December 15, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1177

the export department, orders of Denmark continue to take
the lead. The combined shipment from Methil and Burnt-
island amounted to 52,033 tons, as against 55,738 tons for
the previous week.

At one of the pits at the Barony Colliery, Auchinleck, a
surface worker, named M‘Cumming, was engaged putting
on a hutch at the low scaffold, but owing to some mis-
understanding, the cage was not at the p^ace, and man and
hutch were precipitated down the shaft, which is the deepest
in Scotland. He was fortunate to catch on to a bunton,
where he hung for some time. He managed to catch the
winding rope, down which he slid to the bottom uninjured.
The shaft is 338 fms. deep.

The King inspected at Buckingham Palace on Saturday
six motor ambuiances, representing part of the convoy of 50
presented through the Dennis Bayley Red Cross T'und by
the Scottish coal owners and the Rational Union of Scottish
Mine Workers. The gift is intended for the Scottish branch
* of the British Bed Cross Society.

CoLiery managers representing every district in Scotland
have formed a colliery managers’ union. At a meeting in
Glasgow on Saturday night, it was decided to agitate for
increased wages, the managers contending that in some dis-
tricts ordinary miners are earning much more money than
fully certified managers.

COAL, IRON AND ENGINEERING COMPANIES.
REPORTS	Dl WiuhlxDS.

Blaenavon Company Limited.—The net profits for the year
ended Sept. 30 last, after providing £10,542 for debenture
interest, were £140,440. There has been added to the reserve
and renewals fund £28,081, and to the general reserve
£25,0u0, and to depreciation fund £40,Ul>0. A dividend on
the ordinary shares of 7£ per cent, is proposed.

British Coalite Company Limited.—The ordinary general
meeting of the British Coalite Company Limited was held
in London on Tuesday, December 12, Air. W. J. Fisher, J.P.
(chairman) presiding.—Mr. Fisher, in proposing the adop-
tion of the report and accounts, said :—When last 1 had the.
pleasure of addressing the British Coalite shareholders, I
did not think (being, perhaps, by nature something of an
optimist) that when our next meeting came round, the world
would still be at war, to the destruction of countless thousands
of its best lives, to the maiming of other thousands, to the
deplenishing of our national resources, and to the confusion
of ail peaceful trading and industry. But so it is, and as a
consequence, a forecast which, acting on the inspiration of
our consulting engineer, I ventured to make at our last meet-
ing concerning the completion of the Barnsley plant, has
been upset. We were then led to believe, as you wifi find
by reference to last year’s directors’ report, that the plant
would have been completed and working in March last.
For the delay in its completion there is more than one
reason to urge. The preliminary work, excavating for foun-
dations, and so on, was greatiy hampered by the unfavour-
able weather conditions of last winter. Then, as we dis-
covered so soon as we began to place orders, ail the
machinery manufacturers of the country appeared also to be
engaged on war work, and it was only by steady persistence
that we succeeded in obtaining some of the principal items
of our plant, and that, as a rule, only a good deal later than
the anticipated date of delivery. In regard to one item,
moreover—and that the most important—we have, I regret
to say, been extremely badly treated.. As you may be
aware, one of the most important features of our plant is
the retort, for which very special fireclay bricks are required.
We began to order these bricks as long ago as July 1915,
and they are still not all delivered. Machines, too, that we
urgently needed, and that, in one case, had been specially
made for us, were commandeered by the Government, who,
moreover, in two or three cases, deprived us of the privilege
we have usually enjoyed of being able to obtain from certain
manufacturers priority of delivery, with a result that we have
had to await the convenience of the firms in question in
carrying out our orders. It is our misfortune that the erec-
tion of our plant has synchronised with the paramount needs
of the nation, but whatever our loss, whatever the disappoint-
ment it may have entailed, we must, like loyal subjects and
good patriots, endure it with resignation. Another fruitful
cause of delay has been the difficulty of obtaining suitable
workmen. In the Barnsley district there is rarely an excess
of labour, and since the outbreak of war there has naturally
been a serious shortage. For the most part also, such male
labour as we have been able to obtain has been of an inferior
kind—of the kind, as I noticed myself on Friday last, when-I
was at the works, that only “gets a move on’’ when the hooter
sounds to knock off work, when men who have been lounging
through their work at a snail’s pace may be positively seen
to run-—and had it not been for the general employment of
women and girls on manual tasks, we should have been in a
bad way. However, a few weeks, I believe, will see us
through the necessity of employing our present large staff,
varying from 100 to 200, according to the disposition of the
workers and the weather, for when the plant is at work very
few men will suffice to keep it going. Our work, as some of
you will not need to be told, is being watched attentively,
indeed jealously, by the interests engaged in the high
temperature distillation of coal. It is to be regretted, for
the credit of British enterprise, that some of those who have
been watching have not exercised greater reserve in their
criticism of what we are doing. A little suspense of judg-
ment would not have harmed them, and it might incident-
ally have had the effect of saving them from proving false
prophets when the Barnsley plant proves itself the success
we anticipate. Most of this unbridled and frequently ill-
informed criticism comes, it is true, from sources that cannot
be called disinterested, our sharpest critics, as I have said,
having been gentlemen whose interests are bound up in high
temperature carbonisation. I think these gentlemen would
have been far better advised had they borne in mind—
assuming they are aware of them—the interesting discus-
sions on fuel economy that took place at the meetings of
the British Association at Newcastle in September last, the
general sense of which was that if the nation is to derive
full benefit from its wealth in bituminous coal, this will
have to be carbonised at low temperatures, thus effecting an
enormous saving in this—our greatest national asset. I
need not point out that it is precisely in this direction that
this company has been for so many years a pioneer. Let
me now turn for a few moments to the balance-sheet which
accompanies the directors’ report. From this you will see
that the first mortgage debentures have disappeared from
our liabilities, owing to the completion of the sale of the
Barking land, and the second debentures have consequently

