66 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN July 14, 1916. board set -consisting of a chest type transmitter and head band .receiver. The complete equipment is housed in two heavy ash chests, one containing the battery and miscellaneous telephone apparatus, and the other the reel of heavy wire. The inside of the telephone chest containing the miscellaneous telephone apparatus is similar to an ordinary trunk with a deep tray containing the telephone head set for the man at the surface or base of supplies, the telephone head sets for the rescue party, belts for carrying the reels of wire and jack box, and a battery testing voltmeter and key for readily determining the condition of the batteries. The bottom compartment contains the portable reel box with reel, three extra reels of wire with their carrying cases, the detachable jack box and the batteries. The portable reel box is leather covered, and has* two leather loops to fasten to the belt of one of rescue party. It is so designed that the portable reels can quickly be put in place or removed by pulling out the two knurled knobs -at the ends of the box, which spring back in place, inserting two rods in the core of portable reel, holding it securely and allowing free rotation. When the reel is placed in position the wire can be easily paid out. Attached to the reel box by means of two thumb screws and nuts is the leather-covered jack box. In this are mounted five jacks, all bridged across the line, and connected by means of a brass strap. They afford a rapid and simple means of connecting the rescuer’s sets in the circuit by merely inserting the plug on each set into the jack box. Portable reels of wire are used to connect the rescue party’s equipment with either the end of the large reels of cable (thus to the surface, or base of supplies), or directly with the telephone head set at the surface if the large cable reel is not to be used. On these reels are wound 500 ft. of duplex wire in such a way that there is no danger of its entangling while being unreeled. The wire pays out satisfactorily, even though the rescue man is obliged to crawl on his hands and knees, or assume any other posture in his forward movement. This wire will stand a strain of 30 lb. without breaking. The key mounted in the removable compartment of the telephone chest operates in two directions and has three positions—neutral, right, and left. When pushed in one direction it puts the battery gauge across the battery terminals, so that the exact condition of the batteries may be determined before the rescue party enters the mine, as it would be a serious matter to have them enter the mine and find later that the batteries were too weak to give good service. When the handle of the key is pushed in the opposite direction it locks in that position until released, and disconnects the batteries from the circuit, thus saving current as long as the talk- ing apparatus is not being used. With the key .in the normal or neutral position the batteries are connected in the talking circuit. Contained in the cable chest is a large serviceable aluminium reel with a brass hub. On this is wound 1,300 ft. of No. 16 B and S. gauge duplex wire. The reel is fitted with a brake to prevent the cable from paying out too rapidly when let down the shaft, also ratchet and pawl to stop the rotating of reel whenever desired. A brass crank .is furnished to rewind the cable on the reel. This cable is used to carry the circuit down the shaft or slope of a mine, and consists of the two con- ductors of 26 strands of No. 34 B. and S. gauge tinned wire, then covered with^in. of 30 per cent. Para rubber, over which a covering of braided cotton is applied. The two conductors are twisted together and jute filler is laid in the interstices in order to form a round cordage. Over this cordage a layer of 30 per cent. Para rubber is applied, then the outer covering of a heavy braiding of cotton, saturated in a waterproof compound. This makes a very strong, flexible, and serviceable conductor. On the end of the cable is a plug which connects with a jack on the portable reel box carried by the rescue party. The plugs and jacks on these coils of wire are all interchangeable, and when connected together are self- locking, so they cannot be pulled apart. Using the Equipment. At the time of an accident in a mine the telephone apparatus is adjusted on the heads of the men in the rescue party and then the oxygen generating units are put on. The rescue party then descends as a body down the shaft of the mine to the level at which the accident has taken place. The rescue party then begins to pay out the small portable reels attached to their belts. Should they continue in to the danger zone more than 500 ft. (the length of the wire in the portable reel) another reel is removed from their belts, the party carry- ing four, and attached by the jack and plug arrangement as mentioned before. With the reel box in use with the other apparatus, the course of the talking circuit is from the head telephone set used by the directing party, through the cord and plug connecting with the battery box, through the battery, then the cord connecting the two boxes into a jack mounted in the reel box, through the brushes and collector rings to the cable, thence through a plug and jack to the outside end of the coil of wire carried by the helmet man and from the inside end of the coil through plug and jack to the throat transmitter and head receiver. A telephone equipment of this kind cannot fail to be of incalculable service to those engaged in rescue work. The need of an equipment which will provide instant and continuous communication between the rescue party and the outside of the mine