December IS, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1169

are abundant in South Wales for early delivery, and
the market there is featureless. Business in Scotland
is clogged through the tonnage difficulty.

Freight business experienced another difficulty in
consequence of the embargo on Greek ships in
British ports. Complaints are rife everywhere re-
garding inadequate shipping and railway facilities,
and the matter is now a serious factor in colliery
arrangements.

Lord Rhondda has been appointed President of
the Local Government Board in the newly-formed
Ministry. It is understood that he will relinquish
his directorships in accordance with the general
practice of Ministers.

Lord Rhondda and other prominent Welsh coal
owners conferred on Saturday on the solution of the
problem of supplying France and Italy with coal.

A meeting between the coal owners and the Board
of Trade took place on Tuesday to discuss the situa-
tion arising out of the decision of the Government
to control the South Wales collieries. It is under-
stood that the larger question of controlling the
entire output of all classes of fuel was considered.

Representatives of the South Wales and Mon-
mouthshire coal owners waited upon the Board of
Trade on December 7 in connection with the proposed
audit of the cost of production in the South Wales
coal trade. The proceedings were private.

The South Wales miners have decided to take a
holiday on December 25 and 26. The executive
committee of the Northumberland Miners’ Associa-
tion ask their members to confine the holidays to
December 25 and January 1. The Leicestershire
coal owners have agreed to a two days holiday. By
Royal Proclamation December 23 and January 1 are
declared Bank holidays.

The Manchester Geological and Mining Society
will hold a meeting on December 19, commencing at
4 p.m., at 5, John Dalton-street, Manchester. A
paper on “ Fuel Economy, with special reference to
Briquetting,” by Mr. F. C. A. Lantsberry will be
read.

A paper on “ The Need of a National Fuel and
Power Policy” was read by Prof. Armstrong,
at Nottingham University College, on Monday last.

By an Order in Council the Board of Trade is
empowered to take possession of any private owners’
railway wagons and use them as is thought best in
the interests of the country.

Important recommendations bearing upon the
future of the British iron and steel trades have been
made by a Parliamentary Committee appointed some
time ago to consider the reorganisation of these
industries. The Parliamentary Committee considers
that increased productivity can only be attained by a
more cordial co-operation between employers and
employees; and by more efficient equipment and
organisation, accompanied by the abolition of restric-
tions and practices limiting output.

At a meeting of the Society of Engineers in
Burlington House, London, W., on Monday, a paper
on “ The Sources of the Minerals required by the
Iron and Steel Industries of the United Kingdom,”
by Prof. W. G. Fearnsides, and a paper on “ The
Mineral Resources of the United Kingdom as regards
the Production of Industrial Non-Ferrous Metals,”
by Prof. 0. G. Cullis, were read.

The average value of coal, coke and manufactured
fuel exported from the United Kingdom during
November was 26s. 45d. per ton, as compared with
17s. lOTd. in November 1915, and 13s. 3 09d. in
November 1914.

The value during the first 11 completed months
of the present year is 24s. 6*8d. per ton, as compared
with 16s. 10-3d. and 13s. 7*9d. respectively in the
corresponding periods of 1915 and 1914.

Of the total exports of coal during November, the
mean value of the large coal was 28s. 9 3d.; through-
and-through (unscreened), 23g. 0’6d. ; and small
coal, 21s. 11*2. The average value of all kinds of
coal exported was 25s. 8*9d., as compared with
17s. 5*4d. in November 1915; otherwise divided it
realised the following :—Steam coal, 26s. l*8d.; gas
coal, 23s. 3eld.; anthracite, 29s. 5 Id.; household,
28s. 0-3d. ; other sorts, 23s. 8’2d. The average value
of the coke exported was 38s. 7*5d. per ton, and of
the manufactured fuel, 30s. 3*6d.

The change in the Ministry has been
The New not only startling in its suddenness
Government, but striking in its thoroughness.

But a short time ago such an event
would have been hardly conceivable, so general was
the opinion that the late Coalition Government was
indispensable to the unity of the nation. It would,
perhaps, be unprofitable to examine the causes that
led to its downfall. Such a survey would carry us
too far into the realm of politics, and would lead to
a departure from the policy, hitherto adopted in
these columns, of refraining from any remarks calcu-
lated to detract attention from the only object in
view—viz., the vigorous prosecution of the war.

But although it is not the function of the technical
Press to indulge in political discussion, particularly
in war time, it is certainly permissible to examine,
from the industrial point of view, the bearing upon
national affairs of so radical a change in the Ministry
as has been effected in the last few days. We leave
aside the constitution of the new War Cabinet with
the single remark that the reduction in numbers to
five members with supreme authority, instead of the
unwieldy machine which had grown up under the
late administration, can scarcely fail to produce good
results. It may be true that in a multitude of
counsel there will be wisdom, but a difficulty will
always remain in establishing any kind of unanimity
in the decisions of so large a number of advisers.

Mr. Lloyd George’s Ministry has some entirely
new features distinct from the drastic cutting down
of the Cabinet. For the first time there are a
Minister of Labour, a Minister of Blockade, a
Pensions Minister, a Food Controller and a Shipping
Controller. The three last named are purely
emergency creations resulting from the war, and
presumably of a temporary character. But the
Minister of Labour, and possibly the Pensions
Minister also, must be regarded as permanent
features; and in the selection of Mr. Hodge for
the important and responsible position of Labour
Minister, the Prime Minister has shown a wise
discretion, for the appointment has done much to
consolidate the Labour Party in their allegiance to
the new Government.

