August 25, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

357

the ithermal capacity of the gas, shows the temperature
of the products of combustion, provided no heat has been
lost. This is a condition which could take place only in
an absolutely athermic 'chamber in which the gases are
free to expand.

The flame temperatures of a few characteristic gases
have been calculated :—

First, a producer gas burned under three conditions :
with cold air, with air pre-heated to 1,000 degs. Cent.,
and with both air and gas pre-heated to 1,000 degs. Cent.
Fig. 1 shows the ideal flame temperatures produced by
the latent heat of the gas, 1,618 degs. Cent., by the
latent heat of the gas plus the thermal capacity
of the air, -1,974degs. Cent., and by the latent
heat of the gas plus the thermal capacities of both
the gas and the air 2,286 degs. Cent. The additional
heat gained by regeneration is shown to be 668 degs.
Cent., approximately 29’5 per cent, of the higher tem-
perature, or 40 per cent, increase over the temperature
which may be attained without regeneration. This
readily explains the extensive use of the Siemens furnace
for industrial purposes.

Second, a lean coke oven gas burned with cold air and
with air pre-heated to 1,000 degs. Cent. (fig. 2).

Third, natural gas furnished by the East Ohio Gas
Company in Cleveland (fig. 3).

Fourth, acetylene gas burned with air (fig. 4).

Fifth, acetylene gas burned with oxygen (fig. 5).

The last two show the effect of the nitrogen of the air
in reducing flame temperature. Commercially the flame
temperatures shown cannot be realised, but the
diagrams furnish valuable comparative data and are an
index regarding the suitability of a gas for a particular
purpose.

MINING INDUSTRY AND MILITARY
SERVICE.

A number of appeals by Blackpool coal merchants were
heard on Thursday of last week, and the following decisions
were announced : Three carters, disallowed, but not to be
called up before Aug. 31; three coal merchants and carters
in certified occupations, conditional exemption, subject to
training with the Volunteer Training Corps; .a single-man
coal merchant, final exemption until Oct. 31; a porter and
loader and two carmen and deliverers, two appeals
disallowed, and conditional exemption in the third case.

The county appeal tribunal at Chester last week
adjourned an appeal of a Chester coal merchant against the
decision of the local tribunal to grant two months’ exemp-
tion, conditional on no further appeal being made. He
claimed that he was in a certified occupation, that his was
a one-man business, and that single men in the same trade
and in the same district had received conditional exemption.

Mr. J. Megson, coal merchant, 38 years of age, of Ossett,
has had his appeal on conscientious grounds refused by the
appeal tribunal, who declined leave to carry the question
further.

A colliery company appealed, at a sitting of the Great
Harwood tribunal last week, for a cashier amd managing
clerk who could not be replaced, and for a clerk who was in
charge of the distribution of house coal locally. It was
suggested that the latter was to all intents and purposes a
“ wharf manager.” If he were taken away it might mean
that the firm would have to give up the distribution of coal
locally. The cashier and managing clerk was granted con-
ditional exemption, and the other man final exemption till
Sept. 30. A coke burner appealed for by the same firm
received conditional exemption.

When Andrew Lowther was charged at Barnard Castle
with having failed to report himself for military service, it
was stated that he had been working on munitions, but was
discharged in mid-July. Recently the military learned that
he was working at Woodland Colliery. Defendant informed
the magistrates that he understood that miners were exempt,
and that as that was his work, he would prefer to be
employed in a mine, where the working hours were shorter
and the wages higher. He thought he was doing his bit
in this way for his country, the same as men who had
joined the Army. His plea did not avail, however, for he was
fined £2 and remanded to await an escort. Incidentally, this
case illustrates one of the disadvantages to miners of being
outside of the Munitions Act, for, had mining been included
in that Act, a worker on munitions who desired to change his
employment to the coal pits would have been given a limited
time in which to do so.

At the Easington rural district tribunal meeting it was
announced that the certificates granted to certain colliery
clerks had been cancelled, and that those who wished to
appeal would have to come before the tribunal. If they did
not appeal, they would have to go up. The advisory com-
mittee had been acting upon certain erroneous instructions.

