January 2G, 1917.	THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

181

Do not replace that smashed part,
but send it just as it is for acceptance by
Barimar for Guaranteed Repair. If Barimar
succeeds, you will save a pocketful of money.
If Barimar fails, your payment will be refunded
in full.

BARIMAR

Scientific Welding Specialists
offer your easiest and most economical means of
carrying on. Every Barimar Repair is a complete
repair. Make use of Barimar—the Service with the
reputation, the Service upon which hundreds of
plant owners rely.

Send To-day.

Any part in any metal carriage paid. Please send
actual goods. Drawings and descriptions are useless
for quotation.

BARIMAR Ltd.,

Dept. L.,

10, Poland Street, London, W.

Telephone—8173 Gerrard.

Telegrams —“Bariquamar, Reg, London.” .

In any case of breakdown of plant where the part cannot be
sent to London, a wire will ensure instant despatch of a Barimar
Mobile Section, equipped to complete repair on the spot.

AN INTERESTING PUBLICATION has just been produced.
II is a concise description, abundant y illustrated, of Barimar work
and methods, and a Copy will be sent FREE on application.

For Sale.—One Steam-driven Air-com-

PRESSOR, 160 cu. ft. capacity, 100lb. pressure.

One Belt-driven AIR-COMPRESSOR, 81 cu. ft. capacity, 901b. pressure.

O e Belt-driven AIR COMPRESSOR, 15cu. ft. capacity, 501b. pressure.

Three Steel Plate AIRRECEIVERS, 90, 42, 16 cu. ft. capacity respec-
tively, usual fittings.

HARKES, CABLE & CO., 110, Cannon street, London, E.C.

TAT anted, Power Direct-acting Horizontal

V V WINDING ENGINES. 18 or 20 in. cylinders, 3 ft. or 3 ft. 6 in.
stroke, drum 7 ft. to 8 ft. diameter, 100 lb. steam.

J KEIRS, Horwoods’central Hotel, Coleford, Glos.

TTaving installed a Motor Ambulance

JL. we have for Sale a HORSE AMBULANCE, practically new, built
bv 'I h J City Wheel & Carriage Works, Dublin. Free delivery Liverpool.—
For full particulars, apply,	*

KYNOOB-ARKLOW LTD., Arklow, Co. Wicklow.

Wanted, Scrap Iron, Old Machinery,

and all classes of SCRAP METAL. Highest market values paid.

Terms: Spot cash.—Apply,

J. OHARKHAM, Government Contractor, Aidershot.
Telephone—No. 60. Aidershot.	Telegraphic Address—“ Charkham,

Aldershot.” Bankers—Capital and C unties Bank Ltd., Aidershot.

For Sale.—Air-compressor, steam-driven,

Holman’s, steam cylinder 14|in., air cylinder 13 in., stroke 24in.,
arranged tandem, perfect condition, all fittings.

ROOK DRILLS Holmans, two 2^ in., complete with two 6 ft. screw
columns, 4 eets borers.

HOISTING ENGINES, cylinders 8 in., stroke 12 in., link-reversing
motion, barrel 18 in. diam, geared 5 to 1, mounted on heavy carriage on
wheels, ne rly new.

VACUUM PLANT, Elmore’s No. 5, to treat 35 to 40 tons of ore per day,
by British Ore Concentration Ltd., London ; cheap.

TANKS, Steel, Cast Iron, and Boiler Tanks; large stock. Liston
application.

FIRTH BLAKELEY, SONS & (JO. LTD., Church Fenton, Leeds.

J. W. BAIRD AND COMPANY,

. PITWOOD IMPORTERS,
WEST HARTLEPOOL,

YEARLY CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO .WITH COLLIERIES.

OSBECK & COMPANY LIMITED,
PIT-TIMBER MERCHANTS,
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.

SUPPLY ALL KINDS OF COLLIERY TIMBER.

Telegrams—“Osbecks, Newcastle-on-Tyne.”

*±* For other Miscellaneous Advertisements see Last
White Page.

AND

Journal of the Coal and Iron Trades.

Joint Editors—

J. V. ELSDEN, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.G.S.
HUBEET GEEENWELL, F.S.S., Assoc.M.I.M.E.

(At present on Active Service).

LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1917.

The London coal trade continues brisk, but the
cold frosty weather keeps the demand far in excess
of the supply. Stocks on ^the ground are rapidly
lessening.

Freights continue high, and a general increase on
the Tyne is reported. Humber shippers state that
everything is at a standstill in consequence of new
regulations. Very little outward business has been
transacted.

Business on the Tyne and Wear market suffers
from the restriction of supplies to Norway and the
delay arising from the new chartering regulations.
Although prices are nominally unchanged, substantial
discounts are easily obtainable. Shipping is quiet in
Lancashire, and the position in Yorkshire is un-
settled, largely owing to lack of empty wagons.
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire mines have the
usual story of pressure for supplies. The position in
South Wales is nominal with regard to prices, .but
critical concerning wagon shortage and the consequent'

menace to the regular working of the pits. Large
anthracites are particularly easy in Llanelly. Holders
of stocks in Scotland are making concessions to
encourage sales.

Reports are published to the effect that the Govern-
ment has decided to“ comb out” miners who miss a
number of shifts through avoidable causes. Another
report states that the work on colliery sinkings will
be suspended during the war.

It is stated that a special department of the Board
of Trade is in. process of creation to take over the
control of the coal mines. Scotland is to be included
in the scheme according to the original plan, and
possibly a sub-department will be established in
Glasgow.

At a recent conference French coal importers
agreed upon the principle of centralising chartering,
and M. Herriot, Minister of Transport and Supplies,
spoke of the necessity of organising convoys of ships
under proper escort.

