May 10, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

947

MINING INDUSTRY AND MILITARY
SERVICE.

The further comb-out of colliery workmen, which
barred certain areas, notably the Midlands and some par-
ticular collieries of other areas, has been revised upon the
representations of the Coal Controller. At the South
Wales Miners’ Federation Council on Saturday, it was
reported that the clause making these exceptions was
cancelled.. The comb-out will, therefore, apply to all
collieries. Grade A men, single and married, aged 18
years and 8 months up to 32 years on the 1st inst., will
be called immediately for medical examination. Officials
and workmen are equally affected, except that clerks, when
called, will be dealt with by local tribunals. Employers
can appeal for exemption on the ground of indispensa-
bility. Provision is also made for exemption appeals on
the grounds of exceptional domestic hardship and the
review of previous exemption on such grounds.

In a circular regarding the recruiting of the second
50,000 miners,' Messrs. Cann and Richardson, of the
Durham Miners’ Association, report that, owing to mis-
takes and complications in connection with the recent
comb-out, they met the military authorities to obviate
any such mishaps in connection with the second. The
military authorities suggested that representatives of the
owners, the association, and the recruiting authorities
should draft proposals regarding the new “comb-out.”
These representatives have made an unofficial estimate that
9,109 men, between the ages of 18 years and 8 months
and 32 years on May 1, whether married or single, will be
required from the county. The whole of the men left on
the reserve list of the first quota shall go into the second
ballot, but should any men be required to take the place
of those drawn in the first ballot—men rejected on medical
or other grounds—these reserve men shall be recruited in
the order in which their names appear in the first ballot.
Only Grade I men shall be taken for service. If more
men are required later, they shall be taken in the order
in which they stand in the ballot. The military authori-
ties will endeavour to call up 1,000 men per day for
medical examination, these to be spread over as large a
number of collieries as possible, so that work at the col-
lieries shall be interrupted in a minimum way. Each
colliery will be credited with such volunteers as have been
accepted by the Army between the dates of the first and
second ballots. Owners’ and workmen’s associations are
to intimate to their members that it is undesirable that
persons should volunteer, as it leads to complications, and
that workmen should remain until officially called upon.
Managers, under-managers, surveyors, and. other alleged
“ indispensable ” men under 32 must go into the ballot,
but the owners of collieries can appeal to ^the mines
inspector for their exemption. Class W men, Army
Reserve men, and discharged men must not go into the
ballot.

A rather topsy-turvy state of affairs was revealed by
certain cases heard by the Durham Rural Tribunal the
other day. In one instance, a Sherburn Hill man appealed
for his son, a putter, now the sole support of his mother
and family. The father, in uniform, stated that he was
50 years of age, but joined up as-38, not to show any
white feather. The chairman remarked that that was
very patriotic, and granted exemption to the son. In
another instance, a Kimblesworth electric-engine man,
whose father, 47 years of age, is at the front, was granted
exemption. At the same tribunal a Sherburn Hill putter,
whose father was stated to be past work and whose
two brothers were in the Army, leaving applicant as the
only support of the father, a widowed sister, and six
children, was exempted, as was also a Low Pittington
wagonwayman, one of whose brothers had been killed in
action whilst the other was still in the Army, leaving him
as the sole support of his widowed mother.

At Durham County Appeal Tribunal, the National
Service representative appealed against the exemption of
an ironfounder, on whose behalf it was stated that he
worked from early morning till late at night, work of a
special character for 20 or 30 collieries being done. The
National Service representative thought the man should
join the V.T.C. and drill on Sundays. Judge Greenwell,
presiding, said if a man worked from 6 a.m. till 7 p.m.
on six days of the week he would not want to drill on
Sundays any more than to go to church. The National
Service appeal was dismissed.

At Blyth Tribunal, a Cowpen miner, who was unsuc-
cessful in the ballot and had received his calling-up
papers, although in Grade 3, applied for exemption, and
stated that he would not have appealed had he not had
six brothers in the Army. Mr. Callaway expressed the
opinion that no miner in Grade 3 was wanted in the
Army. The National Service representative said the man
might be of use in a labour battalion. Mr. Carr, another
member, said that no Grade 3 man could be more usefully
employed than in the pit. Six months’ exemption was
granted.