At the same meeting, the chairman referred to the cases
on the list of workmen at by-product coke works. They
were advised by an inspector, he said, that it was essential
that these men should be left at their work. They were also
advised that they must try to get every available man for
the Army. There were one. or two men in groups 1 and 2,
and, whilst he would strongly advise them to exempt a large
number of the men, he thought it might be possible to give
one oi- two a month, say, so that the employers might be
able to fill their places. In reply to a member, the chairman
added that there was no evidence that some of the men had
gone to these works to escape military service. The manager
of a by-product works at Shotton applied for 19 men, and
stated that some of them were working 11 and 12 shifts per
week, and that every one of them was working overtime.
Three of the men were directed to join the Army, and con-
ditional exemption was granted to the others.

At Whitehaven tribunal, the Ullcoats Mining Company
applied for conditional exemption for a young man of 18, a
surface labourer. The man had only recently been employed,
having left the land. The tribunal decided that it was neces-
sary to stop young men leaving the land to go into the
mines when they became 18. Applicant pointed out that
iron ore wTas wanted, and that they were needing more men
for the mines. The military representative said this man
could not be of much value as a miner. The tribunal refused
the application.

A workman who applied to the Newcastle Munitions
tribunal for a leaving certificate stated that he left the pit,
when times were bad, to work on munitions. A woman had
now replaced him at that work, and he had been given fresh

employment. He desired to return to the mines, however.
The chairman granted the certificate asked for, remarking
that it was hard that a man of applicant’s age should be
asked to learn a new trade. In addition, men were badly
needed at the mines.

At Newcastle tribunal on Wednesday last, an applicant
for exemption on conscientious grounds stated that he was
a member of the Society of Friends, and had a Quakei
ancestry extending over 250 years. He was a voluntary
worker for the Friends’ ambulance. He was a colliery
manager, but was willing to give up that employment for
ambulance work. He was granted exemption conditional on
carrying out that undertaking.

Before the Breconshire appeal tribunal on Tuesday,
several applications were heard from persons engaged in
cutting and handling pit-wood, a large area of plantations in
that county having been taken over so that the shortage of
imported pit-wood might to some extent be remedied. The
tribunal refused to grant exemption, and the applicants were
referred to the Ministry of Munitions, so that they might
obtain badges, if they so desired.—It was stated in regard
to one of the cases that the decision had been come to because
of the treatment to which the tribunal was subjected ; certain
men who had been refused exemption having gone to the
Ministry of Munitions and obtained badges, and so had
flouted the tribunal’s decision.—In one or two cases persons
load bought horses, and had been accepted as hauliers of
timber and given badges ; and “ it was only right,” said the
chairman, ” that that fact should be brought to the notice
of the authorities.”

TRADE AND THE WAR.

Included in the list of officers who were mentioned in
General Sir Douglas Haig’s despatch, for gallant and dis-
tinguished conduct in the field, is the name of Gapt. F. I.
Leslie Ditmas, F.G.S., M.I.M.E., A.I.E.E. He served as
subaltern in the South African War, and was awarded the
medal and two clasps. He was 'in the Reserve of Officers
(Durham Light Infantry), and went over with the advance
party of the original Expeditionary Force, and is a Deputy
Assistant Director of Railway Transport.

The import tariff of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
has been revised. Dynamite, gelignite, blasting powder,
and similar explosives, including ingredients for making same
(admitted free of duty so far) are now dutiable at the rate of
4d. per lb.

Hong Kong and the Colony of Bahamas prohibit the
exportation of files, railway material (rails, steel sleepers,
steel springs, steel wheels and axles), shipbuilding material
(boiler tubes, condenser tubes, steel plates and sectional
materials), steel bars, angles, sections, blooms, billets, slabs,
girders, beams', ingots, and tubes.

Nicaragua, in 1915, imported iron and steel (including
manufactured goods) of the value of 380,871 cordobas. In
the previous year the value was 520,790 cordobas.

The Board of Trade has ordered the winding up of the
business of R. Dolberg, manufacturer of portable railways,
Finsbury-pavement, London.

