376

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

February 25, 1916.

At the annual meeting of the Hull and Barnsley Railway
Company last week, Col. C. W. Trotter reported that there
had been a considerable development of general business at
the King George Dock, which would prove a valuable addi-
tion to the facilities of the port and their earning power.
The Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway
from Gowdall to Braithwell, the construction of which had
been impeded owing to the war, was likely to be ready for
merchandise and mineral traffic early in April. In con-
junction with other companies, they were now carrying a
considerable tonnage from the collieries which would be
served by this line, and it would be substantially increased
in future. As a separately incorporated body, the railway,
they claim, would be entitled to a due proportion of the
receipts, or if it was included in the controlled arrangement,
the Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Committee
should be paid reasonable compensation.

A question with regard to the liability to increment value
duty of minerals comprised in a mining lease granted by the
Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Company to the
Denaby and Cadeby Main Collieries Limited, on
December 23, 1909, was considered on Monday by the Court
of Appeal. The lease was for 10 years, and the Navigation
Company appealed from a decision of Mr. Justice Rowlatt
that duty was payable. Mr. Lowenthall, for the appellants,
said the point in the case was whether a lease for less than
14 years granted before the passing of the Finance Act,
1909-10, was subject to increment value duty. The lease
was granted for 10 years from January 1, 1910. After the
passing of the Finance Act, 1909-10, increment value duty
was claimed in respect of the year 1912 -13. If the appellants
were liable there would be no question with regard to the
figures. Judgment was reserved.

An explosion, involving the death of four workmen,
occurred shortly before noon on Monday in the yard of the
Middleton Colliery Company, near Leeds. The seat of the
explosion was a small brick building in the centre of the
Broom Bit Yard, used as a distributing centre for explosives
employed in blasting operations below ground. This sub-
stance is known as super-rippite, and there would be about
20 or 301b. of it in the place at the time, wrapped in small
cardboard cartridges. The storekeeper, named Holroyd, was
killed, the other three men being platelayers at work outside
on the colliery railway. The inquest was opened on Tuesday
and adjourned for a week.

The council of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce
recently asked the Board of Trade to secure that users of coal
should be given representation on the district committees
appointed by the central authority for the purpose of con-
trolling coal and coke supplies. In reply to the council’s
request, Mr. W. F. Marwood, chairman to the Coal and Coke
Supplies Committee of the Board of Trade, stated that the
Board of Trade, in consultation with the Home Office and
the Ministry of Munitions, came to the conclusion that com-
mittees of coal owners, appointed on the nomination of the
various local associations, would be the most .suitable bodies
for the purpose. The committees were not intended to be
representative of any interest. Their function was to find
supplies of coal and coke for important consumers, and they
were therefore naturally composed of those who were in the
best position to say where such .supplies could be obtained,
and to ensure that they were forthcoming. The Chamber
has now replied to Mr. Marwood, pointing out that if the
committees were to be empowered to allocate supplies to the
interference of contracts entered into by colliery owners, then
coal users ought to be represented on the committee. There
was considerable anxiety, stated the Chamber, regarding the
industries of the district, which were mainly engaged on
Government work and the manufacture of goods for export,
and they would therefore like to have' assurance that their
requirements in the matter of coal supplies would not be
interfered with. Certain colliery owners were mainly
interested in the exportation of coal, and the Chamber were
strongly of opinion that home industrial requirements should,
in the matter of the allocation of supplies, receive preferential
treatment.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

New Private Railway at Walkden.

The output from the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company’s
(Pilkington Colliery Company) new collieries at Astley Green,
with the opening out of new seams, is steadily increasing.

Mr. Richard Christopher, of Holly Cottage, Haigh, who
has recently left the Wigan Coal and Iron Company Limited,
Wigan, after more than 62 years’ service with the company
and its predecessors,-has been presented with an illuminated
address, a dressing case, and a hand-bag.

The Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company Limited
have asked the Wigan Watch Committee whether the Cor-
poration fire brigade would be prepared to turn out to the
firm’s Chisnall Hall Colliery if necessary, but the feeling of
the Watch Committee, as expressed at a meeting last week,
was that at the present time they could not undertake any
increased responsibilities.

The Worsley District Council last week passed plans for
the construction of a private railway connecting Lord Elles-
mere’s Linnyshaw Colliery, Walkden, with Messrs. Burgess,
Ledward and Company’s extensive Wardley weaving and
dyeing mills, about half a mile away. Supplies of coal will,
by this means, be obtained direct from the colliery.