County Councillor John Lawson, of West Pelton, who
has been adopted as Labour candidate for the Easington
Division, has voluntarily joined the Army, and is now
a gunner in the R.F.A. Mr. Lawson, who is 37 years
of age, was checkweighman at Alma Colliery, and is a
well-known member of the executive committee of the
Durham Miners’ Association. His action is due to his
recognition of the grave situation which has been caused
through the German offensive.

The officials of the lodges of the Northumberland Miners’
Association have been requested to assist the military
authorities to complete the present comb-out before enter-
ing into another ballot by supplying information as to the
names and ballot numbers of men who have appeared on
the ballot but have not yet been medically examined, the
names and numbers of men who have been passed Grade 1,
and the names of men not on the ballot who have enlisted
voluntarily since this year commenced.

At Lanchester Tribunal, when a Craghead miner passed
Grade 1, appealed, on the ground that he was the main
support of a widowed mother and three children, and
stated that he had two brothers in the Army and a third
was about to join up, a member of the tribunal remarked :
“ I don’t think it is the intention to take the last out
of a house.” The National Service representative promptly
replied : “I shall not take him,” and conditional exemp-'
tion was granted.

An instance of two Government Departments being at
variance came to light at the Bristol Tribunal. A large
number of men who were coal haulers or dealers were in
the list. Many were young men who had been placed
in the higher grade. A letter was read from the Board
of Trade Coal Mines Department stating that they were
in correspondence with the Department of National Ser-

vice, and the probability was that they would go through
the whole of the cases and arrange accordingly. Col.
Hinge, National Service representative, opposed this
course, and declared that it was a perfect scandal that
these men should be allowed to remain while men of 50
were to be called up. The Town Clerk said that a ration-
ing scheme was coming, and it was imperative that there
should be efficient distribution of coal. Col. Hinge replied
that the Coal Control Department was trying to dictate
to the tribunal. This the Coal Controller’s representa-
tive denied. Three days’ adjournment was granted.

Mr. David Gilmour, of the Lanarkshire Miners’ Union,
has been appointed special adviser to the Ministry of
National Service in connection with the decision to release
men from the Army to take the places of the young men
who are now being combed-out from the pits. Mr. Gilmour
is issuing instructions to all branch secretaries throughout
Great Britain as to the procedure to be adopted and the
class of applications to have men released that will receive
first consideration.

On Tuesday, Mr. T. Richards, M.P., secretary of the
South Wales Miners’ Federation, issued to the local lodges
a circular of instructions as to their action in regard to
the comb-out. He points out that all men up to 32 years
of age are subject to medical examination, but that only
those of Grade 1 are to be posted for service. All
employees, including officials, but excluding clerical staff,
are liable, and that employers can apply for exemption
as “ indispensable ” the winding engrnemen, electricians,
stokers, mechanics, operators of coal cutters, blacksmiths,
and strikers, haulage enginemen, and main-pump engine-
men. Federation committees are to consider all appli-
cations for exemption, even of men in other trade unions,
and these committees will consider men’s appeals, and
recommend exemption on several grounds, such as age,
domestic hardship, or that the family has already contri-
buted a reasonable proportion of its members to the Army,
the miners’ agent to act on behalf of any man so recom-
mended: Married men’s circumstances in relation to
single men called up will be specially dealt with. As
yet, the total number of men required has not been stated.
The inspectors of mines will deal with applications for
exemption in the cases of managers, under-managers,
agents, and underground surveyors, who are deemed to
be indispensable.

The Abersychan tribunal dealt with 50 appeals, of which
more than half were put forward by men in Grade 3.
The National Service representative did not press for these
men, although many of them had been combed out of
the collieries because they had entered the mines since
the outbreak of war. The tribunal considered that the
men would be doing useful work in their present occupa-
tion, and they were consequently exempted until Grade 3
men are called for.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—May 6.
Excess Mineral Rights Duty.

