490

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

March 8, 1918.

its character and degree might appear, a priori, to
be favourable to the use of alcoholic beverages as
an element in the working diet. The conditions,
however, under which the work is carried on are such
as preclude altogether the possibility of taking alcohol
during the hours of labour; and amongst coal miners,
accordingly, industrial drinking is practically
unknown, and alcoholic disease is exceptionally
infrequent.” There is no reason, they conclude, to
suppose that this contrast is due to any difference in
general sobriety between the two groups in question.
The incidence of drunkenness is very similar upon
mining districts and upon seaports, so that it seems
reasonable to attribute it mainly to the prevalence of
continuous or quasi-continuous drinking among dock
labourers, and to the absence of that type of drinking
amongst the coal miners.

The question arises whether a generalisation can
be based upon this fact, and whether it can be con-
cluded that, in order to prevent the development of
chronic alcoholism, it is essential that the system
should not be constantly under the effect of repeated
doses. In other words, does frequent repetition of
alcoholic drinking tend to maintain such an average
concentration of the drug in the blood that the tissues
are rendered liable to injury? The Committee
answer this question in the affirmative. They
conclude that both continuity of action and excess
of dose are necessary factors in producing chronic
alcoholism.

With regard to the influence of alcohol upon work,
there are numerous records of experiments by means
of ergographs. Many of these are found by the
Committee to be unsatisfactory, for various reasons.
Amongst the most valuable of these investigations
are those conducted by Rivers in 1907. He found
that single doses of 5, 10, or 20 c.c. of alcohol left
no trace upon the muscular activity as recorded by
the ergograph. Doses equal to 2f oz. of whisky
Or 1|- oz. of beer produced no appreciable result, and
confirmed the earlier experiments of Oseretzkowsky
and Kraepelin in 1901. Hellsten, again, in 1904,
showed by ergographic experiments on an athlete,
that while moderate doses of alcohol showed no
result, larger amounts, corresponding to 5 or 6 oz. of
whisky, or more than 3 pints of beer, produced a
temporary increase of muscular work, followed by a
marked decrease, which in one case amounted to
20 per cent, of the normal performance. More
remarkable, perhaps, are the experiments of
Rivers and others on the disturbing effect of
alcohol upon skilled movements. It seems to
be established that alcohol, even in moderate
doses, appreciably lowers that efficiency in per-
forming work of delicacy or precision. Too much
reliance, however, must not be placed upon such
observations, as many sources of error occur in
laboratory investigations of this nature. The
subject is too wide for any adequate discussion in
this column, and those who are interested in it will
do well to study the report itself,* which has been
most impartially prepared and serves mainly to show
how much remains to be done before the subject can
be properly understood.

Almost exactly a year ago to-day,
Canals and the Board of Trade took over the
Government full control of British canals, and a
Control. Canal Control Committee was duly
appointed. This committee has just
issued a “ Handbook on Canals,” for the purpose of
supplying information respecting the availability of
this method of transport as a means of relieving the
railways as far as possible during the period of stress
arising from the heavy demands caused by the war.
About 2,225 miles of canals are included in the
arrangement. Of these, about 1,025 miles are owned
by railway companies, and are under the management
of the Railway Executive Committee established by
the Board of Trade in 1914. Thus, although the
whole of the canals are under Government control,
the responsibility for their utilisation is apparently
divided between the two committees—viz., the
Railway Executive Committee and the Canal Control
Committee.

One of the reasons for bringing the privately
owned canals under the control of the Board of
Trade was that an inequality of treatment arose

* “Alcohol: its Action on the Human Organism.”
London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1918. Price 2s. 6d.

from the payment of a bonus to railwaymen, under
Government sanction, in which arrangement the
employees on railway-owned canals shared; while
those on the privately-owned canals, being excluded
from similar advantages, left their employment in
large numbers for more remunerative work elsewhere.
A danger, therefore, arose that these canals would
cease working owing to labour shortage, since the
number of employees had fallen from 8,273 to 5,452
men. The position was further complicated by the
fact that many of the canal companies do no actual
carrying, this being in the hands of a third party—
viz., the canal carriers, known as “ by-traders.” A
part of the scheme, therefore, concerns these canal
carriers, who are enabled to come voluntarily under
control, and to participate in the benefits thereby
secured.