According to a Geneva telegram, the Coal Supply Office of
Valais has threatened to boycott a certain municipal gas works
in the canton of Vaud if it continues to deliver coke to a
concern exporting this product to France.

A new company, entitled La Compania de Deposito de
Carbones de Bilbao, has been formed at Barcelona, with a
capital of <£20,000, to establish floating and land coal depots
at the port of Bilbao.

British shipping interests are reported to have completed
the acquisition of important oil supplies in California. The
British concerns involved are stated to be the Cunard, White
Star, Union Castle, Elder Dempster, Atlantic Transport,
Dominion, and Leyland lines, and it is likely that most, if
not all, of their vessels will be fitted to burn oil when ship-
building conditions are easier. The syndicate will also estab-
lish large stations for the supply of oil fuel on various ocean
routes.

The business of F. Turpitz and Company, iron and steel
founders, 150, Fenchurch-street, London, is being wound up
by order of the Board of Trade.

OBITUARY.

News has been received unofficially that Lance-Corpl.
George H. Hatfield, of the Sportsmen’s Battalion, has been
killed in action in France. Lance-Corpl. Hatfield was the
secretary of the Wath Main Colliery Company, enlisted in
March 1915, and went abroad in October last.

Thomas Harvie, a mining contractor, residing in Cam-
buslang, died in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary as the result
of being crushed by a fall of stone in Priory Colliery,
Blantyre.

Mr. Thos. Jones, a director of the South Hetton Coal
Company Limited, died at his residence in Durham City, at
the age of 90 years. Mr. Jones was a native of Bishop-
wearmouth. His association with the South Hetton Coal
Company commenced in 1861 as a trustee. In 1874, on the
formation of a limited liability company, he was elected to
the board in succession to the late Mr. John Walker, of
Bradley Hall. In September 1877 he was appointed
managing director, a position he retained until 1914, when,
in consequence of advancing years, he retired from the work
of management, still remaining a director.

Mr. Matthew Cole, formerly a member of the executive
committee of the Northumberland Miners’ Association, died
at the age of 56.

The death is announced of Mr. Henry Lewis (Tynant),
aged 66. Mr. Lewis was connected with the Welsh Navi-
gation Colliery, and was formerly a director of the Albion
undertaking. He was a member of the Coal Owners’ Asso-
ciation, and had been on the Conciliation Board. At one
time he occupied the position of chairman of the South Wales
and Monmouthshire Indemnity Society, but resigned three
or four years ago.

The French Ministry of Commerce has appointed a Com-
mission to draw up a scheme for the establishment, in
France and Allied countries, of an industry dealing with the
distillation of non-coking fuels, in order to remedy the
shortage of coal in France, and to obtain the by-products of
distillation. The Commission comprises : Capt. Bkaizeix,
Dr. Bronislawski, M. H. Le Chatelier, M. Clerault, Com.
Gruner, M. E. Ledoux, and Capt. Guillot.

SOME RECENT DECISIONS UNDER THE
WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION ACT.

[Specially Contributed.]

Employment and Special Risks.

An interesting addition to the list of decisions bearing on
the question whether a special risk is one incidental to the
employment, so that an accident due to the risk is an
accident arising out of and in the course of the employment,
nas recently been given by the House of Lords. The claim
was brought by the widow of a coal miner who had been in
the employment of the Earl of Bradford, and decided to join
the Army. On examination, he wTas told that his teeth
would require immediate attention, and, with the permission
of his employers, he made an appointment with a dentist
during working hours. Leaving at an unusual time, he was
killed in attempting to push his way between two moving
tubs instead of waiting a few seconds to give the operator
time to stop them. The county court judge held that the
man voluntarily, and by his own act, encountered an added
peril not incidental to bis employment, and therefore that
the accident did not arise out of the employment. That
finding was upheld by the Court of Appeal, and has now been
upheld also by the House of Lords. Without calling on
counsel for the employer, their lordships arrived at the
conclusion that the man had no right to leave except
under conditions which, had he waited, would have ensured
safety, and that he alone was responsible for the added
peril which caused his death.

