January 14, 1916. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 71 January to January to Name of colliery. Dec. Dec. 1915. 1914. Staveley .................... 11,029 ... 32,399 Shireoaks ................... 21,332 ... 21,728 St. John's (Locke's) ........ 20,104 ... 14,066 Strafford ............... 1,292 ... 8,024 Selsten ....................... — ... 1,540 Snydale ................... 2,012 ... 2,516 South Kirkby, Featherstone and Hemsworth ............. 139,240 ... 156,776 Shirebrook.................. 8,094 ... 5,837 Sherwood .................. 14,098 ... 2t»,669 Shipley ................ . 11,369 ... 7,265 Southgate .................... 347 ... 1,132 Soothill Wood ............. — ... 2,042 Stanley ..................... 1,144 ... — Thorncliff e ............. 64,028 ... 65,198 Tinsley...................... 5,969 ... 15,505 Trowell Moor ............... 3,460 ... 1,301 Te ver sail.................. 4,372 ... — Unstone ...................... — ... 6,2i0 Walton .................... 4,573 ... 385 Wharncliffe Silkstone ....... 59,754 ... 60,058 West Riding and Silkstone... 50,995 ... 57,848 Wombwell Main ............... 44,305 ... 73,098 Whitwood ................... 72,215 ... 93,389 West Gate...................... — ... 1,775 Wheldale and Fryston....... 65,654 ... 101,124 Woolley ................... 3,311 ... 12,179 Wath Main ................... 49,601 ... 75,158 Water Haigh ................. 7,716 ... 1,251 West Hallam ............... 3,724 ... 142 Wharncliffe Woodm or ... 2,427 ... 2,145 Waterloo .................... 2,460 ... 3,188 Whitwell .................. 5,292 ... 2,495 Wollaton .............:.... 2,177 ... 6,257 West Ardsley ................ 2,142 ... 2,109 Yorkshire Main .............. 28,421 ... 51,151 MINING AND OTHER NOTES. Mr. James Booth, of Brentwood, Auckland-road, Doncaster, colliery agent, who died on April 30 last, left estate of the gross value of .^22,625 8s. lid., of which £20,854 Is. lid. is net personalty. A general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engi- neers will be held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George-street, Westminster, on Friday, January 21, at 6 p.m. A paper will be read by Capt. Thomas B. Morley, B.Sc. (of the University of Glasgow), on “ The Flow of Air Through Nozzles.” All the Australian south coast collieries became idle last week in connection with a demand of miners for an eight- hour day, bank to bank. Eight Maitland mines are idle. The miners consider their wages wholly inadequate in view of the increased cost of living. Prof. Raphael Meldola, leading expert in methods of manufacturing coal tar dyes, formerly professor of chemistry at the Finsbury Technical College, and from 1912 professor of organic chemistry in the University of London, a former president of the Entomological Society, has left estate valued at £34,956, of which £33,767 is net personalty. It is reported that Dr. Trygve Yensen, of the engineering experiment station of Illinois University, has invented a new method of producing pure iron by means of fusing in vacuum, which, it is believed, will save the electrical indus- tries of the United States more than £3,000,000 a year. Mr. Oswald Jefferson Bainbridge, a director of the Hardy Patent Pick Company, the New Hucknall Colliery Company, the Princeton Coal and Land Company, and the Vagliano Anthracite Collieries Limited, and of the Blackwell, Bolscver, Newbiggin, Wharncliffe, Silkstone, West Mickley, and Princeton colliery companies, who died on September 27 last, left £178,636 gross and £175,790 net. Messrs. A. J. Greenly and Theodore Denison have taken over Baldwin and Wills Works, St. Albans-road, Watford, and commenced business as manufacturing electrical and mechanical engineers under the style of Greenly and Denison. The offices of the partnership are 37 and 38, Strand, W.C., and the firm are in a position to quote for small turning, boring, screw-cutting., planing, die casting, and wood- working of every description. The business known as Greenly Advertising Service will be carried on by Mr. Greenly as heretofore, and in . this connection we understand that steadily increasing business amongst engineering firms has necessitated an increase in the technical staff. We have been asked to point out that in the Bow Street case reported on page 39 of our last week’s issue, the collieries concerned were the Allerton By water Collieries, near Castleford, Yorkshire, and not “Baywater,” as stated. The case was against Charles Frobisher for forging the name of Mr. H. F. Smithson, agent and manager of the collieries, on a public document to the Mining Board of Examinations. Defendant was committed for trial. Returns issued by Lloyd's Register show that, excluding warships, there were 420 vessels, of 1,363,590 tons gross, under construction in the United Kingdom at the end of the year. The tonnage is about 173,000 tons less than that which was building at the end of the September quarter, and about 264,000 tons less than that building at the end of 1914. The Register points out that “ the rate of progress in merchant ship construction continues to be very much reduced in the present circumstances, and that the immediate output will be considerably less than that which would be obtained under normal conditions.” In the King’s Bench Division on Tuesday, Mr. Justice A. T. Lawrence concluded the hearing of the action brought by Mr. R. E. Horrox, mining engineer, of Worksop-road, Handworth, near Sheffield, against the New Russia Com- pany, owners of coal mines in Southern Russia, to recover damages for alleged wrongful dismissal.