March 31, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

Regarding the mechanical appliances for handling
coal, many plants use the overhead conveyor system, the
apron being from 45 ft. to 60 ft. above the floor of the
shed. In many instances the writer states that he has
seen buckets containing from 2 to 5 tons dumped from
that height to a concrete (or other) hard surface used as
flooring. In every instance the amount of fall should
bo reduced by lowering the bucket before tipping, but
if one is obliged to use a closed shed it should be kept
as open as possible, and when storing coal the maximum
number of air passages should be provided between and
around the piles.

It is recommended that tubes be inserted through
which thermometers could be lowered. Daily readings
should bo taken, whilst if time permits readings of the
temperature of the coal in the various hatches of the
collier should be taken prior, to discharge. This reading
makes a very fair basis on which to compare the subse-
quent heating.

THE MINING ASSOCIATION OF
GREAT BRITAIN.

The 62nd annual meeting of this association was held
at the Westminster Palace Hotel on Thursday after-
noon, being preceded by the usual meeting of the
executive council at 11 o’clock in the forenoon. Sir
Francis Brain presided at both meetings, in the absence
of the president, the Right Hon. the Earl of Crawford
and Balcarres, and there were present the under-
named:—Col. W. C. Blackett, Messrs. W. 0. Wood,
J. H. Merivale, John Morison, C. C. Leech, Ridley
Warham, S. Hare, J. J. Brest, and Reginald Guthrie
(North of England); F. Parker Rhodes, J. H. Ashton,
A. Blenkinsop, J. Francis Warrington, C. B. Crawshaw,
and Roslyn Holiday (Yorkshire); H. Eustace Mitton
and Mark Fryar (Midlands); Ernest E. Bramall
(Leicestershire), W. G. Phillips (Warwickshire); the
Right Hon. Lord Rhondda, Fred. L. Davis, W. W.
Hood, W. Forster Brown, H. E. Gray, Alfred S. Tallis,
W. H. Mewton, Joseph Shaw, K.C., Charles Kenshole,
T. E. Watson, Evan Williams, T. H. Deakin, Charles
E. Cleeves, and Finlay A. Gibson (Monmouthshire and
South Wales); Adam Nimmo, James M. Strain, James
T. Forgie, and Robert Baird (Lanarkshire); James A.
Clarke (Ayrshire); Charles Carlow and James Bain (Fife
and Clackmannan); James Walker (Lothians); Sir W.
Scott Barrett, D.L., Sir Henry Hall, I.S.O., W. H.
Hewlett, Jesse Wallwork, A. M. Lamb, A. J. A.
Orchard, Harry Speakman, Ernest Douglas, Vincent
Bramall, Tom Stone, R. B. Mawson, G. E. Lomax,
Henry Bouchier, Richard Landless, and C. W. Eames
(Lancashire); H. W. Hughes (South Staffordshire); Col.
A. H. Heath and J. Selby Gardner (North Staffordshire
and Cannock Chase); George E. J. McMurtrie and
Egbert Spear (Somersetshire); and Sir Thomas R.
Ratcliffe-Ellis (law clerk and secretary). Numerous
letters had been received from coal owners in the
different districts regretting their inability to be present.

At the meeting of the executive council, the
Chairman said he was sure the council would rejoice at
the high honour conferred upon Lord Rhondda. They
all knew of the great service he had rendered to the
Government and the nation in the period of stress they
were passing through. They all recognised the great
ability which he had shown, and also the great honour
which had been conferred on their trade through Lord
Rhondda. They were thankful for the providence
which saved him from the fate of many, who had been
lost in the awful disaster to the “ Lusitania.” He pro-
posed that they heartily congratulate his lordship upon
the honour which had been conferred upon him.

The resolution was carried with acclamation.

Lord Rhondda said he appreciated very highly indeed
the resolution they had just passed. He had no idea
when he came to the meeting that any such resolution
would be moved. At the same time he thanked them
very much indeed.

The Chairman said he was sure they were all very
pleased to. see Col. Blackett with them that day.