The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce have decided in
favour of a section of the Chamber being formed for those
in the coal trade. It is thought that when the section is
formed the membership will be about a hundred. The section
itself will be divided into clearly defined interests.

The Sutton Manor Colliery Company, near St. Helens, pro-
pose carrying out important developments in the shape of
sinking new mines and opening out additional seams, an
annual output of one million tons being aimed at. Increased
railway facilities are also being sought in connection with
this scheme of extensions. At present 800 men are employed,
but ultimately this will be increased to close upon 3,000.

Kent.

At Tilmanstone Colliery last week the output was over
1,700 tons, which creates a further record since the reopening
of the mine.

The Snowdown Colliery deep sinking is now down
2,170 ft., and bricked to 2,153 ft. The sinking has been
proceeding through very hard strata, which accounts for
comparatively slow progress recently, but everything is going
on satisfactorily in connection with the work. The output
from the Beresford seam of coal is about 2,500 tons weekly,
and there is good reason to hope that when the second shaft
enters the Snowdown Hard seam, and it is possible to work
this also, that the colliery will soon double its output.

Scotland.

Heriot-Watt Mines Rescue Station Annual Report —
Difficulties in Coal Cutting—Removal of Checkweighman
—Mines Act Prosecution.

At the last ■meeting of the Mining Institute of Scotland
held at Edinburgh, on Saturday, 12th inst., Mr. Hugh
Gillespie, Irvine, gave a demonstration with a new visual
indicator, the feature of which was that it was capable of
being completely controlled by the bottomer. The sug-
gestion was made to the inventor that additional interest
in this new type of indicator may be created if a paper
explanatory of the arrangement were read at a future
meeting.

The minutes of the committee meetings of George Heriot’s
Trust mentions that a report was submitted by Mr. Henry
Briggs to the Mine Rescue Station Advisory Committee on
the work of the rescue station from January 1, 1915, to
January 31, 1916, and it was resolved that, with a view to
obtaining greater uniformity in the medical examination of
entrants for training, authority be given to Mr. Briggs to
reject any candidate presenting himself for training whose
pulse rate exceeds 100 beats per minute. Mr. Briggs
reported that on Sunday, January 16, a call for assistance
was received from the Oakbank Oil Company to a fire which
had broken out in the New Farm Shale Mine, -and that,
although the Oakbank Company are not associated in any
with the rescue station, he felt justified in answering the
call, and that they had been enabled to save the lives of
two men overcome by gas poisoning. It was resolved that
a charge of 150 be made, and also that hereafter a fixed fee
of 5s. per hour for each member of the staff of the station
engaged in answering any call be charged to the company
concerned, if not associated with the station, in addition to
the mileage dues for the cars and any incidental expenses.

At a meeting of the West of Scotland Branch of the
Association of Mining Engineers, held at Glasgow, on
Saturday, a practical paper was read by Mr. H. T.
Mackinnon on “ Some Coal Cutting Difficulties.” At the
outset, the author maintained that underground officials
should give the electrical and mechanical engineers all the
assistance possible as, unless this was done, it "was impos-
sible to make coal cutting by machinery the success it
should be. In order to give the coal-cutting machine justice,
the coal face ought to be straight and maintained in good
condition. Failure to do this put unnecessary work on the
motor, strained the machine, and frequently caused over-
loads. Further, badly kept faces made it a somewhat
difficult and expensive job to maintain the machines in good
order. At most collieries the underground manager
employed the machinemen, but it was a matter for regret
that in many cases the men so employed did not know the
controller from the motor. As coal cutters demanded
intelligence and experience 'in their operation, he ventured
to suggest that machinemen when first engaged should be
tested by the electrical engineer in charge. Experience had
shown that there was no other class of machinery more
certain to yield a return for its proper maintenance or exact
so severe a penalty for its neglect than the coal cutter of
the modern type. The author mentioned the many causes
of sparking and other troubles on the bar, disc, and chain
type of coal cutters, and he emphasised the necessity of
standardising plugs for machines ’and gate end boxes.