Relative to a recent Order regarding profits and
loans, the Board of Trade has explained to the South
Wales coal owners that it is not the intention to
interfere in any way with repayment of loans falling
due from time to time, or with normal and prudent
distribution of profits, such as will not prejudice the
financial position of the various undertakings.

Exporters have been notified that they must submit
to the Board of Trade for approval any arrangement
they make for stemming vessels owned by neutrals.
If permission for any charter is given by the Inter-
national Chartering Executive it is not necessary to
apply for separate permission from the Board of
Trade.

On Saturday a conference was'held between repre-
sentatives of the Northumberland Miners’ Association,
the Deputies, the Colliery Mechanics, and the Engine-
men and Firemen’s Association, and the Coal Owners’
Association. The men’s leaders submitted that there
should be no further reductions in wages for. the
duration of the war. The meeting did not come to
any decision, but it is understood that the coal owners
will further consider the question.

A meeting of the Midland branch of the Association
of Mining Electrical Engineers will be held at Mans-
field on February 17.

A meeting of the English Coal Conciliation Board
will be held on Wednesday next at the Savoy Hotel,
London, to consider an application of the miners for
a further advance in wages.

The South Wales Institute of Engineers has
arranged six general monthly meetings to be held
this year, the first of the series being held to-day
(Friday). The annual dinner has been postponed.

The Home Office gives notice that in the third
paragraph of the circular letter addressed to colliery
owners from the Home Office on January 22 en-
closing forms for returns to be sent to the colliery
recruiting courts the word u fillers” is a clerical
error for “ fitters.”

It is now clear that a strong effort
Labour will shortly be made to establish
after the such an understanding between
War. employers and employed in this
country that, after the war, the
country will be able to devote its energies to the
work of reconstruction, unhampered by the waste of
frictional losses brought about by labour disputes.
That this result should be brought about is scarcely
less important than winning the war; for it is the
only way by which a speedy economic recovery can
be made possible. It is equally urgent that this
question should be settled now, and not left in
abeyance until peace is restored. For both sides
are more ready now to agree to a policy of give
and take than they are ever likely to be again. By
which we mean that the employers on the one hand,
and the trade unions on the other, will probably
never again be so ready to agree to work together
for the common good after the war as they are
already doing in the trenches abroad and in the
munition works at home. In saying this we are
taking a broad view of the situation, in which
the whole-hearted earnestness of the majority has
altogether eclipsed the wrong-headedness of a few.

The time is opportune, therefore, to examine this
problem closely in order to find, if possible, the
common ground upon which both the employers and
the trade unions can take their stand. A useful
survey of the position has recently been published
in The Times, in a series of articles entitled “ The
Trade Union Outlook.” The writer there refers to
the temporary suspension of many trade union rules
and customs, upon the restoration of which, after
the war, the men’s executives can certainly insist.
Nor does anyone contemplate for .one moment a
departure from the agreement that has been made
that this restoration shall be as complete as the
workmen may demand. ' But there is reason to hope
that the trade unions will be prepared to surrender
permanently those customs which are obviously
uneconomic, and, therefore, not in the best interests
of the industries upon which they thrive. There are
many such: some seem often to be trivial, and even
absurd; they are not even set forth in the written
constitution of the trade unions; they are merely
customs which have sprung up from one cause or
another, perhaps not wholly without justification;
and while the men have clung to them as the
most precious of their privileges, the employers
have perforce acquiesced in them as the only
way to secure even an approach to smooth working.
The urgent necessities of the war, however, have
shown how impossible is real efficiency under such a
system. It was not even possible to separate the
objectionable rules from others which were com-
paratively harmless, for they differed from district to
district, and from trade to trade. It spoke eloquently
for the loyalty of the Labour Party of this country ?
therefore, that i they consented that, for the duration
of the war, all this network of rules^and regulations
should be in abeyance. But their absolute restdra“
tion has been solemnly promised, and the pre-war
basis must eventually be re-established [unless the
trade unions agree to forego any of them. It is only
fair to say that without this wholesale surrender of
existing customs, the great transformation of industry
brought about in British workshops could never
have been accomplished; and by this time the war
would have been irretrievably lost. The coal miners
have been called upon least of any to make these
sacrifices for the national well-being. But it is well
that even they should realise that the gain in the
efficiency of the men, and also in their individual
earnings, has been so enormous that any return to
the old conditions can scarcely be contemplated.
Neither do we think that the trade unions will
demand it, for .it would be well nigh impossible to
accomplish. New conditions have arisen. Factories
have been completely reorganised. Thousands of
new machines have been installed, and any attempt
to run existing concerns upon pre-war lines would
paralyse industry.

One of the most pressing problems, therefore, is
the settlement of"this question of the restitution of
trade union rights. It is unthinkable that the men
will demand it in its entirety. If they insist they
must, of course, have it; but it would be so much
against their own interests that we believe they will
unanimously prefer to have a new constitution,
drawn up to suit the altered conditions, thus
improving their position a hundredfold more than
could ever be secured in the old and obsolete way.
To return to the pre-war basis would be to sacrifice
the only benefit we can hope to get from the war, the
re-awakening of the nation from its hundred years’
sleep and its Utopian dreams of eternal peace. The
articles in The Times, to which we have referred, are
written with marked freedom from undue bias,
although, on the one hand, leaning towards a
sympathetic attitude with regard to labour, and not
sparing in its criticisms of employers’ shortcomings,
on the other. The author sums up the position
tersely in the statement that the nation has given a
solemn pledge to labour which it cannot possibly
fulfil—to which we should like to add the qualifying
phrase, without irretrievable ruin. But the nation
can offer something else, far more substantial, in its
place, if only labour will view the matter in its
proper light.

There are some things which the trade unions
should value more than the resumption of those