsnop and Company Limited, of the Carlton Lamp Works, Halifax, draw attention to the fact that they have been awarded a gold medal at the Panama Exhibition at San Francisco for their electric hand lamps, miner’s electric lamps, motor lamps, self starters for motor cars, and alklum accumulators. COLLIERY ACCIDENTS. Exhall. A disaster involving the loss of 14 lives took place at Exhall Colliery, one of the oldest and best known of Warwickshire mines, situated about 4} miles from Nuneaton. The pit shaft caught fire, and the down draught carried a dense volume of smoke into the workings, causing the death of men who were trying to escape from the workings, after having been warned. The names of the dead men are :— H. Carding, W. H. Smith, J. Smith, and J. Sidwell, all of Foleshill; F. Hackett, junr., S. Beasley, H. Stew, and R. Tallis, of Longford; and C. Court, H. Tipple, junr., S. J. Jackson, E. Marsden, C. Jennings, and T. Tidman, of Bed worth. Shortly after 2 o’clock on Tuesday morning a workman descended the downcast shaft to oil some haulage wheels, which are a few yards below .the surface. He had with him a paraffin torch lamp. While at work he dropped it, and the flame set fire to the woodwork. Aided by the down draught and the oily state of the woodwork, flames spread rapidly. One cage load of men was drawn up the main shaft soon after the outbreak occurred and successfully came through dense smoke and flame, but so intense was the heat that about a quarter of an-hour after the outbreak the winding band was melted, and the cage dropped dcwn the shaft into the sump. The haulage band that pulls the coal along the workings to the bottom of the shaft was turned through, with the result that 17 tubs ran away and were smashed to atoms. In the meantime telephonic communica- tion had been established with the pit bottom, and a general warning was issued for the men at work to escape by way of an emergency shaft at Black Bank, which is about a mile away, by way of the workings, from the main shaft. The order seems to have been expeditiously carried out by the officials on duty in the pit, and the workmen, casting tools aside and not waiting to put on their clothing, started to find their way to the Black Bank shaft. It is stated that many of the pitmen had to go three miles to get to the emergency shaft. All this time the smoke from the fire was being carried into the workings, and it proved a terrible handicap to those who were trying to escape. The foreman in charge closed the separating doors, thus short-circuiting the air and preventing the smoke getting into the workings in great volume. It was on account of this action that it was possible to save so many men. At the time of the outbreak there were 375 men in the pit. It is supposed that the men who lost their lives went a different way from the others and walked into the fumes, which immediately over- came them. No body recovered showed any sign of injury. In one district 10 dead bodies were found together, and about 1,000 yds. from the pit bottom four others were found. Distressing scenes took place in the workings while the men were making their rush for life, and many brave deeds were accomplished. Pitmen who were overcome by the foul air were helped on by others, and this unselfishness undoubt- edly kept down the death-roll. One man carried a relative to within 200 yds. of the pit bottom, and then had to drop him, but he was rescued later. One survivor said many men lay down in the roadway unable to move another step, and others just able to keep going could not help them. Many lay down with their faces to the ground, and, recovering a little, crawled on. Much of this painful effort had to take place in the dark, which added to the horror of the situation. A large number of the men were very scantily clothed, some wearing only their trousers. Once the men reached the Black Bank shaft they were rapidly brought to the surface, and by five o’clock the majority had been got out safely. At half-past four a rescue party descended and discovered the men who had succumbed. At the pit mouth events moved rapidly. Seven minutes after the fire had broken out the fire appliance belonging to the colliery company was at work, and did much service. Later the Coventry Fire Brigade arrived, and the fire was got under shortly after three