A number of important matters were then discussed
at some length.

At the annual meeting of the association in the after-
noon, the report of the executive council for 1915-16,
and the audited balance-sheet and accounts of the
'association for the past year were received and adopted.

In rising to propose “ The President of the Association
for the ensuing year,” the Chairman said that those of
them who had had the pleasure and privilege of working
with the president-elect, Mr. Adam Nimmo, for some
years past, would know what excellent services he had
rendered to the association from time to time. He was
sure he was doing the association a great honour in
accepting the position, and he had no doubt he would be
of great assistance to them. He had proved himself a
good friend to the coal owners in the past. He could
testify as to how hard he had. worked, more particularly
when the Coal Mines Act of 1911 was in embryo. His
assistance and counsel at that time particularly were
very much appreciated. He had the greatest pleasure
in moving that Mr. Nimmo be elected their president
for the ensuing year.

Air. J. M. Strain said he had very great pleasure in
seconding the proposal of the chairman, viz. : That Mr.
Adam Nimmo be and is hereby elected the president of
the Mining Association of Great Britain for the ensuing
year. Air. Nimmo had been the president of the
Lanarkshire Coal Masters’ Association, and also chair-
man of the Conciliation Board for Scotland. He
had occupied and discharged the duties of both offices
with the greatest distinction, and he felt quite sure he
would do the same as president of the Mining Associa-
tion, and that he would most fully justify his election.

The resolution, on being put to the meeting, was
carried with applause.

Air. Nimmo, on taking the chair, said he thanked them
for his election, though he need hardly say that he was
deeply sensible of the great honour they had conferred
upon him. He recognised it as the greatest honour that
the association could confer upon a coal owner in the
United Kingdom. He felt, of course, his own short-
comings in taking up such an office. He knew he was
surrounded by many who had had a longer experience
of the coal trade than he had; who were better informed
as to its needs than he could possibly be. The only
thing he could say, in taking up that office, was that he
came of a stock that had been connected with the coal
mining industry for three generations before him, and
that, they would see, took them back to very primitive
times. He was sure he could rely on the indulgence
of members and on their support, in the work he was
taking up, and he could assure them he would do his
best to bo of use to the association in the position of
president. He recognised the high 'traditions connected
with the office, and he trusted he might be able to main-
tain those traditions. They had experienced a strenuous
time during the past year. He hoped the burdens of
the future would not be so, heavy as they had been. Fie
urged them to render to the fullest extent any service
possible to the nation during the period of the war, that
they should develop more unity of purpose, and do all
in their power to bring the Avar to a conclusion. Fie
expressed the hope that at the termination of his office-
they would be experiencing a period of peace and
prosperity.

On the motion of Air. McMurtrie, seconded by Air. E.
Bramall, the best thanks of the association Avere
accorded to the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres for his
valuable services to the association; and it was resolved
that his lordship and Air. A. F. Pease be the two vice-
presidents of the association for the coming year.

The executive council was appointed, and the call for
the current year on members of the association was
fixed.

A cordial vote of thanks was accorded to Sir William
S. Barrett for his valuable services as hon. treasurer,
and to Messrs. Reginald Guthrie and Col. Williamson
for their services as honorary auditors of the accounts of
the association, coupled with a request that they would
favour the association by continuing to act in the
capacities named.

The Parliamentary and other committees having been
appointed, Col. A. H. Heath, proposed that the best
thanks of the association be given to Sir Thomas
Ratcliffe-Ellis for his valuable and greatly appreciated
services as law clerk and secretary.

Sir Thomas having thanked the mover and the
members for the resolution, the proceedings terminated.

COLLIERY RECRUITING COURTS.

The Government having decided that the cases of single
men of military age who have gone into reserved occupations
since August 15 last shall be specially reviewed, the following
procedure will be followed in regard to coal mines :—

(1)	The Home Office has asked the owner of each coal
mine to furnish (not later than April 10) to the court in
duplicate, on the form provided for the purpose (Form 11),
a list of Ml such men who have been taken into employment
at the mine since August 15, 1915.