become a first charge on the company’s assets. As you were
informed last year, we hope, when the nation’s affairs again
become normal, and acting in conjunction with others, to
arrange for the erection of a large plant on the Barking
land, for the purpose, inter alia, of supplying gaseous fuel
for an extensive generating station which it is intended to
establish there so soon as the existing restrictions against
public enterprise are removed. We are also carrying on
negotiations of a similar character for the extension of our
process to various parts of the country, and we have every
confidence that so soon as the Barnsley plant has proved
itself, we shall have requests from all over the United
Kingdom for the erection of similar works. The remaining
items in the balance-sheet do not seem to call for any special
remark, but as shareholders may have their own views on
that point, I shall be glad to give them, so far jas lies in my
power, any further information they may solicit. But I
may, perhaps, be permitted to refer to the item on the credit
side of the balance-sheet, in which the value of our inven-
tions and patent rights in the United Kingdom is assessed
at £160,000. This is a large sum, but I think we must
treat it as a merely hypothetical figure. It represents the
value to the company of all future concessions we may grant.
Now, inasmuch as we receive £30,000 in ordinary shares
from the Barnsley Company alone, it is obvious that when a
widespread demand sets in for the employment of our
process, this figure might represent merely a fraction of -the
actual value. As you will have learnt from the directors’
report, there has been no change in respect to the company’s
property at Wednesfield. An offer was recently made to us
for the purchase of a portion of the land, but as that portion
happened to be in the most favourable situation for indus-
trial purposes, being situated both alongside the railway and
canal, and as the price offered was not specially tempting,
we felt compelled to decline it. In time, no doubt, quite
apart from its value as a coal field, we shall, as the land
was very favourably situated, be able to find a profitable
use for it. Meanwhile, most of it is let for agricultural
purposes to a satisfactory tenant. As to the value of the
area as a coal field, we still stand by the report made upon
it by Mr. C. E. Rhodes in 1907. And in this connection I
have a very gratifying statement to make concerning the
land at Barugh on which the Barnsley Company’s plant is
being erected. The land was known to be within the car-
boniferous area, and there has been discovered on it, more
or less by accident, an extensive seam of coal lying in no
case more than a few feet below the surface, and as to the
larger portion of it within a few inches of the surface. The
coal is not perhaps of a quality that can be used in the
retorts, but it has been thoroughly tested, I understand, and
has been found to be admirably adapted for use in the pro-
ducers, that is to say, for the production of gas and sulphate
of ammonia. It is difficult to say precisely how much of it
there is, but it will certainly not be less than 50,000 tons.
This will not, let me hasten to add, be all profit to the
Barnsley Company, and therefore to this company, as the
holder of two-thirds of the Barnsley shares, inasmuch as
although the Barnsley company holds the freehold of the
land, it has to pay a royalty on every ton of coal mined.
That, gentlemen, concludes all I have to -say concerning the
present position of the company. I think, however, it
would be only becoming of me, in the name of myself and
colleagues, to thank you for the exemplary patience you have
shown in the past, immediate, and remote, in awaiting the
fulfilment of your hopes. I have to ask you to exercise -that
patience just a little longer, and then, we hope and
believe, your reward will be in sight. — Mr. H.
Willmott (deputy-chairman) seconded.—Mr. Hargraves, a
shareholder, said he had heard on good authority that the
best people in the South Wales coal district had appreciated
the work of the company, and wished to take some interest
in the plant they were putting up at Barnsley. These
experts had expressed a favourable opinion on the
necessity for bituminous coal of all descriptions being
treated by the company’s process. Practically the whole
country would have to come to the use of coailite for domestic
purposes. It would be a good thing for the country, especi-
ally the Metropolis, if a short Act of Parliament was passed,
prohibiting the use of coal which produced smoke. From
enquiries, he discovered that the company’s plant would be
able to produce a large amount of the constituents of high
explosives of the very best kind, and that another by-product
was of such excellent quality that it would be able to produce
electric current at such a price that they could for ever get
rid of the scandal of municipal corporation dealing with
electricity. They could also produce a great amount of
spirit for motor power, and if the industry could be localised,
it would save a large amount of money being sent out of
the country for petrol.—Mr. Brittain, another shareholder,
said he had visited the company’s plant, and he was greatly
impressed by the cheap power they would be able to give
the world.—The Chairman, in replving, said Mr. Hargraves
was perfectly correct in assuming that the South Wales coal
people were deeply interested in what was going on at
Barugh. They were not actually in negotiation in that
quarter, but there was very little doubt that it would not be
long before negotiations were entered into with them. So
soon as the Barnsley plant had proved itself they might take
it for granted that the South Wales coal owners would
immediately approach them for a definite arrangement. Mr.
Hargraves was also correct in his remarks as to the value of
the gas they produced; that was a factor which they had
always had in mind. He was obliged to Mr. Brittain for
the complimentary things he had said about the company
and the board, and he could also fully endorse the sugges-
tion of that gentleman that at last British industry and
British science were likely to work together very much more
closely than they had done in the past.—The motion was
carried unanimously. — The retiring director (Mr. S.
Wellington, A.M.I.E.E., F.C.S) was re-elected, and the
appointment of Lieut.-Col. J. F. C. Hamilton, J.P., as a
director, was confirmed.—The auditors (Messrs. Deloitte,
Blender, Griffiths and Company) having been re-appointed,
on the motion of Mr. Behrens, a cordial vote of thanks to
the chairman, directors, and staff brought the proceedings
to a close.