has at various times in the past been brought home to the mine owners and the public by occasions where members of rescue parties have lost their lives when a means of communication with the rear would have enabled them to call for aid in time to pre- vent their death. Another feature to be borne in mind is the fact that the mine rescue telephone makes it possible to encourage and spur on the rescue party and in great measure keep its members from succumbing to the sudden impulses of fear which are engendered by the darkness and danger. MINERS* FEDERATION CONFERENCE. The annual conference of the Miners’ Federation, began its session in the Town Hall, Buxton, on Tuesday. Mr. R. Smillie, Scotland, president, was in the chair, and there were present 167 delegates, including the following members of Parliament : Messrs. W. Abraham, Fred Hall, J. G. Hancock, Barnet Kenyon, W. Johnson, S. Finney, W. Adamson, and J. E. Sutton. The President’s Address. The President said the past nine months since their conference at Nottingham had been a rather strenuous time for their federation and its executive. They had been doing their best to maintain the liberties which, after years of struggle, had been secured by their members; they had been doing everything in their power to carry out the pledge given in London that, so far as the miners’ executive and delegates were concerned, they would do everything possible to secure the largest output of coal from the mines of this country. Personally he wanted to say that the efforts in that direction had not been confined to the executive committee nor to the delegates. He thought they were entitled to be proud of the fact that the rank and file of their organisation had done everything in their power to honourably carry out the pledge they gave to the nation and the Government. They had urged a better .attendance of men at the mines, so as to get rid as far as possible of unnecessary absenteeism. They had also urged their men to- give up their holidays—holidays which were much prized by them and very much required from the health point of view. It was regrettable that, in view of the efforts which the miners had made — he did not mean through the large numbers who had joined the Colours and gone to the front, but the efforts which their comrades at home had made to get the country supplied with coal—that unfair and unjust criticism had sometimes been made in the Press and on the public platform. A few weeks ago he noticed a paragraph in which a newspaper correspondent put the blame for the diminished output and for the higher price upon the miners. The writer asserted that in tihe mining districts, as on the Clyde, there were pro- Germans at work to limit the output of coal, and that the output of coal per pick had gone down in the British coal mines, and that the leaders of the men were doing what they could to limit the output. There was never a more outrageous and lying statement made. It was untrue to say that there had been pro-Germans -among the miners. On the Clyde it had been proved to- be abso- lutely false that anything of the kind existed. It wras equally false among the miners. There was scarcely a leader who had not been doing everything in his power to encourage the men to put out the largest quantity of coal. The statistics of the Government itself proved that it was a lie. The output per pick had gone up con- siderably rather than down since the outbreak of war. It was regrettable that statements of that kind should be made by people who either did not know what they were writing about or knew and deliberately tried to mislead the public so far as the miners were concerned. Their executive, in addition to their efforts to secure the output of coal, had been taking part in some very interesting work in connection with the safety of the mining community. As they were aware, experiments had been in progress for some time under the Govern- ment, with a view of ascertaining how best to prevent the spread of explosions in mines. It was now fully recog- nised that the chief factor in the spread of explosions in mines was coal dust, and consequently the efforts of the Government and their experts had been turned in the direction of endeavouring to minimise the spread of explosions which unfortunately occurred, and their executive had been taking a keen interest, as was their duty, in the question of the limitation of explosions by some methods. The Government or their experts had found out from experiments what they believed had proved now entirely the theory which had existed for some time, that the spreading of fine- stone dust over the coal dust in the mines and the roadways would minimise, if not entirely prevent, the spread of explosions. But their executive had in mind the statistics which existed so far as mining in South Africa was concerned, and were particularly anxious- that the cure for the disease would not turn out worse than the disease iteelf. They were anxious to prevent anything which would destroy the lungs of their men from the inhalation of injurious stone dust. They had attended the experiments at Eskmeals and gone down collieries where experiments were being tried; they had had analyses made of the stone dust which was being tried in different parts of the country; and they were still considering the matter with a view to assisting the Government in its experimental work and advising the Government as far as they possibly could as to what the views of the miners were on this great question. But he thought their executive would not be giving away a secret in saying they were convinced they were making progress in the elimination of the terrible explosions which occurred underground, and the