October 29, 1915.

881

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Company Reports.

Niederlausitzer Kohlenwerke.—Out of a gross profit
of 4,200,846 mk. (3,827,404 mk.),	2,200,800 mk.

(2,021,333 mk.) are to be written off, and 495,020 mk.
(493,973 mk.) carried forward, after again paying a
dividend of 12 per cent, on the old shares, and one of
6 per cent, on the new shares.

Sprengstoff A. G. Carbonit, Hamburg.—Profits on
trading and investments, 13,342,382 mk. (9,569,724
mk.). Net profits, after writing off 220,697 mk.
(167,450 mk.), covering cost of raw materials, wages and
adjustment of accounts with allied companies,
12,504,875 mk. (8,783,713 mk.), and paying taxes and
trading expenses, 317,640 mk. (319,392 mk.), 2,999,169
mk., out of which an 8| per cent, dividend will be
paid, 14,958 mk. placed to reserve, and 29,211 mk.
distributed as share of profits.

Gewerkschaft des Steinkohlenbergwerks Vereinigte
Helene und Amalie, Bergeborbeck.—A trading profit of
1,694,144 mk. (2,956,780 mk.) was made, of which
900,000 mk. (1,300,000 mk.) are to be distributed among
the shareholders, and 794,144 mk. (1,656,680 mk.)
devoted to writing off. The coal output was 826,875
tons (1,031,785 tons), the coke production 165,053
tons (284,152 tons), and that of briquettes 65,909 tons
(71,719 tons).

Gewerkschaft Emscher-Lippe.—Out of a gross profit
of 3*58 million mk. (4-52 million mk.), 1-7 million mk.
(1-68 million mk.) have been written off, leaving 1-76
million mk. (2-76 million mk.) as net profit. The coal
output for the year was 837,200 tons (917,400 tons), and
the coke production 420,900 tons (530,600 tons).

Bergwerksgesellschaft Gliickaufsegen m.b. H., Hache-
ney. — Trading profit on the colliery, 537,773 mk.
(708,377 mk.), and on the cokery, 164,937 mk. (293,245
mk.), but as 507,279 mk. (523,340 mk.) were required
for expenses, and 420,159 mk. (478,282 mk.) for writing
off, there is a deficit of 224,727 mk., which is to be
carried forward. Coal raised, 352,200 tons (342,149
tons); coke produced, 212,842 tons (218,371 tons).

Vereinigte Konigs und Laurahiitte A.G., Berlin.—For
the first quarter of 1915 the surplus was only 1,045,620
mk., as compared with 2,067,263 mk. for the correspond-
ing period of 1914.

Gewerkschaft des Steinkohlenbergwerks Graf Bis-
marck.—In the first quarter the profits amounted to
714,402 mk., against 561,057 mk. the previous quarter,
and 1,078,527 mk. the first quarter of 1914. The dis-
tribution will be 250 mk. (250 mk. and 1,000 mk. respec-
tively) per share.

Bergwerksgesellschaft Dahlbrusch, Rotthausen.—The
total coal raised during the year was 1,038,339 tons
(1,205,984 tons), and the coke output 95,384 tons
(152,165 tons). After setting aside 594,185 mk.
(589,507 mk.) for damage by subsidence, and writing off
270,000 mk. (236,000 mk.) on account of mining rights,
745,358 mk. (707,042 mk.) have been written off on plant
account, leaving a net profit of 888,288 mk. (1,939,583
mk.). A 5 per cent. (14J per cent.) dividend will be
paid, absorbing 600,000 mk. (1,760,000 mk.), 56,119 mk.
(125,695 mk.) being paid out in profit sharing, and
221,168 mk. (17,888 mk.) carried forward.

Kriegskohlen-Gesellschaft fur die Versorgung Ost-
Preussens A.G.—This concern has been established for
supplying East Prussia with coal during the war. Its
capital is 6,000,000 mk., of which 1,000,000 mk. have
been subscribed by the Prussian State Mining Board;
2,000,000mk. by C. Wolheim, Berlin; 1,000,000mk. by
E. Friedlander und Co., Berlin; 700,000 mk. by the
Bergwerksgesellschaft G. von Giesches Erben, Breslau;
300,000 mk. by the Oberschlesische Kokswerke und
Chemische Fabriken, Berlin; 100,000 mk. by Prince von
Pless; 100,000 mk. by the Niederschlesische Kohlen-
Syndikat G.m.b.H., Waldenburg; 300,000 mk. by the
Ilse Bergbau A.G.; and 500,000 mk. by the Nieder-
lausitz Brikett-Verkaufsgesellschaft. It is stated that
the undertaking has been founded exclusively for the
benefit of the community, and not with the idea of
making a profit.