A. B. Murray v. Commissioners of Inland Revenue.—
The appellant? is the proprietor of minerals in the County
of Stirling, leased by him to two colliery companies.
Against an assessment to Excess Mineral Rights Duty
for 1914 and 1915, he lodged an appeal, and the referee
decided that he was liable in £5,865. This decision was
affirmed by the Valuation Appeal Court in Scotland.
Appellant contended that in regard to Section 43 of the
Finance Act, 1915, the construction adopted by the
Valuation Court would result in many cases in exacting
Excess Mineral Rights Duty from a subject who, instead
of making an increased income, had made a loss in con-
sequence of the new conditions.

The Lord Chancellor, in moving that the appeal be
dismissed, said the Court had to compare the pre-war
standard with what was got in. a particular year, subtract
one from the other, and on the excess 50 per cent, was to
be paid. It was perfectly true that that might result in
what seemed a very extraordinary consequence. A man
might be charged excess profit duty in a case where he
was actually getting less income than he was getting
before. That was possible, but not probable. Their
lordships were not concerned with the reasons which led
the Legislature to adopt that form of enactment. He
thought it was clear that it could not be accidental. Much
as the Legislature wanted the tax, it wras also obvious
that it was vital for the national needs of this time that
there should be an abundant supply of coal, and that
nothing should be enacted which might check the produc-
tion of coal. Profits got from coal differed from profits
got from a business. What was not got in one year in
a business might never be got at all, but coal in the
bowels of the earth was safe, and might be got in sub-
sequent years, when excess profits might have ceased.
That was possibly the reason for the enactment.

Lord Dunedin, in concurring, said that the clauses which
in this case their lordships had to interpret did, for
blundering English, surpass anything he had seen. It
was their lordships’ duty to make what they could of
statutes, knowing that they were meant to be operative,
and nothing short of impossibility ought to allow a judge
to declare a statute unworkable. Unfortunately, the
clause, read as he had no doubt it must be read, really
perpetrated what in his opinion was a great hardship.

Lords Haldane and Shaw concurred, and the appeal
was dismissed, no costs being allowed, the Lord Chancellor
saying that it had been necessary to have the point finally
and authoritatively decided.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE.

CHANCERY DI VISION.—May 2.

Before Mr. Justice Younger,

Coal Tar Shipments.

D. Brown, Junr.j v. Comptoir National d’Escompte de
Paris.—An injunction was sought to restrain the bank
from withdrawing a credit which they had opened to
enable the plaintiff to export consignments of coal tar
products from Belfast to the other defendants, Messrs.
Bonbez and Company, Alexandria. The credit expired
on April 15, and the bank had undertaken to do nothing
to prejudice the interests of plaintiff until this hearing.
In the first instance, there was a question as to whether
pitch had been sent instead of coal tar products, but
afterwards the main point at issue related to the terms
of insurance.

His lordship granted leave to serve notice of motion
with writ on Joseph Bonbez, defendant, who is an importer
of coal tar products in Alexandria.

KING’S BENCH DI VISION.—May 2.

Before Mr. Justice Lawrence and Mr. Justice Avory.

Wages of Colliery Youths.

Edwards v. Ton Phillip Rhondda Colliery.—This appeal
from the County Court of Glamorgan raised a question
on the construction of the Board of Conciliation Agreement
of the South Wales Collieries on wages in September 1915.

Mr. Justice Lawrence, in his judgment, said that the
claim was made by a youth, who had worked for the
colliery company for some years, and who was paid
according to a scale of wages for boys. He was said
to be a power-house engineman, though employed as a
switchboard attendant. In August last, the secretary of
the miners’ union claimed that the youth, who was 18
years of age, was entitled , to be paid on the scale laid
down by Clause 11 of the Conciliation Agreement. The
county court judge decided as a matter of law, upon
the construction of the Conciliation Board Agreement,
that the plaintiff was not a workman, even though he
did work which had at different times been done by
men, and that he was not entitled to be paid at the
same rate as “workmen” under that agreement. The
plaintiff was only entitled to a boy’s wage, according to
the decision of the county court judge. The word
“ workman ” should be given a meaning in accordance
with the practice prevailing at the colliery. To construe
the agreement otherwise would be to pervert the true
meaning of the parties to the agreement. The agreement
made no express provision at all for boys or youths, and
it left them as they were. There was no evidence that
this youth had signed the book in which workmen were
to sign their names as agreeing to come under the Con-
ciliation Agreement, and as making a contract between
them and the owners of the colliery. He had always been
paid according to' age, and not under the agreement. If
the youth had been employed to cut coal, as a collier,
he would have been entitled to the full wage, but there
was nothing in the agreement to show that it was intended
that a person who was doing the work of a surface man
should be entitled to be treated as a workman while he
was in one of the classes of boys or youths paid according
to the age scales. The county court judge was right
when he found that this youth was not a workman within
Clause 11 of the agreement, and was not entitled, there-
fore, to be treated as a workman to whom the agreement
applied. The youth was working on the terms of the
old standard payment, and it was really a question of
fact what his agreement was with the company. The
appeal should be dismissed.