As a contrast to this decision, one recently given at New-
castle may be briefly noted. A workman employed as a
boiler fireman crossed a railway track inside the works to
get a spanner, but on recrossing the track to work on a
water-tube boiler he was caught between two trucks and
received injuries from which he died next day. In support
of an application by the widow, witnesses were called to
testify that it was customary for the workmen to cross the
railway, the practice being to keep a sufficient gap between
two wagons. For the employers it was contended that in
attempting to pass between two trucks which were close
together the workman added to his employment a risk that
was wholly unnecessary and in no way incidental to the
employment. The county court judge, however, found that
the man was using .a crossing which the workmen were
accustomed to take, and on that finding the judge held that
the man took no additional risk that was obvious to him.

A Question of War Bonus.

A question of considerable interest to miners and colliery
proprietors has been raised at Worksop County Court
recently, in an action in which a miner sought to recover
increased compensation from the Shireoaks Colliery Com-
pany. The workman’s case was to the effect that in May
1913 he contracted nystagmus, and was paid full compensa-
tion of half-wages until January 1914, when he was put on
light work at a certain wage, receiving in addition a com-
pensation payment of 8s. a week, that sum being half the
difference between his present and his former wage. This
arrangement purported to be in accordance with paragraph
13) of Schedule 1, wdiere it is provided that “ in the case of
partial incapacity the weekly payment shall in no case
exceed the difference between the amount of the average
weekly earnings of the workman before the accident and the
average weekly amount which lie is earning or is able to
earn in some suitable employment on business after the
accident, but shall bear such relation to the amount of that
difference as under the circumstances of the case may appear
proper.” The case for the employers was that an agree-
ment had been entered into to the effect indicated, but the
workman now sought to recover increased compensation on
the ground that in calculating the difference between his
present and his former earnings the employers had wrongly
taken into consideration as wages the 154 per cent, bonus
or advance granted under a decision of the Conciliation
Board to meet the increased cost of living owing to the con-
ditions arising out of the war. His Honour Judge Allen
considered that the bonus was part of what the workman
earned in a suitable employment, and that the employers
had rightly taken it into consideration in fixing the com-
pensation payment.

The Coal Difficulty in Ireland.—At the annual meeting of
the Irish Association of Gas Managers in Dublin, the presi-
dent, Mr. J. E. Enwright, said that while fully appreciating
the abnormal condition's prevailing, consequent upon the
war, he could not disguise from himself the fact that some
contractors, merchants, and ship owners were availing them-
selves of their position as monopolists to make huge profits
out of the opportunities afforded them by the w’ar, at the
expense of the nation’s requirements. The action of ship
owners in charging freights equal to, and, in many
instances, greater than, the increased cost of the coal itself
was not only selfish, but very unpatriotic. At present excep-
tional difficulties and worries in the management of gas
undertakings were being experienced in Ireland, as the whole
of the coal supplies were seaborne, and not only had they
to contend with railway difficulties on the other side, but,
also, with the uncertainty of shipment, owing to submarine
dangers, and with enormously inflated shipping freights.
Further, ho would like to emphasise the fact that the Price
of Coal (Limitation) Act had not afforded any relief to gas
undertakings in Ireland. Colliery people, when remonstrated
with, stated that the difference in the price charged was due
to the increase in railway rates between the pit head and the
port of shipment. It was hard to believe that the railway
rates on the other side of the Channel had increased to such
an extent, whilst on the Irish side they remained stationary.
If steps were not promptly taken to come to the aid of the
gas industry’ in Ireland, and to prevent carrying companies
from charging freights out of all proportion to the exigencies
of even war times, and to ensure the carrying of coal at
freights consistent with fair dealing, many gas works in
Ireland would have to close down, with consequent loss and
inconvenience to a large section of the community. Monopoly
must be checkmated, and the industry which the Irish Asso-
ciation of Gas "Managers represented must receive some pro-
tection from utter annihilation. The president proceeded to
point out that seaborne coal would never again be as cheap
as heretofore. Consequently, the outlook for small gas works
in Ireland was ven* black indeed. But he was convinced
that a plant, such as that to which he had referred, on a
smaller scale, would be a means of not only saving those
works from bankruptcy, but of converting them into prqfit-
able undertakings