(2)	The Court will forward the duplicate copies of the lists
to the military representative as they are received,

(3*) If the military representative is of opinion that the
case of any mine ought to be investigated by the court with
a view to seeing whether any such men can be released from
the mine for military service, he will in the first instance
confer with the colliery court and explain the grounds on
which he thinks that men can be spared from the mine.

(4*) If the court agree that there is a primd facie case for
investigation, they will fix a day for the hearing, and the
procedure laid down in the general instructions will be
followed.

(5*) If the court are satisfied, after hearing the parties,
that any of the men can be released without seriously
affecting the output of coal from the colliery, the court shall
withdraw the certificates of exemption of such men, but the
court will not fail to bear in mind that the maintenance of
the national output of coal is a matter of prime importance.

(6) A record of the decision of the court in the case of each
man shall be entered on the list furnished by the owner.

Men who have left the mines since the previous lists were
submitted should be included, but with a note stating that
they have left, and, if possible, where they have gone to.

* In any cases in which the original applications for
exemption have not been determined by the court at the
time when the military representative makes his applica-
tion under these instructions, the question of the release
of these men should be considered at the hearing of the
original applications, due notice being given to the parties
that it is going to be raised.

Wagon Pooling Arrangement. — As an experiment, a
“ pool ” of all open deep-sided wagons of three or more
planks', with doors on each side, has been arranged by the
London and North-Western, Great Western, Midland, North-
Eastern, and Lancashire and Yorkshire railway companies,
and will begin next Sunday afternoon. Suggestions have
even been made that all railway wagons should be “ pooled,”
but the council of the Associated Chambers of Commerce
unanimously decided that that plan was impracticable. The
modified scheme now adopted is likely to be particularly
useful to dock authorities 'and large industrial works for their
outward traffic. The five companies have set up an organi-
sation to secure for each an adequate supply of. wagons for
its own business. On dock estates, harbours, collieries, and
works served by either one or more of the five companies
parties to the common user arrangement, the user of the five
companies’ wagons in common is permissible to or vid the
lines of any of the five companies concerned, but not other-
wise. The exceptions to the scheme include all coke wagons;
all wagons which have not side doors the full depth of the
wagon; all wagons exceeding 21ft. in length over buffers
and 10ft. 6 in. in wheel base; Great Western vacuum-fitted
stock; Midland hopper bottom, end door, and 12-ton high-
sided wagons.

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SOME RECENT DECISIONS UNDER THE

WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION ACT.

[Specially - Contributed.]

Partial Dependency.

In schedule I. of the Workmen’s Compensation Act a dis-
tinction is drawn, in connection with the basis on which
compensation must be computed when an injury results in
death, between a workman who leaves “ dependants wholly
dependent upon his earnings,” and one who only leaves
“ dependants in part dependent upon his earnings.” In the
former case, the compensation is ‘‘ a sum equal to his earn-
ings in the employment of the same employer during the three
years preceding the injury, or the sum of 4-150, whicheA’er
of these sums is the larger, but not exceeding in any case
£300 ”; in the latter case the compensation is “ such sum,
not exceeding in any case the amount payable under the fore-
going provisions, as may be agreed upon or, in default of
agreement, may be determined on arbitration under this Act
to be reasonable and proportionate to the injury to the said
dependants.” In the case of complete dependency, however,
there is a proviso to the effect that ” the amount of any
weekly payments made under this Act, and any lump sum
paid in redemption thereof, shall be deducted ” from the sum
awarded to the dependants. In the case of partial depen-
dency, no such deduction is expressly provided for, but in
a claim against Messrs. James Joicey Limited, colliery
owners, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, it was recently contended that
the proviso must be regarded as implied ; it would be unreason-
able, counsel argued, that partial dependants should in that
respect be in a better position than persons wholly dependent.
The county court judge refused to make any deduction, and
the Court of Appeal affirmed his decision without calling on
counsel for the applicant. Lord Justice Bankes said that if
a county court judge made any such deduction, he would be
disregarding what the Act says he is to do, that is to say,
determine what compensation is reasonable and proportionate
to the injury accruing to the dependants as and from death.
The fact remains, however, that as the Act stands, it would
seem to be possible for a. county court judge to award as
much for partial as for complete dependency, and without
any deduction.

