1304

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

December 24, 1915.

trict, and if it were not for them they could not work Pennant
Hill. They had spent some thousands of pounds in putting
down electric pumps and steam pumps for dealing with the
water.—The Chairman said a very difficult point was raised,
as to whether a firm spending money in pumping outside the
district were entitled to graduations for pits in the district.—In
answer to Mr. Howl, Mr. Pitt said the position had changed
during the past 12 months only in respect to the quantity of
water to be dealt with.—Mr. Howl said that the position
really was that there had been no change as far as the Old
Hill district was concerned, but there had been a change in
the Oldbury district.—Mr. Undrill said the firm were pump-
ing in the Oldbury district to get the coal there, and not
primarily to get the coal at Pennant Hill.—Mr. Poole said
they were keeping the water at Ramrod and Bell End to 40 ft.
above the sea level, while at Pennant Hill they entered the
coal at 64 ft. above sea level. He quoted these figures to
show that the water would not have to rise far to enter the
latter colliery. They were drawing coal at all the three pits.
—Asked whether the water would go across to the Old Hill
district if the company ceased pumping at Ramrod, Mr. Poole
said he did not think there was the slightest doubt about it.
He added that they had made connections between the Pen-
nant Hill Colliery and the Oldbury district.—Mr. Pitt said
they were raising about 1,000 tons of coal weekly -at each
of the pits. The question of dealing with the water had
become so serious that they had to ask for assistance. He
estimated it was costing them .£50 a week.—Mr. Undrill said
he objected absolutely to any concession being made in
respect of pumping outside the district.—The Chairman said
it was a question that had not been previously raised in his
experience as an arbitrator. He thought the proper remedy
would be to bring the collieries inside the drainage area.—
Eventually it was decided to place the Pennant Hill Colliery
in the fourth schedule—to pay 4|d. This, the chairman
explained, was a special concession to Messrs. Pitt, and had
nothing to do with the general rate for the district. The
principle of the increase of the rate had not been in question;
it remained unassailable.

Somersetshire.

At Peiasedown St. John, last week, on behalf of a colliery
ambulance brigade fund, Mr. John Lodge, miner, was
presented by Mr. T. Holland, the secretary of the Dunkerton
Collieries, where the recipient is engaged, with a cheque
for £15 and a framed honorary certificate from the Carnegie
Hero Fund Trust, as an appreciation of his bravery in
rescuing his brother, Mr. Edward Lodge, whilst under-
ground at the Dunkerton Colliery on November 21, 1913.
For this act Mr. John Lodge was presented by his Majesty
the King on July 12 last with the Edward Medal of the
Second Class, and highly commended for his heroic deed.

Kent.

Shakespeare Colliery Closed.

The Shakespeare Colliery at Dover, the property of Kent
Collieries Limited, was closed down last week, the closure,
it is understood, being for the period of the war, and due
to the difficulty of obtaining delivery of materials. This
colliery has seen many vicissitudes during the last few years.
Recently a certain amount of the iron ore in the colliery has
been mined. The employees numbered about 90.

Scotland.	,

Colliery Developments in Camelon District—Structure and .
Formation of Coal.

The employees of Rosehall Colliery still continue to do
their share in the good work taken in hand at the beginning
of the war. Although 550 men, equal to 35 per cent, of the
workers at this colliery, have either enlisted or been called
up for active service, the balance left have generously sub-
scribed, up till November 30, 1915, £2,187 6s. lOd.

The new colliery in the Camelon district is making fair
progress, and boring operations further south from the
present mines are still being carried on. This new under-
taking is considered most satisfactory. With railway
facilities, in a short time employment will be given to a
large number of workers.

At Airdrie Court, Wm. Sherlock, pit bottomer, Drumpark
Bargeddie, was tried on a charge of contravening the Mines
Regulation Act by entering a disused part of No. 3
Bredisholm Colliery, belonging to the United Collieries
Limited. The evidence showed that accused had gone over
a fenced-off part about 12 ft., and that an explosion occurred,
caused by his naked light, which rendered him unconscious-
A fine of £2 or seven days’ imprisonment was imposed.

The third meeting of the session of the Edinburgh Geological
Society was held recently, when a book called “ The Hydro-
statics,” published at Edinburgh in 1672, was brought to
the notice of the society by Mr. D. Trit. This book was
written by George Sinclair, Professor of Philosophy and
Mathematics in the University of Glasgow. A section
of “ The Hydrostatics ” is entitled “ A Short History
of Coal.” In it is given the first account of the Midlothian
coal field. The outcrop of the great seam of coal is traced
round the basin and also in the neighbourhood of
Prestonpans and Tranent in a remarkably accurate manner.
He notes that whin dykes often affect coal seams, with
which they come into contact, as if they had been burnt,
and records many other interesting geological facts in the
neighbourhood.