Gewerkschaft Dorstfeld.—During the second quarter
of the present year, 141,474 tons of coal were raised
(141,079 tons the first quarter, and 203,729 tons in the
second quarter of last year), 51,790 tons (40,197 tons
and 42,833 tons respectively) of coke being produced.
The trading surplus is 182,035 mk. (40,152 mk. and
200,331 m.), but no distribution of profit is to be made
(nil and 100 mk. per share).

___________________________

TRADE AND THE WAR.

Mr. Lloyd George has announced that at present 1,002
is the number of controlled establishments under the
Munitions of War Act.

The rise in freights has seriously affected the United States
export trade, and few fresh charters for European destina-
tions have been ratified. Exporters, however, continue to
have high hopes in the future, and numerous representatives
are being sent abroad to cultivate business. The bunker
trade .is heavy. Current freights are as follows :—West
Coast of Italy, 13’20 dols. to 14’40 dols.; Marseilles, 12 dols.
to 13’20 dols. ; Barcelona, 11’52 dols. to 13’20 dols.; Biver
Plate, 8*88 dols. to 9-60 dols.; Valparaiso, 7*50 dols.

By an Order in Council, the Government have declared
their intention no longer to be bound by Article 57 of the
Declaration of London, which runs as follows :—“ Subject
to the provisions respecting transfer to an enemy flag, the
neutral or enemy character of a (merchant) vessel is deter-
mined by the flag which she is entitled to fly.” In place
of this there is substituted a regulation by which ships shall
be treated in the same manner as cargoes. Enemy goods
are now liable to capture at sea under whatever flag they
may be, but the Declaration of London enacted that even
if Mie ship itself were owned to the extent of a-half by an
enemy subject she should still be entirely free from con-
fiscation if registered under a neutral flag.

The Comptroller-General of Patents (Mr. Temple Franks)
and Sir Cornelius Dalton, his immediate predecessor in office,
have sat almost continuously since the war began as a
tribunal appointed to advise the Board of Trade upon the
desirability or otherwise of transferring in individual cases
certain rights under German and Austrian patentees to
British subjects competent to utilise them commercially. The
general procedure has been to give licences under the patent,
rather than to annul the patent and make the protected article
or preparation the subject of open competition. The tribunal
was constituted at the end of August 1914, and since then
387 individual applications have been made to the Patent
Office for licences under enemy-owned patents, and the
number of patents concerned has been 294. In 245 cases
licences have been granted. Some of the most important
cases at the outset dealt with German chemical processes, and
competition for the rights of these patents was keen between
British and French firms. The strong hold which the
Germans had obtained on certain branches of the chemical
industry was demonstrated over and over again in the pro-
ceedings before the tribunal. Some valuable mechanical and
engineering patents have been dealt with. In the matter of
trade marks, the policy of the tribunal and the Board of
Trade has been not to confiscate or transfer trade mark rights,
but to suspend or avoid the operation of those which could
be held bad in law, and where the registration would be
likely to be cancelled as a result of this policy. It is under-
stood that the Germans have copied our procedure with regard
to British patents registered in their country, and have not
adopted a policy of summary confiscation. It is the present
intention of the Board of Trade to make the licences granted
to British traders of a permanent character, providing satis-
factory terms are offered at the close of the war by the
German owners of the patents, and this should ensure the
continuous use of the patents by British industry in the
interests of the British consumer!.