o’clock. A number of the men rescued were in a very serious and exhausted condition, and some were sent to the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. Others were conveyed to their homes. The disaster is the greatest known in the annals of War- wickshire coal mining since the fire at the Baddesley Colliery, near Atherstone, in 1882, when eight men perished, as well as' 32 others (including Mr. W. S. Dugdale), who tried to save them. ______________________________________________________ THE IRISH COAL TRADE. Thursday, September 23. Dublin. Owing to very fine weather, business is comparatively quiet both locally and elsewhere, and prices of all qualities are without change at the following :—Best Orrell, 34s. per ton; best Wigan, 32s.; best Whitehaven, 32s.; Pemberton Wigan, 31s.; kitchen nuts, 30s.; best slack, 26s.; all less Is. per ton discount for cash. Welsh steam coal, 33s. per ton; Scotch, 29s. per ton net; coke, 34s. per ton net. Pit prices for Irish coal at Wolfhill, Queen’s County, are 25s. per ton for round coal; culm, from 3s. 4d. to 10s. per ton. Pit prices for Kilkenny (Castlecomer) coal, outside of contract prices, are as follow :—Best small coal, 23s. 4d. per ton; best large, 21s. 8d.; second quality, 20s.; bottom coal, 16s. 8d.; breakage, 11s. 8d.; culm, 5s. to 8s. 6d. The coal vessels arriving in this port during the past week amounted to 57, as compared with 61 the week previously, chiefly from Ayr, Point of Aire, Garston, Glasgow, Newport, Irvine, Parting- ton, Workington, Preston, Ardrossan, Liverpool, White- haven, Troon, and Maryport. The total quantity of coal discharged upon the quays was 23,000 tons, as against 24,000 tons the previous week. It is stated that at a recent meeting of the committeee of one of the large public instn tutions here, a letter had been received from one of the Welsh colliery companies agreeing to substantially reduce their previous quotation per ton for steam coal. Belfast. Locally the demand is not quite so good this week, and the inland trade continues to be quiet in consequence of harvest- ing operations in the various districts. There is no change in prices of household coals. Current quotations are :—Best Arley, 36s. per ton; Orrell nuts, 35s.; Scotch house coal, 32s.: Orrell slack, 32s. per ton delivered. Approximate prices of steam coal and coke are as follow ;—Ordinary Scotch steam coal, 24s. to 25s. per ton; best Scotch navigation, 26s. to 27s. per ton; best Welsh steam, 38s. to 40s.; best gas coke, 30s. to 32s. per ton; best foundry coke, 40s. to 42s. 6d. per ton. Coal-laden vessels arriving during the week were chiefly from Cardiff, Maryport, Garston, Ayr, Ardrossan, Girvan* Man- chester, Irvine, Silloth, Workington, Swansea, Point of Aire, Rothesay, Preston, and Partington. Stocks in the port are fairly good. Freights in some instances have a slightly upward tendency. The Improvement Committeee of the County Borough of Belfast invite tenders for a year’s supply of steam coal. __________________ THE BY-PRODUCTS TRADE. Tar Products.—There have been several minor changes in the market, particularly in pitch and tar, the former being rather firmer and the latter slightly weaker. Creosote also is the turn easier, as is also crude carbolic acid. Benzols and naphthas firm. Nearest values are :— Rise (+) or fall ( —) on the week. 1/0}-1/1 /Hi Benzols, 90’s ....................... ,, 90’s North ................ „ 50’s „ ................ Carbolic acid, crude (60 per cent.)... Toluol .............................. ,, crystals (40 per cent.) Solvent naphtha, south (90% at 190 degs.) as in quality and package Solvent naphtha, north (90% at 190 degs.) as in quality and package Crude naphtha, north (in bulk) .... Creosote (for ordinary qualities) .... Pitch (f.o.b. east coast) ........... ,, (f.a.s. west coast) ........... Tar (per ton ex works) ............. 1/4 3/5—3/6 2/2—2/4 1/4—1/6 -/I 2/1—2/2 ... — 2/1—2/2 ... — /6-/6j ... - /3 ... 21/6—22/ ... +/6 20/—21/6 ... — 21/3—25/3 ... —/3 [Benzols, toluol, creosote, solvent naphtha, carbolic acids, usually casks included unless otherwise stated, free on rails at maker's works or usual United Kingdom ports, net. Pitch f.o.b. net.] Sulphate of Ammonia.