1144

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

June 7, 1918.

(j) I will be most frank in what I have got to
say in this important question. The employing side
want no change, as it only applies to absenteeism as
far as they are concerned. The rules give the men
a voice in the management, but I am sorry to say
there is no committee strong enough to administer
the rules as it relates to management: they go so
far but stop as they see an invisible pressure being
brought upon them which is going to affect the secu-
rity of their living, a kind of victimisation which you
cannot prove. Your contracting place is finished and
you want another place, but the management sends
you “ odding ”—you are middle-aged and you cannot
keep pace with the younger element; and you look
after a fresh place, but everywhere is full up; and
when you come out of the office you can see other
men set on. This is what is going on all round the
district, and you want to strengthen these men by
having the rules enacted by Act of Parliament to
make them binding; and if cases like this happen,
there wants to be a tribunal appointed by Govern-
ment, representative of all classes, so that a man shall
have a fair hearing and equality of justice; this will
give him a security and it will reduce this insecurity
of work.

3.	Functions.—(a) (iv) The suggestion of improve-
ments is within the scope of committee, and some good
work has been done which has affected the output
of coal and increased the wages of the men.

(v)	None of these points are dealt with by our com-
mittee or only indirectly; it would be a splendid
thing if these points were dealt with. There is more
friction caused under these heads between the manage-
ment and the men than under any other points.

Timekeeping.—The management promises the men
they will put so many turns to their credit for doing
certain dead work in the mine, and when the time
arrives for them to receive the wage at the week-end,
the money has not been put in to their credit; so
the men often have to go to the office to make com-
plaints, with a promise from the management it will
be in for next week. If this was brought before a
committee of this standing, a more harmonious spirit
would be brought to bear on the industry.

Language.—The language by some of the manage-
ment to the workers is disgraceful and is not fit for
any child in the pit to hear. This point can come
before the committee, but I have not known of any
case yet, though reports have been made to the leaders
of the men and they have taken up the cases. In one
case I know the men refused to go to work until the
management were removed, but wise counsels pre-
vailed and the bitterness was removed.

Methods of Foremen.—The mining industry requires
great changes as the methods of the foremen are at
fault in not paying for dead work, such as emptying
dirt or packing it; they should pay for so many tubs,
but if one or two tubs are over the stated number
that they pay for, they reckon them nothing; in
measuring ripping, instead of going to the widest
part of the level they go to the narrowest, which may
mean to the man a difference of 5s. on that piece
of work; in not seeing to a good distribution of
wagons going in and about the mine, etc. There is
a splendid scope for a committee, but ours have only
limited powers as far as the methods of the foremen
are concerned.

vii. Canteen.—This question does not come within
scope of our committee, but one large colliery has a
canteen, and suggestions have been made from the
committee there in the management of the canteen.
It would be a good thing for a colliery to have a
canteen, as many men are called upon to work over-
time and cannot get food, and they work on many
hours without, which only means inefficiency. In the
colliery which has a canteen the men can get a good
meal and hot drinks at cost price. I know when
winter time comes on and the output of coal depends
on the surface workers sticking to their work, the
management have rest periods for individuals, and
the management gives them hot drinks to keep them
at it. But at collieries where there are no canteens
they have to knock off on account of the weather.

Sanitation.—Not within the scope of our committee,
but conditions are awfully bad.

Works Amenities.—Manners: There are hardly
any about the collieries; the management have an
idea that nothing can be done without swearing and
shouting, and it is a disgrace to hear it. Some
managers are extremely nice, but they are1 very rare.

4.	Procedure.—(a) (ii) The committee meets once
a week where a large colliery is concerned (say 1,000
to 2,000 employees), but where there are less employees
they are specially summoned by notice from the secre-
tary of the committee.

(iii) Yes, the worker members meet separately, but
only when the questions are vital and contentious.

(v)	They take place in the workers’ time and the
employers’ time. The meeting is called for 1 o’clock.
The management allow the worker members to come
out of the pit before the time but at their own (the
workers’) expense, and the committee sits till it comes
into the workers’ time after 2 o’clock.

(vi)	It generally lasts two or three hours. It all
depends on how many defendants and who are the
defendants.

(vii)	The worker members are paid out of the trade
union funds at the rate of 2s. 6d. per meeting. This
causes friction as it is costing the union a great
amount of money, and they feel that the Government
ought to pay or part pay for this work, as it is being
carried on in the national interests to secure a greater
output of coal. Some suggest that the management
ought to pay half.

5.	Relations with Trade Unions.—(b) They only
recognise the miners’ union as far as the jurisdiction
of this committee is concerned. They (the owners)
did try to bring offenders in from other unions, but
the miners would have nothing to do with them.