Chinese Engineering and Mining Company Limited.—The
net profits for the year ended June 30 were 3,177,538 dols.,
of which 60 per cent, is due to this company, and 40 per
cent, to the Lanchow Mining Company. The net profits
of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company Limited
were £201,725, and £99,159 was brought forward. A final
dividend of 5 per cent., free of income-tax, is proposed,
making 10 per cent, for the 12 months, and leaving £175,376
to be carried forward.

Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company Limited.—
The report for year to September 30 shows a gross profit of

£20,674, and after payment of debenture interest, and pro-
viding for depreciation, there is a net profit of £10,253, and
£11,752 was brought in, making £22,005. The directors
recommend a dividend of 5 per cent., free of tax, on ordi-
nary for year, place £10,000 to reserve, and carry forward
£4,283. The loan account has been reduced from £226,359
to £127,906 during the year, and since September 30 it has
been further reduced, and at date of report (December 9)
stands at £91,000.

Cynon Colliery Company Limited. — The report for the
year to September 30 shows a profit of £21,018, after pro-
viding for the excess profits tax, to which has to be added
transfer fees, rents, royalties from freehold property, interest
on investment and bank interest £767, making £21,785.
Debenture interest, income-tax, etc., and reserve for bad and
doubtful debts, absorb £5,851, leaving, with the balance
brought forward of £9,939, a total credit of £25,873. The
directors propose to transfer £3,000 to the general reserve
account, to write off the capital subscription of £864 to the
Coal Owners’ Association, and to pay a final dividend of 7£
per cent., making 15 per cent, for the year, less tax, and
to carry forward £10,683.

Evans (Richard) and Company Limited.—The directors
announce an interim dividend of 5 per cent.

Hallamshire Steel and File Company Limited. — The
directors announce that an interim dividend of £1 per share,
free of income-tax, has been paid.

Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited. — Dividend of 3 per
cent, on preferred stock, payable January 1 to holders of
record December 15. The half-yearly interest on the bonds
will also be paid on January 1.

Manor-Powis Coal Company Limited.—The report shows
that after writing off £3,300 for depreciation, and £2,895 of
underwriting commission, the directors recommend divi-
dends of 6 per cent, on the preference and 10 per cent, on
the ordinary shares, both less tax, for the year to October 31,
£5,715 being carried forward.