In the Scottish Court of Session on Friday last, Lord
Hunter gave judgment in the note of suspension and interdict
at the instance of Robert Addie and Sons Limited,
Uddingston, against Thomas Sullivan. Sheriff-Substitute
Shennan, in Hamilton Sheriff Court, pronounced an order
in a petition by the complainers removing Sullivan from the
position of checkweighman at Viewpark Colliery on the
ground that his actings interfered with the management of
the colliery. The complainers said that the respondent
persisted in going to the pit head and exercising the duties
of checkweighman. The respondent contended that he was
not merely checkweighman, but also time checker and
inspector under the Coal Mines Regulation Act at the
respondents’ colliery. Lord Hunter in the Bill Chamber
granted interim interdict against the respondent. Subse-
quently the interdict was modified to enable the respondent
to perform the duties of time checker and inspector.
The question for his lordship to-day was whether the
respondent was time checker and also inspector, or held one
or other of these offices. Lord Hunter decided that the
respondent occupied the position of inspector. The interdict
otherwise was made perpetual. No expenses were allowed
to either party. His lordship said the respondent stated that
he was first appointed time checker in 1910 by a meeting of
the miners, and that although he never received any separate
remuneration for so acting, he in the knowledge of the com-
plainers from that date discharged the duties of time checker
as well as of checkweigher. In his lordship’s opinion there
was not sufficient evidence of the respondent having so
acted. The complainers challenged the appointment of the
respondent as inspector on the ground that it was made by
the executive of the union. It was clear that that body
made the nomination, but when the workers adopted the
nomination at their meeting on May 13, 1915, it became
their appointment. No objection had been taken by any of
the workers to the appointment of the respondent, and his
lordship did not think that the complainers were entitled to
challenge it. The question of the respondent’s appointment
as time checker was more difficult and complicated. The
owners of a mine appeared to his lordship to be entitled
to insist on a statutory declaration being handed to them as
a condition of their admitting anyone to the mine to act as
checker. In the present case they had received no such
declaration as regarded the respondent’s appointment.

In the Hamilton Sheriff Court on Saturday, Sheriff
Shennan gave judgment in the prosecution against James
Dalgleish, manager of Gateside Colliery, Cambuslang,
belonging to the Flemington Coal Company, and of
Alexander Foster, assistant colliery manager there, on
charges of having contravened the Mines Act. The Sheriff
held that the charges relating to ventilation, insecure road-
ways, and failure to provide roadways of sufficient height
to allow ponies to pass without rubbing on the roof were
not proven, and that the managers established their defence
under section 75 of the Act with regard to the charge relating
to the main intake airway. Dealing with the charges in
reference to the main intake airway and the alleged defective
notice at the pit head, the Sheriff stated that the airway
had not been neglected by the manager. During the 18
months previous to the complaint it had been twice replaced,
and at this time two repairers had been working for about
seven weeks in widening the air course to a height of 6 ft.
and a width of 7 ft. They worked in from the pit bottom,
but their progress was somewhat slow, but the intention was

to carry out the widening through the place now complained
of. It was impossible to say on September 9 or 10 how long
the airway had been in that condition in which it was
found. The fourth charge raised a question which seemed
to be singularly inappropriate for a criminal prosecution,
although he did not say it was an incompetent charge. There
was a notice dealing with this matter, but the complaint was
that it had been defective. It had been posted at the colliery
since 1912, and no inspector had ever taken exception to it.
Mr. Dalgleish became manager in April 1914. He accepted
the notice as adequate, and his name was put to it. It
seemed that section 50, sub-section 4 of the Act, requiring
this notice, had been the subject of much discussion amongst
managers, and he must say he was not surprised at the
difficulties which they, as practical men, had had in con-
struing it. The manager here had certainly no intention of
contravening or evading the section. He adopted the inter-
pretation which his predecessor gave to that provision. It
was, he thought, a wrong interpretation, but he was surprised
at the matter being made a charge in a criminal complaint.
He was satisfied that the manager would have complied with
any suggestion made by H.M. inspector as to altering the
notice. No doubt a manager was responsible for the notice,
but it was venial when a. man failed to comply with a
statutory requirement merely through a mistaken reading
of a somewhat obscure legal enactment—a reading, too,
which was very commonly adopted. Towards the close of
his judgment, the Sheriff says :—“ The result is that I find
the fourth charge proved against James Dalgleish, and all
the remaining charges not proven as against both
respondents. Owing to the purely technical nature of the
contravention found proved, I dismiss the charge against
James Dalgleish without a conviction. This case has
occupied two and a-half days, during which several men have
been withdrawn from the work of coal getting, which at
present is regarded as of supreme national importance. I
am far from suggesting that the importance of the work
justifies any relaxation in the enforcement of the valuable
provisions of the Coal Mines -Act for securing the safety of
the workers. It rather makes their enforcement more neces-
sary. I know how vigilant H.M. inspectors of mines have
to be in checking the natural tendency of those engaged in
the work to make light of its dangers and to resent what
seem to them needless precautions. But of the five charges
in this complaint, however, only one, that relating to the
intake airway, has any substance in it, and it could have
been disposed of in a single day. I regret that time and
energy should have been frittered away at this juncture in
the investigation of unsubstantial complaints.”

