September 1, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

417

Three vacancies in the representation of coal owners on
Cie River Wear Commission were notified at Wednesday’s
meeting of the Commissioners. It was decided that the
vacancies should be filled at the September meeting.

At the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders in the Sea-
ham Harbour Dock Company, held last Tuesday, Mr.
Malcolmi Dillon, presiding, stated that during the six months
Cie company had dealt with 108,000 tons less coal than during
the corresponding period of last year, but the working
expenses had been about £400 more. Their dues were limited
by Act of Parliament, but their expenses in wages and
materials were not limited. The directors were working in
close touch with neighbouring authorities, with a view to
obtaining such relief as it might be possible to secure, in the
way of levying increased dues, and this matter was receiving
the directors’ constant attention, in the hope that a fair and
satisfactory solution might be reached.

Sir W. H. Stephenson, presiding over the 16 th annual
general meeting of the shareholders of Walter Scott Limited,
held in Newcastle on Wednesday, stated that the output of
their iron works, though something like 3,000 tons a. week,
did not account for more than half the iron ore that was
required at the blast furnaces. The quantity of pig iron
and ingots made during the year was 5,000 tons more than
in the previous year, namely, 214,000 tons, as against
209,000 otns. As regarded the other parts of their manufac-
ture, girders, rails, tram-rails, etc., the quantity was also
about 5,000 tons in excess of the previous year. One item
was rather remarkable. They produced 12,000 tons more of
girders than ;in 1915. The slags were about the same in
quantity, 90,000 tons being available for sale. Their total
turnover in money from the Leeds works alone, not speaking
of the collieries, was actually .£230,000 more than in 1915.
The company’s turnover at the bank was a record.

Yorkshire.

New Bridges—A Miniature Colliery—Absenteeism Again.

The construction of the additional girder bridges to carry
the widened Great Northern Railway over the South York-
shire Canal near Doncaster station is now completed. The
work has been in progress more than two years, having
suffered inevitable delays on account of the war. The bridges
. will accelerate traffic, and particularly mineral traffic
through Doncaster. They are intended to take their place
in an important scheme for widening the Great Northern
main line through the town, but this project is, for the time
/ being, deferred, so that the bridges will probably not be
brought into use just at present.

A new colliery in miniature is being established at High-
gate, near Goldthorpe. Coal found at a depth of 14 yds.
rounds somewhat of a novelty in this district of deep shafts.
A private syndicate having acquired leases of Highgate
and Shafton coal, have this week reached the first-named at
a depth of 14 yds., the seam being 20 in. thick. It is
intended to sink to the Shafton seam, which is between 40
ami 50yds. deep, whilst the Highgate seam is to be worked
at once. The pit is expected to yield between 40 and 50
tons per day, and eventually about 100 tons daily. Sinking
to the Highgate seam occupied six weeks, and it is antici-
pated the second shaft will be down in four weeks’ time.
Permanent surface works are being erected, and the pit will
be linked up with the Hull and Barnsley Railway.

A bad case of neglect of work was before the Doncaster
magistrates on Saturday, when Messrs. Barber, Walker and
Company (Bentley Colliery) claimed £3 10s. from Ben
Atick, colliery ripper, Doncaster. It was stated defendant
had been very irregular in his attendance at work. The
Absentee Board dealt with him, but he repudiated their
authority. They therefore declined to have anything more
to do with him, and he was brought to court. They had
fined him 10s., but he declined to acknowledge their juris-
diction. It was pointed out to defendant it would have been
far cheaper for him to have obeyed the board. He was
ordered to pay the £3 10s., and 19s. 6d. costs.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Runaway Train—A Dangerous Offence.

Nearly 900 members of the Lancashire and Cheshire
Miners’ Federation have been killed on the various battle-
fields. More than 20,000 colliery workers in Lancashire and
Cheshire have joined the Navy and Army.

The Pemberton Coal Merchants’ Association has raised
the prices of all kinds of house fuel by lOd. per ton as from
September 1, “ owing to the enormous increase in the price
of horse keep, shoeing, repairs, etc.”

At Leigh, Frederick Garside, of Ellesmere-street, an
employee at the Bedford Colliery, was summoned for having
in his possession ten cigarettes and a lucifer match in the
pit on August 17. He was fined £1, and ordered to pay
10s. 6d. advocate’s fee.

