March 9, 1917.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

487

Actual Repair -Work Done

is the only foundation upon which the House
of Barimar stands. And it stands alone for
Quality and Completeness in repair work.

BARIMAR

Scientific Welding Service

is a necessity to economy in machine upkeep and to
continuity in carrying on. And, under its famous
Money-back Guarantee, your risk of loss is nil.

Send any Metal Part To-day

carriage paid and marked ‘4 for guaranteed
repair.” Price by return. Actual goods must
be sent for estimate. Drawings are useless.

BARIMAR Ltd.,

------ Dept. L., -----

10, Poland Street, London, W.

Telephone—	Telegrams —

8173 Gerrard.	“ Bariquamar, Beg, London.”

J. W. BAIRD AND COMPANY,

PITWOOD IMPORTERS,

WEST HARTLEPOOL,

YEARLY CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO WITH COLLIERIES.

OSBECK & COMPANY LIMITED,
PIT-TIMBER MERCHANTS,
NE WCASTLE-ON-T YNE.

SUPPLY ALL KINDS OF COLLIERY TIMBER.

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

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

AND
Journal @f the goal and Iron Trades.

Joint Editors—

J. V. ELSDEN, D.Sc. (Load.), F.G.S.
HUBEBT GREENWELL, F.S.Si, Assoc.M.I.M.E.
(At present on Active Service}.

LONDON. FRIDAY. JfAR CH 9, 1917.

The return of colder weather has largely stimulated
public orders on the London coal market, and
merchants are heavily loaded with orders. House
and steam coals are very scarce, and slacks are in
good demand.

An Advisory Board, representative of coal owners
and miners, has been formed to assist the Controller
of Coal Mines, in addition to a Board of Financial
Advisors.

The District Coal and Coke Supplies Committee
for Scotland, acting on behalf of the Board of Trade,
has prescribed the maximum charges for all dealings
in coal for home consumption.

Wintry weather has sharpened the demand for
house coal while hampering the means of supply.
A weaker tone is noticeable on the Tyne and Wear,
especially in the prompt market. Every mining
area is seriously affected by the transport difficulty,
despite the better supply of wagons reported in some
districts. Heavy stocks are accumulating on the
sidings in South Wales in default of tonnage.
Except for the fixing of maximum prices for home
consumption, there is nothing fresh to report in the
Scottish coal trade.

Stormy weather greatly delayed shipping move-
ments this week. Very little chartering is reported.

Officials of the Central Executive Committee of
Great Britain state that the rumours regarding the
abandonment of limitation freights in connection
with coal for France and Italy are incorrect. The
scheme still stands. Arrangements are being made
for securing additional tonnages.

In connection with the volunteering of miners for
timber felling, a scheme of pay has been devised and
posted up at South Wales collieries.

It has been found necessary to postpone the
publication of the Board of Trade returns for a few
days. In the usual course of events these returns
would have been issued on Wednesday.

The Controller of Coal Mines has been in consulta-
tion with the Director of Timber Supplies on the

subject of the importation of pitwood into the
United Kingdom, and in view of the urgent necessity
of maintaining the production of coal, it has been
arranged that such limited supplies of pitwood as are
now being received may continue to be imported
pending further instructions.

A meeting of the Manchester Geological and
Mining Society will be held on Tuesday next,
13th inst., at Queen’s Chambers, Manchester, when
the latest type of flame and electric safety lamps by
various makers will be exhibited.

The general public is probably
Fuel wholly unaware of the magnitude
Research, of the work that is being undertaken
by the Committee of the Privy
Council for Scientific Research. The task upon
which that body is engaged covers so wide a field
that it is difficult for the lay mind to grasp its scope.
It is only when concrete examples are considered
that the full significance of this innovation is
apparent. Such an example is provided by the
question of fuel research, which is now for the first
time to be placed upon a national basis, instead of being
left either entirely neglected or dependent upon the
isolated efforts of individual workers. The appoint-
ment of a Board of Fuel Research marks an
important epoch in the industrial development of the
nation. The constitution of this Board, over which
Sir George Beilby- presides in the Capacity of
director, guarantees a thoroughly practical considera-
tion of the subject. He will be assisted by the Hon.
Sir Chas. Parsons, Mr. Richard Threlfall and
Sir Richard Redmayne, who, as Chief Inspector of
Mines, represents the practical mining aspect of the
problems to be investigated.

