1268

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

December 29, 1916.

THE GERMAN COAL AND IRON
TRADES.

We give below further extracts from German
periodicals that have reached us, showing the course of
the cord and iron trades in Germany :—

The Iron Market in Rhenish Westphalia.

The traffic problem resulting from the scarcity of
railway wagons has latterly become somewhat easier,
and the Rhine has been in better condition for the
transport of ore and coke. The restriction of the use
of coal has liberated more fuel for industrial purposes.
Attempts made to put through a further advance in
the prices of semi and finished products have been
unsuccessful, but Siegerland has risen, pig iron is to be
advanced shortly, and there is every prospect of coal
and coke prices going up.

In the ore market, Siegerland ore has risen by an
average of 7 mk. per ton, the rate now being 33 mk.;
and it is being sought to suspend old contracts at cheap
rates for a time. The present demand for ore is beyond
the capacity of the mines to satisfy. For Nassau red
ironstone a maximum price of 25 mk. per ton of 40 per
cent, ore has been fixed. Large quantities of minette
are being conveyed by water from the Upper Rhine
ports, the price being 3'80 mk. per ton for 30 per cent.
Luxemburg ore, and 1'50 mk. for high-grade Lothringen
ore, both ex mine.

All kinds of pig iron are in pressing request, but any
increase in the output has been prevented by the short
supply of railway wagons, so that the putting of new
furnaces into blast has bad to be suspended, and some of
the old ones blown out. Cost of production having
risen, a considerable advance in the price of foundry
pig and Luxemburg pig is projected ; and haematite and
other grades are also expected to go up. The scrap
iron market continues firm, with extremely high prices,
so that producers, dealers and users have held a
conference to settle prices and distribution. The price
of heavy scrap was suggested at about 100 mk. per ton,
and other kinds on the same basis; but business has
gone through at much higher rates, up to 120 mk. being
paid for old rails and sleepers, and 110 mk. for fresh
scrap.

The situation as regards semi-products is in a state of
high tension, makers consuming a large amount of
their own output, whilst buyers are making such large
demands that the union is hard put to it to satisfy the
most pressing cases. The plate mills, especially those
making fine plate, are very urgent for delivery. Tbe
export trade has been neglected for some time, though
an active demand prevails. Prices remain at 127 50 mk.
for ingots, 132'50 mk. for blooms, 142'50 mk. for billets,
and 148'50 mk. for plate bars, with the usual extra foi’
open-hearth quality, but high-grade products by out-
siders fetch higher prices.

The output of bars has declined since many of the
works are now engaged on munitions, but the demand
remains unabated, and makers are full up with orders
for the next six months. The works are drawing on
dealers’ stocks, but makers’ prices are still on the basis
of 195 mk. ex Oberhausen and 190 mk. ex Diedenhofen,
for ordinary merchant bars, with 20-30 mk. extra for
open-hearth quality. Dealers are getting 280 mk., and
even as much as 300 mk. for stock parcels. Hoop iron
is in strong demand and firm at 225 mk. ex Oberhausen,
merchants obtaining still more. Prices of sections are
unaltered, but the demand is much greater than the
supply. Prices are on the basis of 160 mk. ex Ober-
hausen, with the usual extras for the various districts.
Works have orders in hand to last for three months.
Tubes are in good request, especially by locomotive
builders and for gas pipe.

Heavy plate is produced in smaller amount, makers
being busy on munitions, so that those who are still
making are overwhelmed with enquiries. Though the
basis price of 195 mk. ex Essen is maintained, up to
35 mk. additional is paid for special thicknesses.
Medium and fine plate fetch any price makers like to
ask, such as 270-280 mk. for medium, and 300-350 mk.
for fine, or even more for specially thin plate and
prompt delivery. An extraordinary demand prevails
for galvanised, corrugated and tin plate.