Mr. Justice Avory agreed.

May 7.
Hugo Stinnes’ Business.

J. R. Ferguson v. B otter el I, Roche and Temperley, and
Botterell and Roche.—Plaintiff, a Scotsman who had been
in business in London for some years as a coal exporter,
claimed damages for alleged libel in letters written by
defendants, who are solicitors in Newcastle and London.
When .the war broke out he was head clerk for Hugo
Stinnes Limited, and only one other clerk was in the
office. In connection with some Danish proceedings, the
defendants in Newcastle wrote to the defendants in
London that the head offices of Hugo Stinnes Limited in
London were closed, and that two of the head clerks
were doing time for trading with the enemy.

The court held that the letter was privileged, and that
there was no evidence that it referred to plaintiff.

Labour Party Conference.—The first annual conference
of the Labour Party since the revision of its constitution
will be held in the Central Hall, Westminster, on June 26
and the two following days. The motions on the agenda
relate chiefly to reconstruction. Among other things it
is proposed that there shall be nationalisation of railways
by the expropriation of the present stockholders on
equitable terms; a united national service of communi-
cations and transport; nationalisation of the coal mines,
and municipalisation of household coal distribution; and
the establishment of State-owned and controlled super-
power stations to supply the whole kingdom with
electricity.

Spanish Coal Situation.—A statement of the coal
situation in Spain during the past five years is given in
the “ Re vista Minera,” showing that the production
amounted to 4,292,522 tons in the year 1913, to 4,424,439
tons in 1914, 4,686,753 tons in 1915, 5,588,674 tons in
1916, and 5,972,474 tons in 1917. The increase in 1917,
compared with the production of 1916, was 383,800 tons;
with 1915 it was 1,285,721 tons; 1914, 1,548,035 tons, and
1913, 1,679,952 tons. The importation of coal and coke
(taken as coal) fell in 1917 to 1,200,000 tons, or little more
than one-third of the importation before the war; whilst
in 1916, the decrease was 2,210,000 tons. In 1916, with
a production of 5,588,674 tons, and an importation of
2,210,000 tons, the total available coal in Spain was
7,790,674 tons ; but in 1917, with a production of 5,972,474
tons, and an importation of 1,200,000 tons, the total was
only 7,127,474 tons, a decline of about 600,000 tons. The
figures for the production of anthracite, coal and lignite
in 1917 were:—310,914 tons, 5,024,766 tons and 636,794
tons respectively.

Regulation of French Electric Power Prices.—The
French Ministry of Public Works have addressed a circular
to the chief engineers of electric works announcing that
it has been decided to regulate electric power prices per
kw. hour in terms of coal cost, since a flat rate for the
whole country will no longer meet the requirements of the
situation. These revised rates will not be published as
a whole, but locally for each power station or district,^
according to requirements, and will remain in force for
quarterly periods. The new measure will be carried out
by the Coal Department of the Ministry of Munitions.
The factors determining the . comparative values of
French coal will be taken into consideration, together
with the increase in transport rates to the centres of
consumption. In certain places separate prices will still
rule for French and English coal of ordinary quality,
and it will thus be necessary for the trade to see that
these prices are regulated proportionately. In other
places, however, the new rule may result in the retention
of the flat rate. In the Paris district, for instance, which
now comprises portions of five departments, the basis for
an average price for the final quarter last year would be
110-36 fr., with above reservations and conditions.