When the Finance (No. 3) Bill reached the Committee
stage in the House of Commons on Tuesday, criticism was
freely levelled against the proposal that the duty of col-
lecting income-tax from employees should be thrown upon
employers. Sir J. Harmood-Banner said there was no
question whatever that it would create trouble between
employers and employed, >and he could not understand how
it was that the Chancellor was so ready to commit a breach
of the Truck Act. To garnishee a man’s wages until he had
paid this tax was a most objectionable provision. What
would happen if the man did not remain in the situation?
The first thing that would happen when they attached
a man’s wages for the payment of this tax was that he
would give notice to leave his employment and go elsewhere.
To make the employer the bum bailiff for the Government
was going to add to their troubles and friction.—Mr.
McKenna said it had been represented to him that if this
income-tax was to be made effective it ought to be collected
by the employer by deduction from the wages. He had
strenuously opposed that, as no more unfair burden had
been cast upon the employer in the calculation of the infinite
variety of rates of income-tax than by the adoption of such
a system. But they had to face the question, what would
be the best method of enforcing collection in those rare
cases in which taxpayers would refuse to pay. There were
only two alternatives : payment by deduction at the source—
that is to say, by the employer—which is the ordinary case
generally adopted in regard to employed persons; or pro-
cedure in the Courts. He came to the conclusion that far
the most merciful method, to the workman at any rate,
was to obtain the amount, which would never be a large
amount, of the quarterly assessment by deduction rather
then by expensive procedure in the law courts. The work-
man would have an appeal, and an immediate appeal, upon
the question of assessment.—Mr. Laurence Hardy thought
this form was even worse than the original idea of dealing
with the matter by stamp or otherwise. The penal action
was brought against the employer and not against the
person who failed to pay the tax, and that seemed to be
an extension of the principle of deduction which had certainly
never been heard of before. He could conceive no more
embarrassing position than that of an employer who
was asked to deduct from a skilled man whom he could
very ill afford to lose in the business he was carrying
on, a quarter of his wages. In that case it seemed
almost inevitable that the contribution would be trans-
ferred from the employee to the employer, and he
would practically have to pay the tax in order
that he might retain the servant whose services he valued.—
Sir Clifford Cory said he considered it was very much better
that it should be done in the shape of a poundage each week,
deducted from the man’s wages. So far as the coal trade
was concerned, the miners in South Wales were accustomed
■to that mode of procedure. For years it was the custom, at the
request of the men, to deduct weekly 2d. in the £ from their
wages to pay for the doctor. Practically the men never felt
it. Perhaps it was in contravention of the Truck Act, but,
at any rate, it was done at the request of the men and the
miners’ leaders, and with the knowledge of the Home Office.
It always worked smoothly. The men did not feel this
amount deducted in that "way. At the end of a quarter,
however, the amount loomed very much larger than a weekly
sum did. There was this to be said in favour of the weekly
poundage system, that the man knew exactly what he had
to pay. He knew what his wage was, and that the deduc-
tion was so much in the £, and, therefore, there was no
dispute as to what he had to pay. On the other hand, under
the much more complicated system which was proposed to
set up by this clause, there would be dispute and friction.—
Mr. Duke also advocated the poundage system; and Mr.
Tyson Wilson suggested that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
should call a conference of representatives of the working men
and the employers, in order to see if some better scheme
could be devised.—Mr. Hancock, speaking as a working
man, and knowing the working classes, had no reason what-
ever to think that the employees would be behind other classes
in the payment of this tax. He knew that the coal owners
of the Midlands were very strongly opposed to making deduc-
tions from wages, and that the workers were still more
strongly opposed to deductions being made. He did not
think that the miners of the Midlands were more opposed to
anything than they were to deductions from wages at the
pay office. Even when their own organisation suggested to
the employers that a deduction should be made for a very
worthy and noble object, such, for instance, as Id. per week
towards providing the money necessary for the upkeep of the
motor ambulance convoy, they met with considerable opposi-
tion from their own members. He could see endless trouble
in the effort to enforce this method of collection. He sup-
ported the suggestion that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
should, if possible, get the trade union leaders and the
employers of labour together, and take their opinion upon

this matter. — Mr. Parkes also hoped that the Chancellor
would not persevere in this proposition. No one who had not
had practical acquaintance with working people could at all
imagine the complications that would arise. Deductions
from wages were looked upon with very 'great antagonism by
the men. It raised a barrier between one section and
another.—Mr. McKenna said he was glad to accept the sug-
gestion. He should endeavour to obtain the views of repre-
sentatives both of employers and of workmen as to what
would be the best method of enforcing the tax, in what he
believed would be the rare cases in which it was not paid in
the first instance. But if the poundage was a flat rate in
the £, it meant that they were going to charge the same rate
of income-tax upon the man earning £1 a week, who was
now exempt, and upon the man earning £7 a week. It
would mean also that they would give no abatement for
children and no abatement for insurance. If they, had the
income-tax raised at the level which was appropriate to a
man earning £6 a week, it would be absolutely impossible to
be paid by the man earning .£1 a week. If they put the
poundage at the level proportionate to the man earning £1 a
week, it became ridiculous in the case of the man earning £7
a week. But he proposed to have a conference immediately,
before the report stage, to endeavour to come.to some agree-
ment as to what form of procedure should be adopted.

