THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. June 7, 1918. 1146 ■MflBMKSSSMMnKUSDOn MIKE MANAGERS’ EXAMINATIONS. (Continued from page 1096.J For Second Class (Under-Managers’) Certificate of Competency. Subject No. 1.—Mine Working. (Five questions only to be answered. No. 1 is compulsory.) 1. Compulsory Question.—In the longwall method of working, what are the respective reasons for and against a straight face and a stepped face! Give an illustration of each, showing the packs and timbering. (60) 2. Describe the process of putting ventilating pipes 2 ft. in diameter in a sinking pit. Show by sketch how you would fix the pipes to the side of the shaft. Would you prefer the air to go down or up the pipes, and why ? (60) 3. A roadway is 10 ft. wide and 7 ft. high under the bars. A fall occurs to a height of 20 ft. above the rails. What precautions would you take before removing the debris'*. Describe in detail, with sketch, how you would make the road again fit for traffic. (60) 4. How would you arrange for the handling and care of explosives and detonators from the time they are taken out of the magazine until the shot is fired, and what arrangements would you make in regard to the explosives and detonators left over at the end of the shift! (60) 5. What in your opinion are the advantages and dis- advantages of coal face conveyors! (60) 6. Sketch in detail how you would lay the rails forming the connection from a dip haulage road into the level. The engine plane is worked by a single rope; show the method of putting in the curve and the necessary pulleys. The engine plane dips 1 in 4; would you have the full wagons on the higher or lower side of • the level, and why! (60) Subject No. 2.—Theory and Practice of Ventilation. (Six questions only to be answered. No 4 is compulsory.) 1. Indicate by means of the usual symbols how you would ventilate the workings of a mine shown on the accompanying plan (see fig. 1) by means of six splits, including one required for the stables. (50) 2. In a mine in which no firedamp or other noxious gas is produced naturally, how much air would you allow per minute for each man, horse, and lamp, so as to main- tain the workings in a good state of sanitation! On the other hand, supposing the mine to produce firedamp, what Fig. 1.—Subject No. 2. Ventilation. Plan referred to in Question No. 1 (2nd Class). The open working faces requiring to be ventilated are distinguished by a thick black line ; the open airways and haulage roads, by two parallel lines. All the rest of the space within the edge of the solid coal is filled with stowing. There are to be six splits of air, including stables. is the maximum percentage of that gas in the return air that would be allowed under the provisions of the Coal Mines Act! What size of cap would that percentage of firedamp show on the reduced flame of a safety lamp burning ordinary oil! (50) 3. The effective or useful work done by a fan engine amounts to 100 horse-power; the water gauge is 4 in. What quantity of air is passing through the mine! (50) 4. Compulsory Question.—Make a sketch of an Ack- royd and Best Hailwood lamp with internal combustion tube, on a scale of about one-half its natural size. Show how the air enters, passes through, and leaves it. State is merits and demerits. (50) 5. In using a lamp with a round wick burning a mixture of, say, two of colza oil and one of petroleum, what heights of caps would be shown on the reduced flame in mixtures of air with 2, 3, 4 and 5 per cent, of fire- damp ! Sketch the wick tube, the oil flame, and the heights and shapes of the caps. (50) 6. How is natural ventilation produced! How do changes of temperature at the surface affect natural ventilation ! What is approximately the natural tempera- ture of the strata in the coal measures of this country at a depth of 1,000 ft! (50) 7. Write out the formula which represents the relative proportions of methane (pure firedamp) and oxygen re- quired for the complete combustion of the methane, and the products of their combustion. (50) Subject No. 3.—Explosions in Mines, Underground Fires, and Inundations. (Five questions only to be answered.) 1. What are the arguments for and against the practice of watering coal dust in deep and dry mines! (20) 2. .Describe the characteristics of dust that you would consider to be dangerous, and also of dust that you would consider not to be dangerous. (20) 3. Sketch a preparatory stopping for use in case of gob fire. Describe the method of closing and estimate the time that would be occupied in doing so. (20) 4. Describe the course of training necessary to qualify a man to undertake rescue work with apparatus. (20) 5. When dealing with a gob fire, what points would you consider, bearing upon the question of whether or not to dig it out! (20) 6. Old workings are being approached in a seam of coal having a roof of thick fissured rock through which water passes more readily than through the coal. What would you do! (20) Subject No. 4.