Amongst the privately-owned canals thus brought
under the Canal Control Committee are the Aire and
Calder Navigation, the Weaver Navigation, and the
Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal, all three of
which are distinguished by the fact that they are in
a position to accommodate larger boats than the
average limit of 30 to 40 tons to which most of the
other canals are restricted. The Aire and Calder
Navigation has long been accustomed to convey trains
of compartment boats, by which about 21 million tons
of coal, before the war, were carried annually to
the ports of Hull and Goole.

The Canal Control Committee have rightly turned
their attention, in the first place, to the question of
labour shortage, with the object of restoring to
service some 1,200 barges which were condemned to
idleness for the want of crews. In addition to this,
it was necessary to secure labour for loading and
unloading boats, maintenance works, such as repairs
and dredging, and for dealing with ice during severe
frost. For such additional labour as was necessary,
recourse was had to the Transport Workers’ Batta-
lions, some of whom are now being trained on the
Rennet and Avon Canal to enable them to fill the
depleted ranks of experienced boatmen.

In addition to this improvement in the canal staffs,
some useful and necessary work has been done upon
the canals themselves, mainly in the direction of
dredging, where silting threatened to diminish their
efficiency. The extent to which canal traffic had
fallen off in consequence of the war may be
estimated from the fact that the number of tons
carried by the Aire and Calder Navigation fell from
3,598,000 in 1913 to 2,095,000 in 1916. Roughly,
it may be said that on all the more important canals
there was a reduction varying from one-third to
one-half in the traffic. To what extent the Canal
Control Committee will be able to improve these
adverse conditions, it is, perhaps, too soon to forecast,
but it may be inferred that hitherto the progress has
not been all that might have been anticipated.
Recent returns, it is said, do show a large increase in
the carriage of coal by canals in the Birmingham
district. In this area the congested railways have
obtained considerable relief by the diversion of
railborne coal traffic to the canals, the possi-
bility of which has been facilitated by amicable
arrangement between the railway and canal
companies, a result which could hardly have been
achieved in the absence of Government control and
the accompanying financial guarantees. We do not
think that the limits of this mutual understanding
have yet been reached, for although the railways in
normal conditions can secure quicker deliveries, this
is not always the case under existing circumstances.
and, if the canals are slower, the deliveries are more
steady and regular than would be possible by means
of over-taxed and congested railways.

We have, on previous occasions, dealt with the
limitations of canals for coal transport, and nothing
in this respect is altered at present, nor can it be
expected until the whole canal problem is taken in
hand. But in war-time there must always be a
certain amount of sacrifice to expediency.

In this connection, it has been pointed out in some
quarters that the Coal Transportation Order, which
compels the coal traffic of this country to take new
directions, at the same time introduces special prob-
lems in regard to railway rates. Practically, the
result of this Order has been to shorten the distance
of coal haulage and to eliminate the longer distances
which previously enjoyed particularly low rates.
The new rates are, it is said, being quoted up to the
maximum powers under the Orders of 1891 and 1892,

with a corresponding advantage per ton-mile to the
railway companies. It may, therefore, assist matters
in this respect if the canals are able to secure a larger
share of the traffic. The whole question of railway
rates has long been a standing grievance between
the traders and the railway companies, and an
admirable survey of this complex question, as
it affects the Port of Liverpool, was recently
provided in an address delivered by Mr. Marshall
Stevens, under the auspices of the Liverpool
Chamber of Commerce.* Although the question of
coal transport was not specially discussed on this
occasion, the general principles involved are the
same. With regard to canals as a means of
disciplining the railways, it was urged that an effort
should be made to exploit the Bridgewater Canal,
as an additional means of transport, between
Manchester and Liverpool. One great difficulty in
utilising canals more extensively for coal traffic must
always exist. The collieries are not, as a rule,
directly connected with water ways, and could not,
therefore, utilise this means of transport without
transhipment, with all the disadvantages attending
extra handling of a more or less friable material.
It is nevertheless satisfactory to find that the Board
of Trade is doing what is possible to encourage canal
traffic, and the experience which will thus be gained
will serve a useful purpose not only as an emergency
measure during the war, but as an indication of what
may be practicable in the future.