—The defence was that the dismissal was justified on the ground that the plaintiff insisted on dismissing Mr. Kovalsky, the engineer recognised by the Russian Government, against the wishes of Mr. Switzen, the general manager. At the trial in November last the jury found that the plaintiff was wrong in insisting on the dismissal of Mr. Kovalsky, against the wishes of Mr. Switzen, but they thought that, having regard to the whole of the evidence laid before them, the plaintiff’s dismissal should carry with it six months.’ salary (£750).— After hearing new arguments of counsel, his lordship said he agreed with the finding of the jury that the plaintiff was wrong in insisting on the dismissal of Mr. Kovalsky. He gave judgment for the defendant company with costs, except the costs of an issue on which the plaintiff had succeeded. Stay of execution was granted on terms, with a view to an appeal. Second Report of the Coal Mining Organisation Committee. A further Report (Cd. 8147) on the conditions pre- vailing in the coal mining industry of the United Kingdom has just been issued, dealing with the effect of the war on the industry during the first 12 months of its continuance, and the results achieved by the remedial measures suggested in the First Report (Colliery Guardian, June 11, 1915, p. 1217). Loss of Output. It was stated in the First Report that “ the loss in production, for the year commencing from the outbreak of war will, unless means are taken to reduce the loss, probably amount to 36 million tons, against which must bo put a probable reduction in the quantity of coal exported of 24 million tons, leaving a net shortage of 12 million tons. But if the miners continue to be recruited for the Forces, the deficiency will be increased.” The Committee arc now able to record that the loss of output has not been so great as was antici- pated, mainly owing, it is believed, to the effect of the remedial measures taken to mitigate loss duo to depletion of labour. Omitting consideration of the small minori.y of pits from wffiich returns were not received, the loss of output over the first 12 months of the war as compared with the like pre-war period was 29,924,727 tons, namely :— Loss of Compared with 1914. Tons. 1913. Angus U........ 2,829,819 ... August September...... 2,773,283 ... September October ......... 2,975,395 ... October November....... 3,358,004 ... November December ........ 2,888,201 ... December 1915. 1914. January......... 3,823,786 ... January February ........ 2,661,817 ... February March ........... 2,467,099 ... March Aprilf ............ 414,531 ... April May ............. 1,868,023 ... May June............. 1,932,320 ... June July............. 1,932,410 ... July Total ..... 29,924,727 *War was declared on August 4, 1914. -|- Owing to the curtailment by the miners of their usual Easter holidays, which occurred in this month, we estimate a saving to production of fully 800,000 tons. Or a decrease of about 11 per cent, on ihe output for. the like period before the war. It will be observed that the recorded loss per month was greatest during the earlier months of the war, the average rate of decrease being, during the first seven months—the period covered by the First Report— 3,044,329 tons per month as against 1,722,884 tons per month over the last five months of the twelve-month period. But in this respect, as stated in the First Report, it should be borne in mind that the reduction in output during the earlier part of the war period was chiefly due to lessened demand. During the la:er months of the war period it was due almost entirely to shortage of labour. It is interesting to note that over the period August, September, and October, 1915, the output was greater than in the like period of 1914 by over 1,500,000 tons, or at the rate of over 500,000 tons per month. The falling off, as compared with August, September, and October 1913, was, however, over 7,250,000 tons, or at the rate of over 2,400,000 tons per month. Reduction in Mine Labour. It is remarkable that the falling off in output has not, of late, been greater, seeing that a steady depletion of mining labour has taken place due to enlistment in H.M. Forces, and, to some ex.ent, to drawing away of men to the munition works. The Committee have not been able to determine the extent, of. the latter, but it has been possible to esfimate fairly accurately the extent of the enlistments in H.M. Forces, for though the second series of returns present features not in agreement with •.hose previously obtained,| yet it may be taken that the number of enlistments over the first 13 months of the war amounted to 250,750, and of these 56,850 had enlisted during March to August 1915 inclusive. The results may be stated thus :— Persons on the books, July la 14. Returns received— Number ....... 1,009,157 .. 235,332 ... 52,058 Percent....... 100 0 .... 23*3 ...... 5*2 Estimated total number— Number ....... 1,1’6,648 .... 250,750 ... 56,850 Percent....... 100 0 .... 22*5 ........ 