—Machinery. (Five questions only to be answered.) 1. Describe the operation of putting on a new winding rope, going through all the stages from the coil of rope as received from the makers to the starting of wind- ing. (20) 2. The main pump at a colliery is seriously out of order and water winding is in progress, but the water is rising slowly. If it rises a further 10 ft. it will reach 240 yds. along the level and will then flow down into some dip workings, but it will by then have “ roofed ” at the pit bottom, thereby blocking the ventilation, which must be avoided. Describe in detail what you would do to get the water to flow down the dip workings before it rose high enough to fill the level at the pit bottom. (20) 3. Describe a gauge glass and fittings for showing the level of water in a boiler. If you suddenly noticed that no water was showing in the gauge glass of a Lancashire boiler under steam, what would you do ? (20) 4. A three-throw pump has single acting rams 12 in. diameter and 18 in. stroke. The crankshaft makes 30 revolutions per minute. How many tons of water does the pump deliver in one hour! (20) 5. Give a short description of the accessories required in connection with a colliery winding engine. (20) 6. Describe a pump suitable for a head of 500 ft. Name the valves that it is desirable to have in connection with the pump and state the particular use of each. (20) Subject No. 5.—Arithmetic and Surveying. (Five questions only to be answered, of which two at least must be from the questions headed 11 Surveying.” No. 6 is compulsory.) Arithmetic. 1. In a longwall working of a coal seam 3 ft. thick, with a holing of fireclay 6 in. thick, what proportion of the goaf, or waste, will, be packed if the roads are 8 ft. wide and 45 ft. apart, centre to centre, and the ripping, or brushing, is 4 ft. thick and 6^ ft. wide! Assume solid to broken as 1 to 2. (20) 2. What would be the cost of securing a haulage road 250 yds. long, with brick side walls and girders^ the side walls being 7 ft. high and 14 in. thick, and the girders set one to a yard, if cost of brickwork be 30s. per cu. yd. and the girders 15s. each! (20) 3. If the average velocity of a stream of water 6 in. in depth, flowing through a channel 15 in. wide, be 3 ft. per second, what quantity of water is passing in cubic feet and in gallons per minute ! (20) 4. If the loss in working a 4 ft. seam of coal be 2^ per cent., what would be the output in tons of clean coal per imperial or statute acre worked, the specific gravity of the coal being 1-280! (20) Surveying. 5. Describe an approximate method of finding the rate and direction of the dip of the strata in surveying with a common miner's dial, without using a clinometer or straight-edge. (20) 6. Compulsory Question.—Plot the following bearings and find the bearing and distance on plan between the points A and B. From A : N. 17 degs. E. 125 ft. level, N. 30 degs. W. 170 ft. level, N. 89 degs. W. 50 ft. level, S. 10 degs. W. 200 ft. rising 1 in 3 to B. (20) 7. What will be the inclination of a mine or road joining A and B in Question 6, and what the length thereof measured on the slope! (20) 8. If the compass needle be deflected two degrees by local attraction, what is the extent of the error in a bearing 1,000 ft. long! Find the error by plotting. (20) Subject No. 6.—Mines Act. General and Special Regu- lations and Orders, and Writing Reports. (Five questions only to be answered.) 1. Write a full report of the most serious underground accident with which you have been connected. State the cause, in your opinion, of the occurrence, and the steps you would propose to take to prevent a recurrence of such accident. (20) 2. There are clauses in the Act and Regulations empower- ing an official to perform the duties of other officials. What are they! (20) 3. "What are the rules regarding the use of electricity for working coal cutters! (20) 4. State in your own words the chief regulations con- tained in the Third Schedule of the Act concerning the treatment of horses underground. (20) 5. How many coal-getters would you consider sufficient, under average conditions, for a deputy or fireman to super- vise—(a) where the deputy in addition to supervision sets the face timber; (6) where the deputy in addition to super- vision fires the shots; (c) where the deputy does nothing but examine and supervise! (20) 6. What are the several distances between refuge holes which must not be exceeded, and what are the circum- stances to which these distances apply! (20) ENGLISH MINERS’ WAGES. (From Our Labour Correspondent.) A special conference of representatives of the Federated mining area, comprising the