* “Railway Reform and Traffic Distribution.” An
Address by Mr. Marshall Stevens, delivered at the Town
Hall, Liverpool, December 20, 1917.

THE LONDON COAL TRADE.

Thursday, March 7.

The colder weather during the earlier part of the week is
largely responsible for the increased activity on the London
Coal Exchange, but the satisfactory tonnage at all the
principal London depots has enabled the merchants to cope
with the extra orders. Fortunately, London is well
supplied with coal, and at all the depots (as far as house-
hold supplies are concerned) there appears to be quantities
sufficient to meet all reasonable requirements. Many of
the Northern and West End depots are cancelling further
arrivals, owing to the large stock on hand, but in the East
London districts, where the smaller consumers usually
obtain their supplies, the pressure has been increasingly
keen. The attendance on the market has been good, and a
fair amount of business has been noticeable between factors
and merchants. Very few collieries, however, have been
offering any free coal lately, but the contract quantities
have been more regularly maintained. The great difficulty
has been to secure anything like an adequate amount of
steam coal and hard cobbles for the factories along the
Thames side. Even the seaborne market has had very
little free coal to offer after the Admiralty and
other local claims have been satisfied. Vessels are
still scarce, and only 14 contract cargoes were entered for
Monday's market, but 23 arrived for Wednesday in the
River Thames, The freight market has recently reduced
its quotation from the Humber to London to 17s., but
South Yorkshire hards are obtaining 35s. per ton f.o.b. A
new Metal Exchange has lately been discussed, and will
shortly be registered as a limited company. It is designed
as a meeting place for buyers and sellers engaged in tin-
plates and manufactured iron and steel goods.

From Messrs. Dinham, Fawcus and Company's Report.

Friday, March 1.—There was a good demand for
seaborne house coal, but supplies were slow. No sales
reported. Arrivals, 14.

Monday, March 4.—The seaborne house coal market
was firm owing to the colder weather and short supply, no
sales being reported. Cargoes, 14.

Wednesday, March 6.—The seaborne house coal market
was without alteration, the weather continuing cold, with a
short supply coming forward. Cargoes, 23.

THE TIN-PLATE TRADE.

Liverpool.

Business is very quiet, so far as merchants are concerned.
Manufacturers are all well booked up with Class A work,
and are consequently in a position to maintain quotations
at the official maximum of about 31s. 9d. basis net f.o.t.
at works for coke finish. Wasters in 28 x 20 are in
demand, both full weights and lights, but other sizes are
only in moderate request. Terne plates continue slow of
sale.

The Ministry of Reconstruction has appointed a “ Com-
mittee of Financial Risks Attaching to the Holding of
Trading Stocks ” (Mr. R. C. Smallwood, Ministry of
Reconstruction, secretary), to deal with the question of
manufacturers’ stocks after the war.

Hull Coal Exports. — The coal brought into Hull in
February amounted to 224,255 tons (13,187 tons by river
and 211,068 tons by rail), compared with 213,644 tons in
February last year. The figures relating to exports are
not available.

Non-Ferrous Metal Licences.—The President of the Board
of Trade has appointed Sir Dudley Stewart Smith, K.C.
(chairman), Sir Harold Elverston, M.P., and Mr. H. J.
Mackinder, M.P., to be a committee to examine all appli-
cations for licences under the Non-Ferrous Metal Industry
Act, 1918, and to report to the Board of Trade thereon.