Wire, especially rolled, is difficult to obtain. The
basis price is still 177 50 mk., but works are, in many
cases, declining new orders. The convention price for
drawn wire remains at 215 mk., with 212'50 for nail
wire, 247'50 mk. for screw and rivet wire, 265 mk. for
galvanised, and 235 mk. for wire nails.

Railway material moves along the old lines, works being
full of orders for several months. Mounted field rail-
way rails are in particular demand, but there is less
doing in‘ narrow-gauge and tram rails. Prices have
risen to 195 to 205 mk. for heavy rails, 195 to 200 mk.
for pit and field rails, 200 to 205 mk. for narrow gauge,
and about 207 to 215 mk. for tram rails.

German Coal Trade Organisation.

For the purpose of distributing its products the
Westphalian Coal Syndicate has five sales departments
charged with the working of separate “ districts,*’ whilst
the actual delivery is in charge of other separate
departments dealing respectively with bituminous, gas,
and gas-flaming, smithy and lean coals, coke and
briquettes. In close connection with the division of
the western, southern and northern parts of Germany
into districts was the establishment of the various coal
trading conn anies, chief among them being the Kohlen-
kontor of Millheim-Ruhr and Mannheim. It is now
known that, in connection with the renewal of the
Syndicate, new trading companies are to be formed, and
it seems, therefore, not without interest to show how
the “ d stricts ” are arranged, and how they have been
served by the trading concerns.

The districts are as follow :—(1) Hamburg, Schleswig-
Holstein, Lubeck, and the two Grand Duchies of
Mecklenburg; (2) Oldenburg and Bremen; (3) in the

main the province of Hanover; (4) Northern West-
phalia (administrative district of Munster); (5) Dort-
mund and the environs; (6) tbe Grand Duchy of
Brunswick, and the adjacent portion of Hanover;
(7) tbe northern portion of the province of Saxony,
including Magdeburg, the northern part of the kingdom
of Saxony, with Leipzig, and a portion of Brandenburg,
with Potsdam and Berlin; (8) the country round Cleve,
Mors and Geldern southward as far as Kempen;

(9)	along tbe right bank of the Rhine, from the
frontier to Dusseldorf, and eastward as far as Essen;

(10)	the left bank of the Rhine, extending southward
from district (8) through Crefeld, Viersen, M-
Gladbach and Rheydt; (11) extends along the right
bank of the Rhine nearly as far as Cologne,
and eastward to the boundary of tbe Rhine
province; (12) is a small district, eastward of 11, and
comprising, inter alia, Bochum, Witten and Liider-
scheid ; (13) also comprises part of Westphalia, namely,
a strip commencing, on the we-t, at Hagen, and ending,
in the east, at Nuttlar and Buren, tbe southern termi-
nation being at Finnentrop (confluence of the Bigge
and the Lenne); (14) on the left bank of the Rhine,
bounded to the north by the railway line from Cologne
to Aachen, and on the south by the line from Adenau
to Brohl; (15) extends from Deutz and Finnentrop in
tbe north to Brohl in the south; (16) lies to the east of
15, tbe northern termination being Finnentrop, and the
southern Wetzlar, with Marburg and Wissen as tbe
eastern and western extremities; (17) comprises the
administrative district of Cassel, the southern part
of the province of Saxony (Erfurt) and parts of
tbe adjacent Thuringian principalities; (18) to the
south of 14, and comprising tbe south-west portion
of the Rhine province as far as Saarbriicken except
such as lies eastward of the Coblenz-Saarbriicken
railway; (19) consists of the small corner of the Rhine
province, on the right bank as far as the confluence of
tbe Lahn and Rhine; (20) the district round Wiesbaden,
excluding Frankfurt-on-the-Main; (21) Rhine left bank,
comprising Rhenish Hesse and such part of the Rhine
province as lies east of the Cologne-Saarbriicken fine ;
(22) comprises Hesse - Darmstadt, Frankfurt-on-the-
Main, Lower* Franconia and North Baden (except
Mannheim); (23) Middle and Upper Franconia; (24)
the Upper Pfalz; (25) Upper and Lower Bavaria, with
Swabia and Neuburg; (26) Wurttemberg and Baden;
(27) the Rheinpfalz; (28) Elsass and Lothringen; (29)
the northern partof Brandenburg, and part of Pomerania,
with Stettin and Stralsund.