__________________

THE BY-PRODUCTS TRADE.

Tar Products. — There is not much movement in the

market generally, and for the most part prices are well main-
tained. The exception lies with pitch and tar, which are
both quoted easier, though actual sales do not seem to be
of much importance. Nearest values are :—	Rise (+) or

fall (-) on
*	the week.

Benzols, 90’s .......................
,,	90’s North ................

„	50’s	„	................

Toluol ..............................
Carbolic acid, crude (60 per cent.)...

,, 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

2/2—2/4

3/5—3/6

1/4—1/6

2/2—2/3 ...	—

2/2—2/3 ... —

/6J-/7	...	-

/3	...	-

19/—20/ ... -If
18/6—19/6 ... —/6
19/9—23/9 ... —/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 very firm, there
being a good demand, while supplies are not offered freely.
The forward enquiry also is satisfactory, consequently prices
have reflected the general tone of the market at all port®.

Closing prompt prices are :—		Rise (+) or fall (-) on the week.
London (ordinary makes) ...	£15/2/6	... +2/6
Beckton (25 per cent.) 		£14/2/6	... 4-2/6
Liverpool 		£15/5	...	4-5/
Hull 		£14/15—£14/17/6	... 4-2/6
Middlesbrough 		£14/15	... 4-2/6
Scotch ports 		£15—£15/5	—
Wales 		£14/17/6	... +5/
Nitrates of soda (ord.) per cwt.	14/4J	... 4-/U

[Sulphate of ammonia, f.o.b. in bags, less 2| per cent,
discount; 24 per cent, ammonia, good grey quality;
allowance for refraction, nothing for excess.]
_______

Trade Notes.

The French trade in sulphate of ammonia for the past
year has been satisfactory. The outlook is fairly promising
though somewhat problematical. A substantially quickened
demand is expected during this autumn. The French pro-
duction of benzol will, it is stated, show an increase, but
not to the same extent as is looked for in the United
Kingdom.

Bacterised peat has been the subject of questions in the
House of Commons resulting in the usual stereotyped replies
of the non-committal non possumus est style. The cry is for
increased food production, which means scientific fertilis-
ation.

The German Agricultural Council has tardily given its
support to the nitrate monopoly scheme—on conditions, viz. :
The fixing of a standard maximum price which is not to
be exceeded; the maximum internal price to be lower than
the export trading price of German nitrates; no hampering
of imports of Chilian nitrate; and no regulation of the
inland production of nitrates. Will the Treasury conform?

The returns for the week have been :—Pitch, 500 tons, 25
barrels, and £65. Tar, 19,760 gals., 40 barrels, 20 drums.
Toluene oil, 22 drums to Lisbon. Toluol, £1,290 to Genoa.
Sulphate of ammonia, 1,074 tons.

_______________________________

H.M. Consul at Lyons (Mr. E. R. E. Vicars) reports that
an agent in that city wishes to represent United Kingdom
exporters of coal. United Kingdom coal exporters desirous
of appointing an agent in Lyons should apply to the Com-
mercial Intelligence Branch of the Board of Trade, 73,
Basinghall-street, E.C., for the name and address of the
enquirer.

In addition to awards announced in April for papers read
at the meetings, the council of the Institution of Civil
Engineers have made the following awards for papers
published in the Proceedings without discussion during the
session 1914-1915 :—A Telford gold medal to Mr. James
Forgie (New York); Telford premiums to Messrs. J. B.
Mason (Dunedin, N.Z.), Harold Berridge (Aden), C. R.
White (London), C. S. Churchill (Roanoke, Va.); and the
Trevithick premium to Mr. A. Poulsen (Lemvig, Denmark).
The Indian premium for 1915 has been awarded to Mr.
C. W. Anderson (Midnapore, India).

The War Finance of the Continental Powers.—At Univer-
sity of London. University College, on Mondays at 6 p.m.,
beginning November 8, a series of six Newmarch lectures on
statistics under the above title will be delivered by Mr. J.
Maynard Keynes, M.A., F.S.S. Applications for tickets,
accompanied by stamped addressed envelopes, should be made
to Walter W. Seton, M.A., D.Lit., University College,
Gower-street, W.C,