Natal Navigation Collieries and Estate Company Limited.
—The report for year to June 30 last was presented at the
meeting held in Pietermaritzburg on October 13. The chair-
man, Mr. J. T. Williams, stated that financially the year
had been the most successful in the company’s history. The
profit was £79,955 on an output of 352,432 tons, as compared
with a profit of £47,589 on 282,283 tons the previous year.
Dividends amounting to 7| per cent, for vear had been paid,
absorbing £31,250; mining profits and income-tax (including
£1,121 balance due for preceding year), £7,460; depreciation,
£15,528; carried forward, £25,717.

Niddrie and Benhar Coal Company Limited.—The directors
have declared an interim dividend of Is. 3d. per share, free
of tax. Last year the dividend was 6d. per share.

North Lonsdale Iron and Steel Company Limited.—After
providing for excess profits duty, writing £10,000 off for
depreciation, and including £13,334 brought in, the accounts
for year to October 31 show a disposable sum of £45,058.
It is proposed to transfer £5,000 to reserve (making it
£46,000), and to pay a further dividend of 8 per cent., making
14 per cent, for year, as compared with 12| per cent, for
previous year, carrying forward £16,258.

Roburite and Ammonal Limited.—Interim dividend at rate
of 10 per cent, per annum on preference, payable Dec. 22.

Vulcan Motor and Engineering Company Limited.—Divi-
dend of 10 per cent, and bonus of 2s. per share on the
ordinary shares for the past year.

NEW COMPANIES.

Brydon and Company Limited.—Private company. Regis-
tered December 5. To carry on business of engineers,
founders, smiths, etc. Nominal capital, £10,000 in £1 ordi-
nary shares. Director, J. R. Biddiscombe. Qualification,
£250.

Hubbard Brothers Limited. — Private company. Regis-
tered office, Reading-road, Basingstoke. Registered Dec. 7.
To acquire business of mechanical, electrical, and general
engineers carried on by W. G. Hubbard, Basingstoke.
Nominal capital, £5,000 in 2,000 6 per cent, cumulative pre-
ference shares of £1 each and 3,000 £1 ordinary shares.
Directors : R. S., A., and W. G. Hubbard. Qualification,
£50.

West Riding Engineers Limited. — Private company.
Registered office, 21, Prudential-buildings, Bradford. Regis-
tered December 6. Nature of business indicated by title.
Nominal capital, £500 in 400 £1 ordinary shares and 100 £1
deferred shares. Directors : A. Crowther, B. A. Pickles, S.
Parsons, J. Wilkinson, and W. Armitage. Qualification, 50
ordinary shares.

This list of new companies is taken from the Daily
Register specially compiled by Messrs. Jordan and Sons
Limited, company registration agents, Chancery-lane, E.C.

Pit Accident in Birmingham.—Owing to a mishap to the
winding gear, a number of men were suspended in the cage
of the upcast shaft of the Hamstead Colliery Company,
Birmingham, for about 15 hours in the case of three, of them,
and 35 hours in the case of the other two. Food and drink
were sent down to the cage, which was suspended about
150 ft. from the bottom of the shaft. All of them were
exhausted when rescued. The accident detained 20 men in
the pit below.

Steam Colliers in America.—The Maryland Steel Company
is reported to be building, at the Sparrows Point Works, a
fleet of colliers of the following dimensions, capacity, and
fuel transferring installation : Length on load water line,
514 ft.; length over all, 536 ft.; beam, 65 ft.; depth, 39 ft.;
draught loaded, 27ft.; dead weight, 12,750 tons; speed,
14-46 knots. The deck machinery includes windlasses,
vertical type, 16 by 12 double cylinders, capstans of the
dock type, 8 by 8 double cylinder steering gear, screw gear
types 10 by 8 double cylinder, and other equipment on each
collier is the 24 winches, double cylinders 9| by 10, 26 steel
coaling booms of the built-up type, designed for handling
continuously a working load of 7,5001b. under service condi-
tions. The contract requirement of handling 100 tons of
coal out of each hatch per hour was exceeded. In the official
test. Which took place on the completion of the 48-hour run
at the Norfolk Navy Yard, the operator -handled over 137
tons of coal per hour. The colliers each have a power instal-
lation of two triple expansion engines, with evlinders,
27-46-76, three double-ended Scotch boilers, 15-10 in
diameter by 21-2 long: steam pressure, 2001b.: indicated
horse-power, 6,943; fuel coal is fired under forced draught.