Of these districts, only the following have hitherto
been exploited by coal trading companies—viz.: (1) By
the Westphalian Kohlenkontor, Hamburg; (2) by the
Deutsche Kohlenbandelsges., Bremen ; (3) and (6) by
the Westphalia Kohlenbandelsges., Hanover; (4) and
(5) by the Westfalische Kohlenbandelsges., Dortmund;
(7) and (29) by tbe Westfalische Kohlen- and Koksver-
kaufsges., Magdeburg; (11) by the Dusseldorf er
Koblenverkaufsstelle K. Bruggemann, Dusseldorf;
(17) by the Gliickauf Kohlenbandelsges., Cassel; and
(20) to (28) by the Rheinische Kohlenhandels- and
Reedereiges., Millheim (Ruhr). Consequently, the dis-
tricts 9-10, 12-16, 18 and 19 have, till now, been left
uncared for; but it is proposed to serve 8, 9
and 10 through a company in Dusseldorf, which will
supply the whole of the lower Rhine country
from the Dutch frontier as far as Dusseldorf on the
one hand and the line from Cologne to Aachen on the
other. A company to be established in Cologne will
serve Nos. 14, 15, 18 and 19, i.e., the left-Rhine portion
of the Rhine province south of the Cologne-Aachen
line, except tbe small part included in No. 24, and will
also include, on the right bank, the district between the
Deutz-Finnentrop line and the Nassau boundary at
Braubach-Oberlahnstein. By means of these three
new concerns and the eight already existing, the whole
of the home territory covered by the Syndicate will be
served; whilst the external trade will be looked after by
ofi-shoots of the Syndicate in Antwerp and Utrecht.

The Iron Market in Upper Silesia.

Business in the iron and steel industries during
November was extremely active, so much so that it was
impossible to satisfy all requirements, and many new
orders had to be refused. Army needs 'were very con-
siderable, and other business had to be greatly restricted
in consequence. The distribution of the various products
for army purposes was controlled by the military
authorities, to ensure munitions works having a proper
supply and prevent speculative purchases. All building
operations for non-warlike purposes have been suspended,
and dealers have been forbidden to dispose of any stock
for purposes other than those for the national defence.
To facilitate increased production, requisitioned metals
and machinery have been released, and measures taken to
send back skilled workers from the forces ; whilst the
railways have given preference to the conveyance of
materials, such as fuel, ore, limestone, dolomite, scrap
iron, &c. Business with dealers has been ve>y small,
and confined to specifications for early delivery. Prices
tend to rise in sympathy wfith the increased cost of
production. Foreign trade has remained quiet, owing
to lack of delivery facilities. The fine-plate makers
have formed a union, and the heavy-plate union has
been prolonged until next June. Scrap iron has been
plentiful, but prices have advanced considerably, the
latest quotations being for ordinary scrap 78 mk., plate
scrap 65 mk., ordinary turnings 65 mk., melting iron
54 mk. per ton delivered.

The Regulation of Coal Supplies.

In order to maintain the supply of fuel to firms
engaged on business of importance to the realm, tbe
German War Office has established a coal adjustment
department, to be in close touch with the authorities
and the coal owners, and is to be empowered to restrict
or suspend the delivery of coal to other consumers if
necessary.

Steel Union Deliveries in November.

The total deliveries amounted to 212,675 tons, in
weight of raw* steel (230,554 tons in October), including
67,800 tons (76,384 tons) of semi products, 72,099 tons
(81,447 tons) of railway material, and 62,696 tons (72,723
tons) of sections.

ak

HWtr
fftctptaclK

NEW MINER'S CARBIDE LAMP.