A serious mishap occurred to a mineral train from Jack-
son’s Siding, Tyldesley. The train comprised 35 fully-laden
wagons from Astley and Tyldesley collieries, and was bound
for Garston Docks, Liverpool. Coming down the slope on
the low level near Pennington station (London and North-
Western Railway), the drawbar of one of the wagons broke,
causing the latter portion of the train to gain speed and crash
into the front portion, derailing and badly smashing 18 of
the wagons. Several toppled down the bank and into the
River Glaze. The line was blocked for many hours.

The Blackburn county magistrates last week heard a case
in which John Luke, 17, was summoned, at the instance of
his employers, the Rishton Colliery Company, for wilfully
committing a breach of the Coal Mines Act by knocking out
pit props. Evidence was given to the effect that defendant
was seen to knock out a prop, and the deputy in charge said
there had been serious falls of roof within the last year—
one with fatal results—and he had suspected that falls had
not been accidental. Defendant was fined £2, and ordered
to pay £2 expenses in addition.

In connection with the formation of a past and present
mining students’ society at Wigan, an inaugural meeting is
to be held at the Wigan and District Mining and Technical
College on September 9, when addresses will be given by
Mr. G. H. Winstanley, H.M.I., Mr. A. M. Lamb, and
others.

A fine of 10s. has been imposed by the Standish magis-
trates on Joseph Walkenshaw, of Wigan, who pleaded guilty
to having a pipe in his possession in a local coal mine.

The Military Cross has been awarded to Lieut. E. V.
Speakman, Manchester Regiment, who was articled to the
mining profession before the war with Mr. P. L. Wood, at
the Clifton, Kersley, Outwood, and Astley Green Collieries,

and received his education at the Leigh Grammar School and
the Wigan Mining College. He is 22 years of age. He is
the son of Aid. H. Speakman, of Leigh, a former president
of the Lancashire and Cheshire Coal Owners’ Association.

Notts and Derbyshire.

At the monthly meeting of the Notts Miners’ Association
on Saturday, Mr. J. G. Hancock, M.P., the agent,
reported that two meetings with the management of Brierley
Hill Colliery regarding the employment of non-unionists had
taken place, and the manager was very unwilling to do any-
thing to assist the association to get the men into the union.
It was decided to refer the matter to the officials to take
what steps they deemed advisable. The auditor’s report for
the past six months was presented and accepted. The supply
of coal to workmen engaged at the Kirkby Colliery, owned
by the Butterley Company, was considered, and the question
referred to the secretary and local lodge committee. The
branches had voted in favour of Id. per week per member
being paid towards granting the increased pay to old-age
pensioners, and that they were in favour of this sum being
shopped at the colliery offices. A letter was read from Col.
Rollesion inviting the co-operation of the association in the
voluntary scheme for home defence in case of invasion.
After full consideration, the officials were instructed to
inform the colonel that they could not undertake as a body to
ioin the scheme.

Kent.

First Profits on Kentish Coal—Light Railways and Future
Output.

The deep sinking in No. 2 pit at Snowdown Colliery was
taken down last week a further 16 ft., from 2,510 ft. to
2,526 ft. The sinking is proceeding through very hard
sandstone.

The Snowdown Colliery Company is the first Kentish
colliery company to show a profit on working. The annual
report presented at the meeting on Tuesday this week stated :
The period of capital expenditure, without any return on the
outlay, has at last come to an end, and your directors have
now the pleasure to submit a revenue account for the year
ended March 31, 1916, showing a net profit of £5,302
13s. 10d., which, under all circumstances, they consider
satisfactory. The output of coal showed a slight increase
luring the year, and would have been much larger, with
consequent larger profits, but for the difficulty experienced
in getting miners. The sinking of No. 2 pit under the agree-
ment with the parent companies is being proceeded with as
rapidly as possible.