It is not yet clear to what extent the new Labour
Minister will take over the functions of the Labour
Department of the Board of Trade, but in all proba-
bility the Board of Trade will be relieved of that
responsibility altogether; and it is certain that
Mr. Hodge will have his hands full in the settlement
of many outstanding problems which have been
more or less shelved hitherto. Amongst these not
the least in importance is the question of the
co-operation between labour and capital in the
difficult situation that will arise after the war. Some
may think it all too soon to worry about peace, but
that is a mistaken view. The problems that will arise
are too complex for hasty solution, and it would be a
great pity if the war should be followed by internal
strife which would indefinitely retard the process of
economic recovery.

The appointment of Sir J. Maclay, head of the
shipping firm of Maclay and McIntyre, as Shipping
Controller, illustrates a further principle which
Mr. Lloyd George has - endeavoured to carry out—
viz., the introduction of business men into responsible
positions in the Government. It is a departure which
will be certain of universal approval. The new
Controller has a heavy task before him. Possibly
his duties will also trench upon the domain of the
Board of Trade, although the Control Committee
over which Lord Curzon presided was not ostensibly
associated with this department.

It is gratifying that so eminent a representative of
colliery interests as Lord Rhondda should be found
a place in the Government. Lord Rhondda becomes
President of the Local Government Board, and
he affords another instance of the introduction
into the Government of a successful business
man. The same may be said of the selection of
Sir Albert Stanley as the new President of the
Board of Trade. This Department, perhaps more
than any other, needs galvanising into life and
extricating from the narrow rut in which its activities
have hitherto been confined. We may trust Sir
Albert Stanley to do so.

A sense of fitness must also be associated with the
appointment of Dr. H. A. L. Fisher to the Board of
Education, and of Mr. R. E. Prothero to the Board
of Agriculture; while Sir Alfred Mond, as First
Commissioner of Works, may perhaps have fewer
opportunities than many of his colleagues in
displaying his business aptitude during the war.

It would be wrong to conclude this brief comment
without reference to the new Home Secretary, Sir
George Cave. The relations of this Minister with
the mining section of the community cannot fail at
times to be intimate and even delicate. As Solicitor-
General in the former Government, Sir George Cave
has proved his possession of sterling qualities, which
will assist him in the discharge of his multifarious
duties. There are many pressing questions to come
before him, but it is certain that he will be the first
to recognise the supreme importance of not embarking,
at the present time, upon any action that would tend
to hamper colliery managers in the work of getting
coal.

The Society of Engineers is to be
Our congratulated upon the striking
Metallurgical success of the meeting held last
Industries. Monday to hear two papers which
are destined to take a prominent
place in the literature relating to the metallurgical
industries of this country. It was undoubtedly
a fortunate circumstance that the services of Prof.
Fearnsides, Sorby Professor of Geology in the
University of Sheffield, and Prof. Gilbert Cullis,
of the Imperial College of Science and Technology,
were available for the by no means easy task of
presenting a critical examination of the present
position with regard to the mineral resources of the
British Empire, so far as the provision of the raw
materials for our metal industries is concerned.

No apology is needed for drawing attention to this
important national question in these columns. It is
a mere platitude to state that the coal and metal
industries are not only inter-related, but are mutually
dependent upon each other. The matter rests, how-
ever, upon still higher grounds. Sir Robert Hadfield,
in the course of the discussion upon Prof. Fearnsides’
paper, reminded the meeting of the truth of the
saying that iron rules the world. It is true in peace,
but even more so in war. And it would, perhaps,
be also true, though in less degree, of certain other
metals which are indispensable in the manufacture
of modern military equipment.

It has required a great war to reveal to this
country a fundamental weakness in our metallurgical
position. It is difficult to find a single expression to
define this weakness. Perhaps it might best be
called a failure to appreciate the importance of
controlling our own resources. But the causes of
this failure have deeper roots than these words
imply. Some part of it, at least, has been due to a
deliberate policy of neglect by the State to take any
measures to prevent foreign Powers from exploiting
British mineral property. We have allowed German
firms to secure monopolies wherever they had a mind
to step in. They took advantage of our tolerance in
many directions. Zinc concentrates in Australia,
monazite deposits in Travancore, and even some
of our own coal fields were amongst the objects of
German domination. But these were not the only
results of Government apathy and neglect. There
has been no attempt to organise, co-ordinate or
control our own efforts. We have been slow in
discovering our own magnificent supplies of raw
materials, and perhaps slower still in developing
those we knew. Our Geological Surveys have done
their best, with the means placed at their disposal,
to draw attention to deposits of promising commercial
application. Much valuable information of this
kind lies buried in official publications. But
there the matter has usually ended, unless, by
chance, some private individual has recognised the
possibility of putting any of these products upon the
market.

Both Prof. Fearnsides and Prof. Cullis, in the
papers mentioned above, discuss these questions in
great detail. Prof. Fearnsides, speaking for the
British iron and steel industries, shows that, owing
to the lack of co-ordination of effort, raw materials