CONTRACTS OPEN FOR COAL AND COKE.

For Contracts Advertised in this issue received too late
for inclusion in this column, see Leader and Last
White pages.

•Southampton, March 9.—The Corporation invite alterna-
tive tenders for the supply and delivery at Otterbourne
Siding, nfear Eastleigh, of cobbles and gas coke for six or
twelve months. Form of tender and all particulars may be
obtained at the waterworks engineer’s office, French-street,
Southampton. Sealed tenders upon the printed form, and
endorsed “ Tender for Coal, Waterworks,” must be delivered
at the town clerk’s office by 12 o’clock at noon on the 9th
prox. No pledge is given to accept the lowest or any tender.
R. R. Linthorne, town clerk, Town Clerk’s Office, Municipal
Offices, Southampton.

Abstracts of Contracts Open.

Carlisle, March 15.—Coal, for the Carlisle Education
Committee. Particulars from A. H. Collingwood, clerk,
Chief Education Office, 15, Fisher-street, Carlisle.

Cork, March 2.—50 tons of best Welsh steam coal, for
the Guardians. Forms from J. Cotter, clerk of Union.

Darwen (Lancs.), March 4.—Rough gas slack and nuts,
for the Gas Committee. Forms from A. H. Smith, gas
engineer, Darwen.

Eastry, March 6.—Coal and coke, for the Guardians.
Forms from the master of the workhouse at Eastry.

Langho (Lancs.), February 29.—Coal, for the Lancashire
Inebriates’ Reformatory, Langho. Forms from the director,
Inebriates’ Reformatory, Langho, near Blackburn.

Prestwich (Lancs.), March 1.—Coal and coke, for the
Urban District Council. Forms from the deputy surveyor,
Council Offices.

Salisbury, February 29.—50 tons of Welsh steam smoke-
less coal, for the Guardians. Forms from E. Mould, clerk
to the Guardians, Union Offices, Crown Chambers.

Southall (Middlesex), March 4.—House coal and coke,
for the Southall Norwood Urban District Council. Forms
from R. Brown, engineer and surveyor, Town Hall.

Thames Ditton, March 7.—Abercrave anthracite bean
coal, for the Esher and Ditton Urban District Council.
Forms from the surveyor, Council Offices, Portsmouth-road,
Thames Ditton.

Whitecroft (I.W.), February 29.—150 tons steam coal
and 50 tons house coal, for the Isle of Wight County Asylum.
Forms from Mr. J. H. Green, clerk to the Committee,
Whitecroft, I.W.

Woodford (Essex), February 29.—Coal and coke, for
the Urban District Council. Forms from the surveyor,
Council Offices, Woodford Green, E.

The date given is the latest upon which tenders can be
received.

CONTRACTS OPEN FOR ENGINEERING, IRON
AND STEEL WORK, Ac.

Burnley, February. 29.— Wind Engine.—Erection of
wind engine and pump, for the Burnley and District Joint
Hospial Board. Particulars from the borough surveyor,
Town Hall, Burnley.

Dublin, March 1.—Steel Carriage Bogies.—12 pressed
steel carriage bogies, for the Great Northern Railway
Company (Ireland). Particulars from the secretary, Amiens
Street Terminus, Dublin.

Manchester, March 1.—Mams.—Water mains, valves,
etc., for the Board of Guardians. Particulars from F. H.
Overmann, 49, King-street, Manchester.

Manchester, March 7—Railway Stores, etc.—Coal dust,
ganister,. gas, water, steam, and hydraulic tubing and
fittings; iron bars, screws, bolts, nuts; steel angles, billets,
castings, etc., for the Great Central Railway Company.
Specifications from Stores Supt., Gorton, Manchester.