—The market is fairly steady, and prices well maintained, although there are bear quotations circulating in certain quarters, presumably on account of the fall in the price of nitrate of soda. The forward market is firm, and there is a satisfactory enquiry, .£15 2s. 6d. being asked for Nov./Dec. Closing prompt prices are :— Rise (+) o fall (—) on the week. London (ordinary makes) Beckton (25 per cent.) £14/17/6 £14 Liverpool £14/15 — Hull £14/10 — Middlesbrough £14/2/6 — Scotch ports £14/17/6—£15 ... -2/6 Wales £14/12/6 — Nitrate of soda (ord.) per cwt. 13/4} —/3 [Sulphate of ammonia, f.o.b. in bags, less 2} per cent. discount; 24 per cent, ammonia, good grey allowance for refraction, nothing for excess.] _____ quality; Trade Notes. The importance of striving after the production of the ideal nitrogen and potash fertiliser is emphasised by the recent advances in the evolution of bacterised peat. Not long back this was merely the conception of the biologist’s brain; to-day it has passed from the field of mere experiment to that of manufacture, and it is expected that supplies will be upon the market before the end of this year. Any way of utilising peat is an advantage in itself, and the bacterised peat can be produced to sell at a few pounds per ton. It is evident that the mere production of sulphate of ammonia as an indirect source of nitrogen, which in turn needs bacterial nitrification in the soil will not suffice. The sulphate of ammonia must be able to impart potash or phospheric acid at the same time if it is to hold its own in the future. There can be no doubt as to efficiency of the peat system, for it is an established fact that all the artificials in the world will not answer without the maintenance of humus in the soil. Peat helps to form humus, and the active prin- ciple in humus has been isolated, and is known as auximones. Peat impregnated with this had done wonders in garden and field trials on potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers. About a year back reference was made to the probable future of the Belgian gas works. It is most significant to learn that, although the glass trade is dead, the gas works have been kept going, even in the areas occupied by the bosches, because of the by-products. Verb. sap. sat. It will apparently be a good thing for the British sulphate of ammonia trade if the negotiations in progress between ourselves and the Netherlands for the export of sulphate of ammonia can be brought to fruition. Not only has there been a brisk demand from Holland, but the exports for the last five months show a marked advance. Gwing to the closing of the Austrian market Russian pro- ducers of sulphate of ammonia at the Donetz coking plants are accumulating stocks, and the Russian Board of Agricul- ture is making propagandist endeavours to convince the Russian agriculturist of the value of this fertiliser, which hitherto he has been very shy of, because it appears to be expensive. Are we as active even in our own home market? It is time for something more than field trials; we want a combination of the propagandist and selling forces to con- vince by clearly expounding what sulphate of ammonia has done and can do, and thereupon effecting small sales, so that the field results can be put into practice on the farm by the actual grower. The returns for the week have been as follow :—Pitch, 148 ■tons, 45 barrels, 844 casks, and £55; tar, 3,920 gals., 75 drums, and £7; toluene, 46 drums to Lisbon; solvent naphtha, 8,025gals, to Rouen; sulphate of ammonia, 2,296 tons. ____________________________ THE TIN-PLATE TRADE. Liverpool. Business is still slow, and prices are a little easier all round; 17s. 6d. has been accepted by makers for I C 14 x 20, and spot lots in second hands have been done at even less money. The outlook at the moment is not encouraging. To-day’s quotations for coke tins may be called :—IC 14 X 20 (112 sh. 1081b.), 17s. 6d. per box; IC 28 x 20 (112 sh. 2161b.), 35s. to 35s. 3d.: IC 14 x 18f (124 sh. 1101b ), 17s. 9d. to 18s.: IC 20 x 10 (225 sh. 156 1b.), 25s. 3d. to 25s. 6d. I C squares and odd sizes. 17s. 10M. to 18s. basis for approved specifications. Charcoal tins rule quiet, at 19s. 6d. basis and upwards according to finish. Terne plates are easy, at round 33s. for I C 28 x 20. Coke wasters are in quiet demand, and are quoted:—CW 14 X 20, 17s. per box; CW 28 x 20. 34s.; CW 14 x 18s}, 17s. lid.; CW 20 x 10 . 24s. 3d. All f.o.b, Wales, less 4 per cent.