Coal Concilia- tion Board for England and North Wales, was held at the Grafton Hotel, London, on Tuesday, to con- sider the proposals for the re-establishment of the wage agreement for a further period of years, the legal three-monthly notice to terminate the existing agreement having been given on April 30. Mr. Stephen Walsh, M.P., chairman of the Work- men’s Section of the English Conciliation Board, pre- sided, and there were present delegates representing 340,000 workmen. New Agreement Proposals. The following proposals for a new wage agreement, which had been formulated by the executive and con- sidered and approved at meetings in the various districts, were submitted : — That any future agreement shall comprise all colliery workmen who are members of the Miners’ Federation within the Federated area. That it be a condition within a future agreement that six shifts be paid for five to all workmen em- ployed on the afternoon or night shifts, subject to the proviso that wages equal to the wages payable for a shift and a fifth shall be paid in respect of each shift worked. That the existing war bonus of 18 per cent., calcu- lated upon present rates, be merged into present w’ages and be the basis of a future agreement. That there shall be no maximum in any future agreement. That in any future agreement regulating wages within the federated area, the basis upon which advances are secured shall be the current rates in operation at the commencement of the agreement. That the present condition embodied within the existing rules of procedure to the effect that no alteration in wages shall exceed 5 per cent, be deleted. The effect of these proposals on wages would be that the minimum wages paid in the area would be 33 per cent, more than the highest pre-war wage; that the maximum wage standard would be abolished; that six days’ wages would be paid to all men and boys who worked five days on the afternoon and night shifts at collieries where two or three shifts are worked, or, in other words, an additional 20 per cent, in wages for each shift worked; and the abolition of the old limitation of advances and reductions of wage to 5 per cent. In the discussion of the new proposals it was pointed out that the South Wales Federation had a proposal for the annual conference of the Miners’ Federation : “ That the machinery for dealing with the general wage rate be centralised in the National Federation,” and if this were carried it would mean the abolition of the whole of the existing Conciliation Board and the formation of a National Board. It was therefore decided to adjourn the consideration of the whole matter until after the decision of the annual conference of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain. A national conference of the coal mining industry, . convened by the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, was held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on Wednesday, concerning an application for a further advance in wages. Mr. R. Smillie was in the chair, and all the districts were represented. The proposals from districts as to the advance to be asked for from the Coal Controller ranged from 25 per cent, to 100 per cent, on the present rate of wages. The executive recommended that the advance asked for be on the flat rate, and be paid to all men and boys of sixteen years of age upwards, with a smaller amount for boys under sixteen years. It was urged that as the advance in wages to be asked for was intended to meet the increase in the cost of living, the lower paid grades of workmen working below ground and on the surface stood in equal or greater need of the advance than the coal hewers and other high paid workmen. The executive’s recommendation for an advance on the flat rate was accepted by the delegates, who then proceeded to discuss the amount of the advance to be asked for. Following a protracted discussion and separate meetings of the representatives of each district, it was decided to ask for a further flat rate advance of Is. 6d. per day for all men and boys of sixteen, and 9d. per day advance for boys under sixteen. This is the same amount as the last war wage advance. The question of a modification of the Mines (Eight Hours) Act was discussed, and it was unanimously decided that the necessity for such a modification had not yet arisen. The executive met again on Thursday afternoon, when the secretary stated that the decision of the previous day’s conference had been communicated to the Coal Controller, who had promised to meet the executive on Wednesday next to discuss the question of the wage advance Fifty or sixty members of the House of Commons have given support to a notice of motion in favour of the appointment of a Select Committee to examine the system of internal transport and delivery of goods in this country.