6.	General.—(a) The attitude of the management to
committees is fairly good; just according to what the
business is. If it applies to men they are good, but
when it applies to the management the feeling
changes a little; but on the whole it is good. I don’t

know of any decisions they have not carried out, but
it takes them a long time to do it; when they promise,
your tenacity has to be great.

(e) As far as colliery workers are concerned separate
committees are not needed, as they would deal with
all questions that could arise; what would be essen-
tial would be to see that all grades are represented
on the committee.

(To be continued.)

NORTH OF ENGLAND INSTITUTE
OF MINING AND MECHANICAL
ENGINEERS.

Mr. John Simpson presided over a general meeting
of members of the North of England Institute of
Mining and Mechanical Engineers, held in the lecture
theatre of the Wood Memorial Hall, Westgate-road,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, last Saturday afternoon.

The Late Duke of Northumberland.

The President referred to the loss the institute
had sustained by the death of the Duke of Northum-
berland, who was one of their members and a large
owner of mineral property in the district. The speaker
believed that the Duke was a man who did a great
deal of good, and tried in every way to further the
interests of the whole community. He moved that a
letter expressing the sympathy of the members of
the institute with the family of the Duke in the loss
which they had sustained, should be sent.

The members assented by rising.

British Science Guild.

The council reported that at the request of the
council of the British Science Guild it had been agreed
that the name of the president of the institute should
be added to the list of members of the council of
the Guild.

New Members.

The following gentlemen were admitted into the
institute. Members: Mr. G. Burnside, engineer,
Engineering Works, Shiney-row, Fence Houses, Co.
Durham; Mr. G. E. Byers, general manager, Cwmnant
Colliery, Ynismeudw, Pontardawe, Glamorgan; and
Mr. E. L. Hann, mining engineer, 6, Park-place,
Cardiff. Associate member : Mr. J. S. Perera, appren-
tice engineer, 18, Summerhill-terrace, Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. Associates: Mr. T. Boutland, colliery traffic
manager, 25, First-row, Ashington, Northumberland;
and Mr. W. P. Cheung, mining student, 21, Sander-
son-road, Newcastle. Student: Mr. W. O. Blenkin-
sopp, underground assistant, 10 Pilgrim-street,
Murton Colliery, Co. Durham.

Overhead Koepe Winding Plant,

Mr. George Haw read some “ Notes on the Over-
head Koepe Winding Plant at Plenmeller Colliery,
Haltwhistle, Northumberland ” (see p. 1141).

Discussion.

Prof. Henry Louis said that the form of winder
described in the paper was little known in this
country, and would appear deserving of rather more
attention than we had given to it. Like everyone
else, Mr. Raw called it the Koepe winder, and said it
was first introduced by Koepe in Westphalia. Like a
good many other such German inventions, however,
it was cribbed. It was first introduced in Belgium, but
was not followed up there, and was adopted by Koepe
fully 20 years after the first Belgian plant was put up.
With regard to the coefficient of friction, the figures
given in textbooks were mostly taken one from
the other, and the data on the subject were insuffi-
cient. The figures given by most people were some-
thing like half the figures Mr. Raw had obtained.
One of the best authorities the speaker knew—Habets,
the Belgan engineer—gave 0-158 as the coefficient of
a well-greased steel rope on oak, and the same figure
had been adopted in a good many of the Westphalian
calculations. The Trenton Iron Rope Company of
America gave the figure for a well-greased rope as
0-14. Mr. Raw’s figures were quite double that. The
speaker did not propose to question them, but he
thought they deserved attention. It was quite
possible that the oiling might have the same effect
as the running of rope on wet wood, which would
increase the figure to about 0-25. Another point was
that the guide pulley might have an effect. It was
not easy to judge the value of that effect, but it was
fairly certain that there was some friction between
the rope and the pulley. That was a possible solution
of the increase of the coefficient. Another point was
that, as he gathered from Mr. Raw’s work, the driving
rope slipped to some considerable extent on the driving
pulley. Now the accepted formula Mr. Raw had used
was based on the supposition that there was no slip,
and it was quite possible that if there were any
considerable slip that formula would have to be
modified. The other point that struck one was the
difficulty in regard to the capping of the rope. Mr.
Parrington some years ago described a cage attach-
ment in which he carried an iron draw-bar through
the cage between the tubs and attached his ropes
to either end of it. If the same idea were carried
out in a Koepe winder—if they had, say, two or four
tubs on each floor of the cage and ran their rope
through the middle of the cage, simply securing the
latter by clamping to the rope—that would serve the
same purpose and get over the difficulty.