At a meeting of the Geological Society of Glasgow, Mr.
J. Ballantyne read a paper on “ The Structure and Forma-
tion of Coal.” He said it was now generally agreed that
coal is fossilised wood, but many of the details of its forma-
tion remained to be cleared up. Within recent years the
microscope had been brought to bear on the problem, and
had thrown considerable light upon it, but there was still
difference of opinion as to the mode of accumulation of the
vegetable matter. Mr. Ballantyne gave it as his view that
those coals which contain a high percentage of ash are
probably derived from vegetable matter drifted by water
until it became waterlogged and sank in river or sea. He
considered, however, that the majority of good coals had been
derived from peat bogs, and not from a forest growth of
timber. In support of this view he exhibited a large number
of microphotographs showing that the remnants of vegetable
matter discernible in both materials were somewhat akin,
being different stages in the same process. He surmised
that bacterial action played a part in the transformation.

COAL, IRON AND ENGINEERING COMPANIES.

REPORTS AND DIVIDENDS.

Alldays and Onions Pneumatic Engineering Company
Limited.—The report of the directors for the year ended
July 31 states that a serious fire at the Great Western
Works resulted in some financial loss, and considerably cur-
tailed the output. Notwithstanding this, the result of the
year’s trading (after providing for depreciation, etc.) is a
net profit of £25,058, to which is added <£22,544 brought from
the last account, making a total of £47,602. Of this amount,
£3,590 is absorbed by interest on debentures, £1,500 was
applied in payment of the interim dividend on the preference
shares for the half-year ended January 31, 1915; £1,872 in
payment of an interim dividend on the ordinary shares for the
same period at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum; and £262
in payment of a donation to the Prince of Wales’s Fund;
leaving a balance of £40,376 available for distribution. The
directors recommend that this sum should be applied as
follows :—In providing the dividend on “ A ” preference
shares at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum for the six months
ended July 31; a dividend on the ordinary shares at the rate
of 5 per cent, per annum for the year ended July 31, less
interim dividend paid April 1, and a bonus of 5 per cent,
per annum, making 10 per cent, for the year; to transfer
£16,819 to the reserve fund, bringing this fund to £50,000;
and to carry forward £16,438 to next account.

Argentine Iron and Steel Company (Pedro Vasena e Hijos)
Limited.—The directors announce the payment of the second
moiety of the 6 per cent, fixed cumulative dividend on the
preference shares declared at the general meeting held on
July 19 last.

Betteshanger Boring Company Limited. — The annual
report for the year ending September 30 states that the
position of the company’s affairs was so fully stated in the
circular dated August 7 last, when they gave notice of the
last call, that it is perhaps unnecessary to make any further
comment now than to say that the response of the share-
holders to the call was exceptionally prompt. The liabilities
(according to the balance-sheet) are £27,683, including issued
capital £24,546, deposit as security under agreement £1,500,
and creditors £1,637. On the assets side is : Purchase of
founder’s rights and interest £15,764, options on land and
minerals £659, Ebbsfleet Coal Syndicate (joint account) £355,
preliminary expenses £233, general expenditure as per last
account £4,465, expenditure during year ended September 30,
1915, £1,016, sundry debtors £8 15s., investments at cost
£5,173, cash in hand £7.

Breyten Collieries Limited. — The directors have declared
an interim dividend of 7| per cent. (Is. 6d. per share),
amounting to £6,750, for the six months ending December 31,
being at the rate of 15 per cent, per annum.