The Hoppe carbide lamp has several new features,
including the position of the water-feed regulator and
the direction of the burner. The regulator is a lever at
the side of the lamp, and when the lever is in its most
upward position, the water feed is closed ; when it is in
the extreme downward position, the feed is wide open.

The burner, instead of being placed in the centre of.
the reflector, is near the base and directed upward so
that the flames lie across the reflector instead of at
right angles to it. All the light is therefore subject to
this reflection, yet the angle of the burner is such that
the flame does not impinge on the reflector and burn it.

For an engineer reading a vernier, this arrangement
of the flame would appear to have advantages over one
in which the flame passes in a horizontal direction.
There was always the probability of a chance mis-
direction causing tbe flame to impinge on the instrument
and perhaps set fire to the vernier reflector, should it
happen to be constructed of celluloid.

The carbide receptacle should be charged with 2 oz.
of |-in. carbide. When filling the upper, or water,
receptacle, the finger should be kept over the burner tip
to keep water out. The
first priming of the
charge is secured by
opening the feed to the
wide-open position for
about half a minute,
the escaping gas being
then lighted either with
a match or by passing
the hand over tbe
revolving lighter. After
the light has burned
about half a minute,
the water feed can
be adjusted to tbe half-
open or some satisfac-
tory position according
to the light desired,
the former being the
position recommended.

The use of too much
water in this and other
lamps causes tbe flame
to blow and forces the
gas through the vent
in the water container,
with consequent loss of
economy. However, it
is sometimes necessary
to provide the full feed
so as to clear the
drip cup from collected
sediment.

Used with di scre-



Ware/
■ Fetd

Sectional Views
of Lamp.

tion, the lamp will burn for four hours. The upper
part of the lamp screws quite firmly on to the
lower with a good solid gasket. The opening to
the w*ater receptacle is closed by a screwed plug.
The objection to such an arrangement is that the plug
is apt to fall and be lost in a pile of rock when
unscrewed. To avoid this fault, the manufacturers have
put on a retaining claw, which passes through the gas
hole of the screwed plug. When the plug is unscrewed,
the retaining claw, attaching itself to the sides of the
hole, prevents the plug from falling, but the aperture
is nevertheless wide open and permits an unrestricted
filling of the water receptacle.

Occasionally, the felt through which the gas passes
should be renewed. In fact, all parts of the lamp can
readily be removed and new parts furnished. The lamp
has a dark enamel finish and is arranged with a cross-
bar at the back, which by means of a pivoted hook
firmly attaches the lamp to the tin front of the miner’s
beadgear so that it cannot jolt with wearer’s stride.
The weight of the lamp when empty is 6 oz.—Coal Age.

A Queensland Coal Mining Romance.—Five years ago or
so, six Welshmen—W. B. Thomas, William Ellis, J. W.
Jones, William Morris, E. M. Williams, and Owen Evans
—all working miners, bored at Ipswich, Queensland, for a
“ Big seam ” they believed existed in the neighbourhood.
After exhausting their means, they were financed by a
friend, and at 685 ft. they struck coal. The mine is now
being successfully developed.

Cumberland Coal Trade Conciliation Board.—The Board
met on December 18 to consider the following applications
•by the -workmen :—(1) That all day wage men and boys
employed underground be given Is. per day advance. (2)
That all surface employees be given Is. per day advance.
(3) That hewers brought from the face to do shift work,
and hewers working in abnormal places, be paid at the rate
of 8s. per day, plus current percentage and war bonus. The
a-ward of the neutral chairman (Canon Sutton) wae as
follows :—(1) The standard wages of day wage men and
boys employed underground shall be advanced 5s. (5 per
cent.). (2) The wages of adult surface labour, with stan-
dards of 3s. 4d. to 4s. 2d., inclusive, shall be advanced l|d.
per shift on such standards. (3) A coal hewer brought from
the face to work shift wrork shall be paid at the standard rate
of 7s. per shift.