Govern- ment could within a very short time introduce, he hoped with their approval, rules which would make their collieries considerably safer than they had been in the past. They had had several wages movements during the past twelve months. The price of coal had advanced, and in all the districts increases of wages had been given. Again, from newspaper paragraphs one would be led to think that the rank and file of the miners of this country were rapidly becoming millionaires, because a good many foolish paragraphs were appearing in the papers as to the fabulous wages being earned by the mining community. It was true to say that the wages, generally speaking, were higher than they probably had been in the history of mining; it might be, with the exception of 1870-71. In no mining district had the increase in wages kept pace with the increased cost of living. As the sovereign was only worth 12s. 4d. to-day, they could realise how much increase in wages it would take to keep up with the increased cost of living. The Board of Trade had very carefully gone into the question of the increase in the cost of Living, and he thought they might take it that the Board of Trade were not likely to err on the side of being favourable to the workers, and therefore they might accept their figures as correct. Their figures said that what it cost to keep a family of six persons in 1914 was 25s. a week, apart altogether from clothes, boots, light, and fire, and that to-day it cost 40s. fid. Those were Board of Trade figures, and could not be denied. When one was dealing with this subject they were bound to ask themselves what was behind all this? “ Has -the cost of living,” asked Mr. Smillie, “ gone up because of scarcity in the food supply or the other necessaries of life? We know that is not the cause of the enormous increase in the cost of living. The real cause has been the unjust exploitation by certain grades of capitalists, by the owners of ships in the first place, who have been the greatest sinners, and by hundreds of other capitalists who, although they call themselves patriots, have not hesitated to take advantage of the people’s food -in order to earn enormous profits out of the transaction. Now I personally feel that Dick Turpin and Tom King were gentlemen in comparison with many of those who have made themselves millionaires during the past two years. Those of you who are acquainted with the history as it is written of Turpin and King are aware that they never robbed the poor. It was always the wealthy classes they tried to meet on the King’s highway, and after a friendly conversation with them relieved them of their purses. But our wealthy highwaymen do not spare the poor; they have been robbing them right and left. Then there was something dignified about Turpin and King, because they knew they ran considerable risks by going on the King’s highway to rob these wealthy people, and if they were caught they would figure at the end of a rope. But these wealthy highwaymen know there is no such danger awaiting them. They know they can rob without any danger at all of imprisonment or the end of a rope. After all, they are not entirely to blame. I think the Govern- ment are more to blame for allowing this exploitation by those who have been robbing the people of this country 'through the increased cost of living.” There was one thing closely allied to this increased cost of living that their executive had paid some attention to during the year. They had tried to help the worst people of -all classes, the old-age pensioners, by trying to get an increase in the pension from 5s. to 7s. 6d. per week. They were told by Mr. McKenna that no case had been made out. The Board of Trade figures showed that the old-age pensioners’ 5ts. was not worth more than 2s. lOd.; but Mr. McKenna had the audacity to say that no case was made out for an increase of the pension. Mr. McKenna was aware that hundreds of old-age pensioners had given up their pensions and gone into the work- house. Mr. McKenna was aware that although he refused to increase the 5s. it cost 7s. 6d. or 8s. to keep these old people in the workhouse. Mr. McKenna ought to be aware that many of these old people were the grand- fathers and grandmothers of the boys who were giving their lives to the country at the present time, and it was an impertinence to say a case had not been made out. That 5s. would not provide a decent luncheon for Mr. McKenna. Why, it would cost many of the gentlemen in the House of Commons 5s. for a cup of coffee, liqueur and cigar after their dinner. The case never would be recognised until the Government were forced to take it in hand. (Cheers.) They had ultimately, after a good deal of discussion, formed the triple alliance of trans- port workers, railway men and miners. They did not think that those three organisations would be the final alliance. It was only a beginning. They had been engaged with the other bodies in thinking of an after-war programme. They thought they were entitled to do so because the miners, railway men, and transport workers had given a very large proportion of men to his Majesty’s Forces during the last two years. They knew, from the condition of things in those three industries, that any- thing Like sudden demobilisation after the war might be a very serious thing to the men employed in those indus- tries. They were going to approach the Government on the question of demobilisation after the war in order to urge them that such arrangements would be made that there should not be an enormous number of their men coming back to be out of employment after the war, and that they must assure employment or State maintenance until employment could be found for them. There wa