The system of light railways in East Kent, constructed
principally in connection with the colliery companies, has
not been much advanced during the company’s financial
year. The report by the engineer, Mr. H. F. Stephens,
M.I.C.E., presented at the annual meeting of the East Kent
Light Railways Company, gave the following details of
work done : Shepherdswell and Richborough line—between
Shepherdswell and Eythorne the line has been strengthened
and ballasting partially completed; small station works were
also put in hand. Beyond Eastry, earthworks have been
practically completed as far as Woodnesborough-road, and
partially so to Sandwich-road. Ballasting has been carried
out on the first mile to Eastry. Eastry to Wingham line—
earthworks between Wingham Colliery branch junction and
Dambridge-road have been continued to a certain extent, and
the line between Eastry and Ash partly strengthened and
finished off. Nothing further has been done beyond Dam-
bridge-road towards completion of the works. Tilmanstone
Colliery branch and sidings have been maintained in
running order. No further works have been carried out on
Guilford, Hammil, Wingham Colliery, Mongeham, or
Stodmarsh branches.

In the directors’ report they stated that the progress was
not sufficient to enable any part of the railway to be opened
for traffic under the order of the Board of Trade, and during
the year the whole of the railway remained in the hands of
the contractors, who are responsible for the maintenance of
the property. After references to the difficulties of the situa-
tion, the directors state the delay is less to be regretted
inasmuch as the war has caused an inevitable postponement
in the development of the Kent coal field, there being at
present only two pits winding coal in lieu of the number
which was contemplated when the railway was commenced.
There are indications, however, that work may shortly be
started on a third pit. This will prove of considerable benefit
to the railway. The directors have been carefully consider-
ing how best to deal with the situation, and they have now
made arrangements for the taking over from the contractors
of part of the railway, and an application has been made to
the Board of Trade for the necessary certificate to enable
that part of the railway to be opened. The directors antici-
pate that sufficient traffic will be developed under present
circumstances to render the working of that part of the line
profitable, and that'the company will be in a position after
the war promptly to deal with the traffic developed from the
resumption of .activity in the coal field. During the war and
until such resumption of activity it will only be possible to
work the portion of the railway taken over to a modified
extent, but the directors expect that after the war great
developments will necessarily take place in the coal field, in
order to meet the demand for fuel both at home and on the
Continent, following the destruction of the mining districts
in France and Belgium.

At Tilmanstone Colliery last week, 2,228 tons of coal were
raised. The weekly output from Snowdown Colliery is about
2,700 tons.

Scotland.

The Glasgow Green Coal—Long-lived Kelty Miners—
Soldier-Miners—Unsupported Roof. •

The engineer for the City of Glasgow has reported
adversely on the proposal made by Messrs. Wm. Dixon
Limited to work the coal beds which are known to lie under
the Fleshers’ Haugh on Glasgow Green. The decision is
based upon the consideration that the removal of the mineral
might bring about surface subsidence, which would seriously
endanger the river banking—on which the Corporation of
Glasgow have spent thousands of pounds—and various
culverts and gas mains which cross the Green at the spot
named. It is conceivable that damage might be done to this
ancient common land, but Messrs. Dixon Limited were alive
to this phase of the question, and their offer of £2,000 per
annum for the privilege of working the coal was accom-
panied by a provision in which they undertook to make good
any damage due to subsidence. The question of retracting
the coal from under Glasgow Green has been mooted at

various periods, notably in 1858, when it was proposed in the
Town Council to make arrangements for letting the coal in.
the Green by public roup. To this scheme very serious
objections were made by the citizens of Glasgow. It was
contended that the abstraction of the mineral would destroy
the walks of the Green; would create a public nuisance; and
would seriously damage the land by causing subsidences. So
strong was the opposition at that time that the. proposal was
abandoned.

Coal-cutting machines have recently been introduced into
the Blackband seam at Udston Colliery, Hamilton.

An interesting photograph was recently taken in the Kelty
district of Fifeshire. The group was made up of 12 old
miners who have resided in Kelty for the greater part of their
lives. The combined ages of the 12 totalled 935, an average
of nearly 78 years.

In various parts of Scotland soldiers are now being sent
home from military centres to resume work in the mines.
The stipulation is made, however, that these so sent home
must resume work in the same mine where they were
employed prior to enlistment. It is felt by the miners’
executive committee that this practice might lead to abuses
in many of the pits when men were compelled, despite their
working conditions and wages, to remain at work and not be
in a position to transfer their labour to another district where
the money-earning prospects were brighter.

In the Hamilton Sheriff Court, a Polish miner named Geo.
Luchs admitted having, on July 14 last, in Bothwell Park
Colliery, failed to adequately support the roof of his working
place. The Procurator-fiscal explained that the accused had
failed to prop for a distance of 12 ft., and that, as a result of
the negligence, a serious fall had taken place and a workman
was killed. A fine of £2, with the alternative of 20 days’
imprisonment, was imposed.