British Coalite Company Limited. — The ordinary annual
general meeting of the British Coalite Companv Limited was
held on Thursday, December 23, at Salisbury House, London
Wall, Mr. W. J. Fisher, J.P., presiding. There was a good
attendance, and the proceedings were cordial throughout.—In
moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, the
Chairman said : Little need be said of the balance-sheet. The
capital authorised remained the same, as did the deferred
shares issued, whilst there had been an increase of 4,750 in
the number of ordinarv shares issued in connection with the
scheme of re-organisation carried out last year. The 5 per
cent first mortgage debentures were about to be paid off,
consequent upon the sale of the Barking property, and an
addition had been made to the number of second debentures
issued in order to provide capital to meet establishment
charges, and discharge their indebtedness in various direc-
tions. At the end of the financial year under review, the
indebtedness of the companv amounted to about £12.800 for
aecrued debenture interest, law charges, loans, and so forth.
On the other hand, thev had to set against the extinction of
their first mortgage debentures the loss of the Barking land,
which originally cost £144,553 17s. Id., and was brought into
the balance-sheet at £148,926 14s. 2d. It had been sold by
the previous board for £71,500, but it was not in his province
to judge the acts of his predecessors. The next item on the
credit side, the Wednesfield land, should prove to be worth
a great deal more than its purchase price of £22.192 5s.
The other items in the balance-sheet were self-explanatory;
but the scheme of re-organisation sanctioned by the share-
holders was responsible for a good deal of expenditure, the
detail of which would be found in last year’s accounts. As
would be seen from the report, there had been an almost com-
plete change in the composition of the board: the only con-
necting links with the past being Mr. Wellington, the
consulting engineer, and Mr. Conchie. All the other directors
had joined the board within the past six months. The latest
addition was Mr. H. Willmott. who was well and honourably
known throughout the country in connection with railway and
other important undertakings, and to whose shrewdness and
business acumen they attached much importance. Although
he could not profess that they had made themselves fully
acquainted with the somewhat tangled past historv of the
company, it had not taken them long to discover that thev
had succeeded to a rather troublesome legacy of debt. He
was glad to say thev were gradually clearing it off, and hoped
at no very distant date that the burden would disappear from
the books. For the present that could only be done by
placing some of the second debentures: and he hoped that in
Hie near future that their holding in the Barnsley Smokeless
Fuel Companv Limited would not only become a considerable
source of revenue, but that the improved position of the
companv would enable the placing of some of the unissued
share capital. The completion of the sale of the Barking
land, and the consequent extinction of the first mortgage
debentures, should considerably improve the value of the
second debentures, inasmuch as they would then become the
first charge on the company’s properties. As he had said,
the purchase and sale of the Barking land did not, on the
face of it, look like a very good bargain. But they hoped
that the £71,500. for which it had been sold, did not repre-
sent all they would eventually obtain from the sale. The
purchasers of the land were, as they knew, the County of
London Electric Supplv Company, who proposed to erect a
generating station on a portion of the land. Negotiations
were in progress with a view to working in co-operation with
that company on the lines of their taking, from the Coalite
works to be erected, the necessarv gaseous fuel for use under
the boilers in place of coal. He could not at the moment
give anv details of the nronosal. but he might saw that they
had every hone that the arrangement, if carried into effect,
would materially benefit their companv. Tn that case, the
gaseous fuel thev would supplv would, of course, be sub-
sidiary to other products resulting from the distillation, con-
sisting of coalite itself and various by-products, including
toluol, benzol, cresol, etc. Assuming, as they did, the full