Mr. Mark Halliday said some of the figures were
very interesting and instructive, but he should like
to have seen a diagram showing the powers during
the accelerating, full-speed and retarding periods, and
also to have been given some idea of the relative
moving masses compared with the coal raised. One
of the advantages of the system was that the moving
masses were smaller than in the ordinary winder,
especially in the overhead system, as the pulleys were
dispensed with. It was a very important point, be-
cause the generating plant at collieries had to be large
enough to take the peak loads, so that with ordinary

winders the capital cost would be very much higher
than with a winder of lighter parts. He had tested
an electric winder of ordinary type a few months ago.
The depth was 740 ft. and the consumption was 1-1
units per ton raised, a figure about the same as
Mr. Raw’s.

Replying on the discussion, Mr. Raw said he was
glad to know that it was a Belgian and not a German
who first hit upon what they regarded as the Koepe
principle. In regard to the figures for friction, it
seemed to him that Prof. Louis had solved the diffi-
culty by the suggestion that a rope oiled without being
what he termed “well greased” gave very much the
effect of a wet rope running on wood. The rope was
internally lubricated, and therefore only, required
rubbing or dressing with oil from time to time. The
speaker was personally quite satisfied that the figures
were borne out by the further test which was made
with the smaller rope. It was quite probable, as
Prof. Louis had suggested, that the guide pulley had
more effect than merely just increasing the extent, of
the periphery of the driving pulley in contact with
the rope. With regard to the endless rope mentioned,
Prof. Louis had spoken of the matter to him some
time ago, and he thought it would form a possible
solution of the re-capping difficulty with the Koepe
rope.

Further discussion was deferred, and a vote of
thanks was passed to Mr. Raw.

ALTERATION IN THE LONDON DELIVERY
PRICES.

The following two special notices have been posted
on the Coal Merchants’ Subscription Room door
during the week, and it will be seen that they both
have an important bearing on the prices for the
London area.

Maximum Prices of Coal.

Metropolitan Coal Distribution Area.

1.	The prices of coal per ton shown in Article 2
of the Rules of January 21, 1918, shall be increased
by Is. 6d.

2.	The reduction in the maximum price of coal
supplied for resale to licensed coal retailers or regis-
tered coal dealers set out in paragraph 1 of Article 4
of the Rules of January 21, 1918, shall be increased
by 5s. instead of 4s. 6d. as shown.

3.	The trolley prices of coal per cwt. set out in
Article 6 of the Rules of January 21, 1918, shall be
increased by Id.

These increases shall come into force on and from
June 1, and shall apply to all coal delivered on and
after that date.

(Signed) Guy Calthrop,

Controller of Coal Mines.

London Coal Committee.

8, Coal Exchange,

London, E.C. 3.

May 31, 1918.

Dear Sir(s),

With reference to the notice issued authorising
an increase in the delivery price of house coal in the
Metropolitan Area on June 1, I am instructed by
my committee to remind you of the urgent necessity
of booking orders on the clear understanding that they
can only be accepted subject to the condition that
deliveries may be made as circumstances permit, and
that controlled prices current on the day of delivery
will be charged for the whole or any portion of the
order unexecuted.

It is also equally important for the time being that
the larger stocking orders should not be fully executed,
but a portion only of each order on hand for various
customers should be delivered, as far as possible in
rotation.

. Yours faithfully,

(Signed) W. G. Hart,

Hon. Secretary.

The general impression on the London market is
that colliery prices may shortly be advanced to meet
the above, although the merchants assert that the
present advance in the delivery prices will only com-
pensate for the colliery advance of 2s. 6d. per ton
in October last.

MM. Le Chatelier and Chesneau have been appointed
by the French Minister of Munitions as additional pro-
fessors of general chemistry at the Ecole Nationale Su-
perieure des Mines.

Pulverised Coal as Bunker Fuel.—The Fuel and Fuel
Handling Committee of the Naval Consulting Board have
expressed favourable views concerning the use of pul-
verised coal as bunker fuel. According to evidence placed
before the committee the fuel is smokeless in ordinary
use, but by a simple adjustment of the burners powdered
coal as a fuel may be made to emit dense clouds of smoke
to serve as a screen. In an emergency the ship’s boilers
may be rapidly forced, thereby increasing the steam supply
and the speed of the vessel. A great reduction in the
fire-room force is effected over using solid coal. The
committee was canvassed to vote upon the questions :
(a) Is it feasible to carry powdered coal on merchant
or naval vessels such as would be used in Transatlantic
service ? to which one affirmative and three negative
replies were returned ; and (b) Is it feasible to instal on
any such ships apparatus to powder coal? to which four
affirmative replies and one negative were made. From
this , it appears feasible to equip merchantmen with
requisite machinery for pulverising and burning coal, and
the Board therefore earnestly recommend the Emergency
Fleet Corporation to authorise the preparation of the
necessary plans and drawings for such an installation upon
such ships, and that a shore installation be set up and
tested at the Annopalis experiment station of such equip-
ment to determine the value of such an installation on
board ship.