The news that Capt. Christopher Rocks, Scottish Rifles
(T.F.), had been wounded in action has now been confirmed.
Prior to the war Capt. Rocks was a checkweighman at
Cadzow Colliery, Hamilton. He was a prominent member
of the executive of the Lanarkshire Miners’ Union, and
carried through many delicate and difficult negotiations on
behalf of the miners throughout Lanarkshire.

At a gathering representative of the workmen employed at
Clyde Colliery, Hamilton, Mr. Robt. Kirkland, oversman,
was presented with a gold watch and a pocketbook with
money on the occasion of his leaving to fill another appoint-
ment.

James Gourlay, coal cutting machineman, Blantyre, was
killed in the black band seam of No. 1 Udston Colliery,
Hamilton. It seems he was working at the pits of the
machine, when a stone weighing fully a ton fell upon him,
killing him almost instantaneously.

Through a fire which broke out recently in the Summerlee
Iron Company’s Blackhill Colliery, about 100 men were
thrown idle.

Prices of the best quality of Fife coal still rule high, which
is maintaining a steady demand for those of the cheaper sort,
and steamers for such cargoes last week were numerous. The
coasting trade is also keeping fairly steady, and shipments
for the week were a good average. The combined shipments
from Methil to Burntisland amounted to 58,530 tons, as com-
pared with 53,339 tons for the previous week, and 62,895 tons
for the same week last year. Methil shipped 44,180 tons.

At a meeting of the executive of the National Union of
Scottish Mine Workers in Glasgow, dissatisfaction was
expressed at the note received by home service men return-
ing to the mines stating they were exempt from military ser-
vice when working at a particular mine mentioned. Mr.
Smillie stated that the War Office had stated distinctly that
the men were absolutely free to go to any colliery, their
exemption from military service being so long as they were
employed at the coal mines.

TRADE AND THE WAR.

The Board of Trade has ordered the winding up of the
business of Frachtcontor Gesellschaft m.b. H., coal exporters,
Guildhall-chambers, Newcastle.

In order that coal consumption in waterworks may be
reduced, Sir John Wolfe-Barry pleads for a more sparing
use of water for domestic purposes in London, and Mr. E. B.
Barnard, chairman of the Metropolitan Water Board, rein-
forces this by stating that the Board’s pre-war bill of
£176,000 for coal has risen to £300,000 for the coming year,
the estimated consumption being practically the same.

The following enquiries for agencies of United Kingdom
firms from persons and firms in Italy, some of whom formerly
represented German and Austrian firms, have been received
at the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy, 7, Via Carlo
Felice, Genoa, to which address all communications regard-
ing the enquiries should be sent, quoting the reference
numbers in parentheses. An agent in Florence wishes to
represent United Kingdom makers of Iron tubes and acces-
sories for hydraulic installations (1.067). A Genoa agent seeks
the representation of United Kingdom manufacturers of
machinery, packings for engines, motors, electrical
apparatus, pumps, tubes, measuring apparatus, saws, etc.
(1,075). Enquiry is made by a Turin agent for the
agencies of United Kingdom manufacturers of engineering
supplies and tools (1,085).

The Danish steamer ” Ivar,” laden with English coal for
Italy, was sunk by an Austrian submarine near Genoa. The
crew were saved.

According to a report in a Norwegian paper, Germany
intends to regard British bunker coal on board neutral ships
in the same manner as England treats German coal on
neutral steamers. The result of this will be, it is stated, that
the greater part of the Scandihavian merchant fleet will be
deemed as carrying contraband, and Germany will hold the
right of torpedoing seizures.

Moscow Buys Coal Mines.—At a recent auction of coal
mines, belonging to the Don Army, in the Malonesvetaisk
Valley at Novocherkask Station (area, 17 square versts), the
successful tenderer was the Moscow Town Council, which
offered 4-6 copecks (4-6 farthings) per pood (36 lb.) of anthra-
cite produced. Coal is found at a depth of 23 and 90 sazhens
(161 and 560 ft.). Three of the seams (one of which has a
thickness of 24 arschins—5 ft. 10 in.) are estimated to yield
1.500.000.000 poods. There will be more than sufficient coal
for Moscow, so it is proposed to supply other towns from this
deposit.