In some quarters there has been a disposition to
connect this new departure with the recent assump-
tion by the Government of the control of the coal
fields of this country. This view, however, is
obviously wrong, for two reasons. In the first place,
the Government control is for the duration of the war
only. It will cease automatically, in its present form,
with the repeal of the Defence of the Realm Act, by
the authority of which it has been established. In
the second place, the question of fuel research was
recognised as urgent long before there was any
indication of the intention of the Government to
take over the entire control of the mining industry.
The history of this question is as follows:—For
many years it has been persistently pointed out that
some step should be taken to facilitate coal field
exploration by State-aided investigations. Fuel
economy has been widely advocated in numerous
quarters, and a committee was appointed by the
British Association in 1915 to study the many aspects
of the problem. Amongst the numerous com-
mittees appointed by the late Government was the
Reconstruction Committee, which in July last year
appointed a sub-committee on Coal Conservation,
under the chairmanship of Lord Haldane. The
importance of the fuel problem has, in fact, been so
forcibly presented to those responsible for the supply
of the various munitions of war, that it is not
surprising that the Advisory Council should have
urged the Privy Council Committee to adopt some
means of co-ordinating and reducing to a practical
form all the work which has been done both by the
above-named committees and by private research.

The question at present stands thus: Many
proposals have been made, and some investigations
have already been initiated. These will all now
come before the new Board of Fuel Research for
approval or otherwise. Such as are approved will
be systematically carried out, and as a sum of money
has already been placed at the disposal of the Privy
Council Committee, it may be taken for granted that
the researches recommended to be carried out will be
prosecuted regardless of the expense entailed.

As to the precise nature of the work that will be
undertaken under the scheme, we are at present
without information. It is stated that it will include
problems connected with the nature, preparation and
utilisation of all kinds of fuel, both on a laboratory
and industrial scale. Work of a similar nature is
already being done in other countries, a standing
example being afforded by the investigations carried

out by the United States Bureau of Mines. It is
certain, however, that the Board of Fuel Research
will not be content with a mere slavish imitation of
the American procedure. It is true that the
problems in the two countries are somewhat similar
when regarded from a theoretical standpoint, but in
practice they are widely different. The engineer, for
example, regards fuel economy mainly from the
point of view of available heat units. In his eyes it
is nothing less than a national scandal that the
present wasteful use of coal shoulil be tolerated. It
is to be hoped, however, that the new Board
will not be carried away by any plans for
revolutionising current practices by penalising
stereotyped methods of heating and lighting, as
some enthusiasts have demanded. Waste is to be
deprecated in whatever form it may exist, but the
cure will come better through education than by
compulsion. Where the State can assist will be in
the direction of supplying information and providing
opportunities for economies such as do not yet exist.
Self-interest will then do the rest. Amongst the
numerous schemes which have been suggested for
State-aided research, one of the most prominent is
the prosecution of a complete chemical survey of
every seam of coal in the country. Such a survey
would indeed be of the greatest scientific interest,
and it would have also a distinct practical appli-
cation. There is a truly lamentable lack of
information upon this subject. It has never been
seriously demanded by the consumer, nor adequately
provided by the seller. Most chemical analyses
now available are practically useless for any purpose
whatever, because they are either obsolete or refer
to picked samples. If the Board of Fuel Research,
therefore, really contemplates the gigantic task of a
chemical survey of British coals, it will be necessary,
in the first place, to standardise the tests, and, in the
second place, to ensure that every sample analysed
is truly representative of the seam. There is no
possibility of the speedy completion of such an
undertaking, and its beneficial results could only
gradually accrue. It has been stated that the
systematic application of knowledge already ascer-
tained would result in an annual saving of something
approaching 5 0,000,000 tons of coalper annum. If only
a part of this economy could be realised in practice
the gain would be immense—not because less coal
would necessarily be mined, but because more heat
units would be available for conversion into useful
work. Prof. Bone, who is retained as consultant to
the Board of Fuel Research, can doubtless give
valuable advice in that direction.

We may perhaps be permitted to suggest other
promising fields of investigation, such as the
briquetting of coke; the distillation of low grade
fuel, including peat; and, above all, the recovery of
a larger proportion of the seam than is often done
in present practice. The coal owner should have
an assured market for every potential heat unit
brought to the surface.

Of all the problems that will press
Money and for solution after the war, perhaps
Prices. Ike most important will be the new
factors regulating the question of
wages. It is extremely difficult to foresee exactly
what will take place in regard to the present high
cost of living, even upon the supposition that the
existing level of prices is not greatly exceeded in the
near future. In the opinion of economists the
factors that should operate in the direction of a fall
in prices upon the resumption of peace conditions
are—(1) the release of shipping now employed for
war purposes; (2) the restoration of normal condi-
tions of industrial life; and (3) the re-opening of
sources of supply now closed. Upon the other side
of the question may be placed—(1) the general
decrease in production due* to the war; (2) the
diminished efficiency of plant owing to deterioration;
and (3) the general financial state of the country.
Existing conditions have been largely met by a
high wage rate, and in many cases by war bonuses ;
but there is some uncertainty respecting the duration
of the latter after the war, while strictly many of
the increases in the wage rate are terminable when
peace is declared. Certainly there will be an