Disobeying Instructions.

The Court of Appeal heard the appeal of the applicant
in the case of Hopley v. Pool, Lorrimer, and Tabberer, from
the decision of Judge Cann, at the Coventry County Court.
The employers contended that as the applicant, who was
employed as a machine hand in a cotton mill had been told
not to touch certain rollers, the accident did not arise
out of and in the course of his employment. The county
court judge, therefore, made an award in favour of the
employers. Their lordships dismissed the appeal with
costs, holding that as there was evidence to support the
finding of fact of the county court judge they could not
interfere.

Accident and Aneurism.

In a case heard by the Court of Appeal recently, the work-
man was engaged in moving boxes which contained tin at
the King’s Dock, Swansea, when he suddenly fell back and
died, the cause of death being rupture of an aneurism. The
medical evidence was to the effect that the aortic valves were
in a diseased condition. Counsel contended that the case of
Clover, Clayton and Company v. Hughes, tried in the House
of Lords, had decided that rupture of this kind taking place
when a man was engaged at his ordinary work was an
accident. But the county court judge had decided that the
man’s condition was of such long standing that inevitably
sooner or later he would have died from it, and he held that
the man’s death did not occur through an accident arising
out of his employment, because that accident would have
happened whether the man was working or not. For the
respondents, counsel submitted that the case of Clover,
Clayton v. Hughes did not mean that every case of the
rupture of an aneurism was an accident, but that each case
had to be treated on its circumstances and merits. His con-
tention was that the man died from natural causes.

The Master of the Rolls, in giving judgment, said he never
saw a case in which death had more clearly arisen out of
the employment, in the sense of being physically connected
with it, because he died in the act of doing the work which
he was employed to do. It seemed to him that the court
had to deal with the aneurism at the time it was ruptured,
and the evidence seemed to him to be all one way on that
point. The test could not be that the man was doing at the
fatal moment lighter work than on the rest of the day, but
was the work which he was doing at an earlier hour—work
which was one of the causes which led to the accident. No
doubt every man took with him to his employment certain
disabilities, which rendered him more liable in some parti-
cular to accident, but such a man was none the less entitled
to claim for an accident arising out of his employment. The
fact that the man was at the time doing the lightest part of
his work was irrelevant. It seemed to him (the Master of
the Rolls) that the facts in the present case were really undis-
tinguishable from that in the Clover-Clayton case, which
had been decided in favour of the workman. The evidence
and the facts of the case irresistibly showed that there was
an accident, and that the judge misappreciated the meaning
of the word accident in the Workmen’s Compensation Act.
The case would be sent back to the learned judge, and the
appeal allowed.

Basis of Compensation.

Judge Benson has given judgment in the Sheffield County
Court, in a claim for compensation for injuries against
Messrs. John Walsh Limited, of Sheffield, by Percy Horton,
woodworking mechanic. His Honour held that. the
applicant was entitled to compensation at the basis of
34s. 4d., and awarded 10s. a week. Last December, it
appeared, Horton sustained an accident necessitating the
amputation of four fingers. The employers calculated his
average wages at 24s. 4d. a week, and allowed him com-
pensation at the rate of 12s. 2d. a week until he became
convalescent, when they gave him light work at 21s. a
week and Is. 8d. in addition as compensation. These terms
were accepted for some time. Then Horton demanded com-
pensation based on average earnings of 34s. 4d. a week on
the ground that some months prior to the .accident he became
of age, and was put on a man’s wage. Hence he would
have been earning much more money since the accident than
the data! wage of a boy, and it was agreed between the
parties that his average wages if calculated on that basis
would have been 34s. 4d. a week. Leave was granted to
give notice of appeal.