success of the plant at Barugh, near Barnsley, there should
be no difficulty in obtaining all the money required for the
much larger plant at Barking; and they anticipated being
able to erect similar plants in various parts of the country,
either on a royalty basis or by the formation of other sub-
sidiary companies, as in the case of the Barnsley Smokeless
Fuel Company Limited, in which the Coalite Company held
the bulk of the ordinary shares. The plant of the Barnsley
Smokeless Fuel Company was in process of erection at
Barugh, near Barnsley, under the direction of Mr. Stephen
Wellington; but, owing to circumstances outside their control,
the cost had been greater and progress slower than was antici-
pated. The work, however, was proceeding satisfactorily. In
that connection, he would say that arrangements were being
made for the issue of the remaining £30,000 debentures of
the Barnsley Smokeless Fuel Company, of which he had
every hope that the Treasury would again subscribe for a
portion. There were no shareholders in that company except-
ing themselves; of the £20,000, the Treasury had already
taken one-half. The company had a contract with the War
Department to supply the Government with the whole of
certain of its by-products at market rates. He was not dis-
closing any secret when he said that those by-products formed
the basis of one of the highest explosives, which explained
why the Treasury had interested itself so largely in the issue
of Barnsley Smokeless debentures, and also gave them the
hope that the Treasury would participate to a not inconsider-
able extent in the debentures yet to be issued. Naturally, if
the Coalite shareholders wished to subscribe for any of
those debentures, their subscriptions would be gladly
received. The debentures bore interest at the rate of 6 per
cent., and were redeemable, bv drawings, at 105 from April 1,
1917, onwards. Reference had been made to the land at
Wednesfield, which, though undoubtedly a valuable asset,
had hitherto not only produced nothing, but had been a
source of considerable expense, because a plant erected
there some years ago had, after a time, to be disposed of.
He was not prepared to say to what eventual use the land
would be put. It undoubtedly had a good value, and
although it was shown in the balance-sheet at cost, it might
be taken to be of far greater value. That, he thought, was
some set-off against the loss on Barking. Some of the share-
holders would remember that as long ago as 1907, Mr. C. E.
Rhodes, a well-known coal mining expert, made a report
to the company testifying to the existence of a million tons
of coal lying at no great depth below the surface, the
coal being known as the Thick coal of Staffordshire—a very
good seam. Tt was not likely that coal would fall to a
very low price for some time to come, and they might,
therefore, endeavour to dispose of the Wednesfield coal on
a royalty basis, or arrange for the erection of a low-tempera-
ture distillation plant for the treatment of the coal by their
process. Inasmuch as the land was situated in a fairly
well-populated district, there was also the further alterna-
tive of developing it for building purposes. He said
alternative, because the coal lay at such a relatively small
depth that if it were worked there would be no possibility
of utilising the land for building purposes owing to fear of
subsidence. He did not think it was mentioned at the
last annual meeting of the company that, before the outbreak
of the war, they had begun negotiations with one of the
largest of the London municipal supply undertakings for
the construction of a plant on their system, capable of car-
bonising 500 tons of coal a day. The whole of the gas
generated would have been taken by the municipality as
motive power for generating its electricity, and a ready
market could undoubtedly have been found for the coalite
and by-products. He had every hope that when peace came
again those negotiations would be resumed, and brought
to a successful issue. With reference to the by-products of
their process—such, for instance, as toluol, benzol, cresol,
tar, and other substances—there was not only a good market,
but one that was rising steadily in value and importance.
Apart from the toluol and cresol—the main value of which
was to form the basis for the highest form of explosives—
there were the valuable dyes derived from coal tar, the so-
called aniline dyes. Unless the nation was to profit nothing
by the lessons of the war—a wholly unthinkable proposition
—the Coalite Company should in future find a fruitful field
for those products. And it must not be forgotten that by
the low-temperature process of distilling coal (by their
patented process) the quantities of those substances obtained
were many times greater than could be obtained by the
ordinary gas works’ distillation of coal. Gas works, of
course, were erected to produce as much gas as possible,
leaving, >as residuals, coke and a certain quantity of by-
products. Turning to their patents, they were not only
jealously protecting these, but in the course of the year
several had been added to the number. Those dealt
particularly with retort setting, and with discharging and
quenching the coalite, two very important operations. That
was all he had to say with regard to the position of the
company industrially and financially. But he had,
unhappily, to finish his remarks on a somewhat sad note.
Tt was with very great regret that he had to record the
death of Prof. Vivian B. Lewes, who was closely associated
with the development of the coalite process almost from
the beginning, and in whom they had lost a loyal and
consistent supporter of the low-temperature carbonisation of
coal. Further, he had to record with eoual regret the death
of Mr. Thomas Parker, the inventor of the coalite process.
Both gentlemen had rendered eminent services to science, and
their loss might truly be considered a national one.—Mr. H.
WiPmott seconded the adoption of the report and balance-
sheet. He had met his friends who were on the board at
Sheffield demonstrating the qualities of coalite to a number
of important directors, who saw it. and thoroughly believed
in it. But. strange to say, time went bv. and nothing more
was heard about it. On making enquiries, however, he had
gathered that there was some trouble, though he did not know
what it was. He had been asked to associate himself with
the industry some months ago, and he had then been told by
Mr. Wellington—who had gas works experience—that they
had improved upon the inventor’s process, and were going
ahead. He himself thought thev “ had the goods,” and if
that were so. it did not matter what the capital was. It was
a very important fact, however, that the capital had been
reduced from £2.000.000 to £400.000: and as soon as they
got the plant going, and results had been obtained, they
would not have to wait for monev to come in. He would not
give to the company his 50 years’ experience in the gas world,
and have put his own monev into it, if he had not thought it
likelv to turn out well: and he was sure that, with the help
of Mr. Wellington, the shareholders would not regret having
started the companv afresh. He believed thev had such a
property as thev ought to be glad to be associated with. He
had been to Pamslev. and was satisfied that the shrewd
Yorkshiremen there would support the scheme; and he had
told his friends in Birmingham and Wolverhampton that he