5 1 Total number of enlistments. The net loss of persons employed, as from July 1914 to August 1915, in the pits making returns, w-as 160,510 persons, or 15*9 per cent., so that the amount of labour which had come into these mines was 74,822; that is to say, the loss of labour amounted to nearly 16 per cent. The average number of persons on the books during the first year of the war was 11*5 per cent, less than in the year before the war, the average number of persons employed below ground falling off by 12-6 per cent. Those figures may be compared with the reduc- tion of 10-9 per cent, in the output.f * Thus some owners when sending in their returns stated that they did not know how many of their men had enlisted, or that they had kept no record until a comparatively late date. f The decrease of output over the 13 war months, as compared with a similar pre-war period, is somewhat less, being 9-5 per cent. Although, as a rule, the pits during the last few months worked more regularly than in the pre-war period; and since the last Report the men, to an extent to which attention is drawn later, shortened their holi- days, and, in some cases, relinquished one of their recognised “ off ” days*; the Committee are able to state that absenteeism had not increased, but remained the same as during the first seven months of the war, viz., 9’8 per cent. For the like period during the pre-war months the absenteeism was. at the rate of 10’5 per cent. The Committee believe that the efforts of the miners’ loaders in attempting to secure more regular attendance at work have not been without result, but wTe must again draw attention to the following facts, which are still confirmatory of the position indicated in the First Report, viz. :— (1) The absenteeism, taking “ face ” labour (coal getters and coal putters) only, is very much higher than the average stated above. (2) Were there no avoidable absenteeism the output would be increased by from 13 to 14 million tons per annum, f As illustrating the first point, the following compara- tive statement, taken from a large colliery, is given :— Miners and brushers paid by contract. Under- ground oncost. Average percentage of absen- teeism calculated over 15 fort- nights, March to Sept. 1914 ... 16’65 .. 5’8 Average percentage of absen- teeism calculated over 15 fort- nights, March to Sept. 1915... 15’6 6’5 Average of two fortnights, Sept. 1915 18’4 ... 6’2 Surface oncost. 5’6 . 5’1 6’4 In considering the question of absenteeism and the productive capacity per man employed, it must be borne im mind that the incoming labour, so far as it is not composed of miners’ sons, or men from other mines, will probably not compare favourably w’ith that; of the labour which has enlisted. ; Absenteeism is lowest in Scotland, arid highest in England. North Staffordshire and Yorkshire are the least satisfactory in this respect, the average for the former district being 13’4 per cent. (March to August 1915), and in the latter 12’7 per cent. Ii is from these districts that complaints have chiefly been received. The districts having the thinnest seams of coal and where the coal is hardest to get show7, generally speaking, the best results in respect of regular attendance at work. Stop Days and Holidays. The pits have, generally speaking, worked with remarkable regularity, and this, as w’ell as the sacrifice of regular holidays, has been an important factor in preventing the loss of output being as great as con- templated. The extent of the gain in days worked per week is shown in the table below.| Days worked per week by collieries in March 1913. 5’67 1914. 5’56 1915. 5’67 April 5’69 5’54 5’70 May 5’64 5’39 5 64 June 5’44 5’25 5’66 July 5’26 5’06 5’42 August Average. for six 5’51 4’55 5’61 months 5’54 5’225 ... 5’62 The following table drawn up by the Board of Trade, relating to the time lost by pits, based upon information furnished to the Board, shows the extent of the curtail- ment of holidays effected during the current year as compared with the year 1914, the figures given referring to the proportionate numbers of persons employed at coal mines which were idle on account of holidays at Easter, Whitsuntide, and August Bank Holidays, and on account of the Scottish annual summer holidays for the numbers of days shown. p'g _ . Number of days on which cq "5 pits were idle on account -p. Whitsun- W of holidays during the ±jaster’ 1 ide. »o §S holiday periods. m § s o 1915. 1914. 1915. 1914. 1915. 1914. Enlistments during March to August 1915. No days p.c. 12 p.c. .. 15 . p.c ... 9 p.c. pc. ... 9 ... 14 . p.c. ... 11 Not more than one day . 10 2 ... 52 ... 25 .. . 55 . ... 28 Not more than two days 71 . ... 29: ... 32 ... 18 .. . 16 ... 11 Not more than three days 6 40 . ... 6 ... 42 .. . 9 . .. 3«i More than three days ... 1 . ... 14 . ... 1 ... 6 .. . 6 . ... 20 Total.............. 100 100 100 100 100 100 This statement relates to the number of days on which pits were idle, but from a consideration of the informa- tion relating to absenteeism it is fairly certain that the engagements in this connection were generally observed by the men. * Thus, in Lanarkshire, the miners have agreed to work 11 days a fortnight instead of 10 days, .and in other Scotch counties they have agreed to -work on the fortnightly idle day if, and when, the pits are idle on any of the usual working days during the fortnight. f Estimated thus :—The output for the 12 months ended July 1915 was 250,367,000 tons. Taking 5 per cent, as the extent of unavoidable absenteeism due to sick- ness, accident, etc., there remains 4-9 per cent, of avoidable absenteeism; or, out of 100 possible shifts, five are unavoid- ably and 4-9 avoidably lost, leaving 90-1 shifts worked. The working of the 4-9 per cent, of shifts avoidably lost would increase the output in the proportion of 90-1 to 95, or by 13,616,000 tons per annum. 1 This table, prepared by the Board of Trade, is exclusive of the principal disputes and holidays.