1302

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

June 28, 1918.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

COAL (PIT’S MOUTH) PRICES ORDER.

The following Order has been made by the Board
of Trade under the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act,
1915, and under Regulations 2f, 2j and 2jj of the De-
fence of the Realm Regulations :

Whereas the Board of Trade are satisfied that
special circumstances affect all the coal mines in the
United Kingdom,

And whereas the Board of Trade deem it expedient
to make further exercise of the powers conferred upon
them by the Defence of the Realm Regulations for the
purpose of maintaining and regulating the supply of
coal,

Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred
upon them by section 1, sub-section 2 of the Price of
Coal (Limitation) Act, 1915, and by Regulations 2f,
2j and 2jj of the Defence of the Realm Regulations,
the Board of Trade hereby order as follows:

1.	For the standard amount of 4s. fixed by section
1, sub-section 2, of the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act,
1915, there shall be substituted in the case of mines
in the South Wales and Monmouthshire and Forest of
Dean districts a standard amount of Ils. 6d., and in
the case of mines situated elsewhere a standard amount
of 9s.

2.	The price at which coal may be sold or offered
for sale at the pit’s mouth for use in the United King-
dom shall be the price at which coal of the same
description was sold in similar quantities and under
similar conditions affecting the sale at the pit’s mouth
at the same coal mine on the corresponding date (or
as near thereto as having regard to the course of
business may be pra-cticable) in the 12 months ended
June 30, 1914, increased by the amounts mentioned
in paragraph 1, and such price shall be both the maxi-
mum and, unless the Controller of Coal Mines in any
particular case otherwise orders, the minimum price.
The price of all such coal despatched from the colliery
on or after June 24 undei- any existing contract shall
be increased accordingly.

3.	Where in consequence of this Order the price
paid or to be paid by any person to whom coal is or
has been sold is increased the price paid or to be
paid by any person to whom the coal is or has been

sold in pursuance of any subsidiary contract shall be	____________________________________________________

increased by the same amount and all contracts for
the purchase and sale of coal shall remain in force
subject to such modification as aforesaid.	_____________________________

4.	This Order shall come into force on June 24, 1918,
and may be cited as the Coal (Pit’s Mouth) Prices
Order, 1918.

______________________

WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION
(SILICOSIS) BILL.

The Government has introduced a Bill to provide
compensation in the case of persons who are killed
or disabled by fibroid phthisis, caused by the inhala-
tion of certain kinds of siliceous dust, particularly in
the refractories industries (including the mining and
quarrying of ganister rock and the making of silica
bricks). The question of the extension of the Work-
men’s Compensation Act to this disease by Home Office
Order was considered by the Industrial Diseases Com-
mittee, 1907, but in view of the difficulties arising
out of the particular nature of the disease—its slow
growth, difficulty of distinguishing it in its early
stages from other respiratory affections, etc.—they
were unable to recommend that it should be brought
under that Act. Since that Committee reported, the
disease has been the subject of much investigation,
both in this and other countries, and it has now been
found possible to work out a scheme of compensation
on special lines which it is believed will meet the
difficulties of the case. The main feature of the scheme
is the establishment of a general compensation fund
for the particular industry or group of industries to
which employers in the industry will be required to
subscribe, and out of which all claims for compen-
sation will be paid. It is also proposed to make
special arrangements for the medical examination of
the workers. The following is the text of the Bill:__
.1-—(1) The Secretary of State may by scheme pro-
vide for the payment of compensation by the em-
ployers of workmen in any specified industry or process
or group of industries or processes involving exposure
to silica dust—(u) who are certified in such manner
as may be prescribed by the scheme to have suffered
death or total disablement from the disease known
as fibroid phthisis or silicosis of the lungs (in this
Act referred to as silicosis) or from that disease accom-
panied by tuberculosis; or (5) who, though not totally
disabled, are found on. medical examination to be
suffering from silicosis, or from silicosis accompanied
by tuberculosis, to such a degree as to make it
dangerous to continue work in the industry or process,
and are for that reason suspended from employment:
Provided that in the case of silicosis accompanied by
tuberculosis provision shall not be made by the scheme
for the payment of compensation unless the silicosis
was so far advanced as to make the workmen specially
liable to tuberculosis infection or, though not so far
advanced, was likely to accelerate materially the
progress of the disease.

(2)	The scale of compensation fixed by the scheme
in the case of death or total disablement due to sili-
cosis unaccompanied by tuberculosis shall be that
prescribed by the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1906,
as amended by any subsequent enactment, and in any
other case shall be such as may be prescribed by the
scheme.

(3)	Provision may be made by the scheme—(a) for
the establishment of a general compensation fund, to
be administered either through a mutual trade in-
surance company or society of employers, or in such
other manner as may be provided by the scheme ;
(b) for requiring employers to subscribe to the fund,
and for the recovery of such subscriptions, and for
the payment and recovery out of the fund of all com-
pensation under the scheme, and of any expenses arising
under the scheme which are directed by the scheme

to be so paid, subject to such exceptions in special
cases as may be made by the scheme; (c) for the
settlement of claims and other matters arising under
the scheme by committees representative of both
employers and workmen, with an independent chair-
man, and for the procedure to be adopted before such
committees; (d) for the appointment and remunera-
tion of medical officers and advisory medical bodies,
and for their duties and powers in connection with
the scheme; (e) for requiring workmen to whom the
scheme applies (i) to submit themselves to such
periodical medical examination, and (ii) to furnish
such information with respect to their previous em-
ployment in any industry specified in the scheme, as
involving exposure to silica dust, as may be prescribed
by the scheme, and for making the right of the work-
men to compensation conditional on compliance with
such requirements, and for the suspension from em-
ployment of workmen who are found to be suffering
from silicosis, or from silicosis accompanied by tuber-
culosis ; and (/) for the application with the necessary
modifications of any of the provisions of the Work-
men’s Compensation Act, 1906, or of any enactment
relating to compensation thereunder, and for defining
the industries or processes to which the scheme applies,
and generally for such further or supplemental matters
as appear necessary for giving full effect to the scheme.

(4)	Any scheme made under this Act may be ex-
tended or varied by any subsequent scheme made in
the like manner, and shall have effect as if enacted
in this Act, but any scheme made under this Act shall
be laid before each House of Parliament forthwith,
and if an address is presented to His Majesty by either
House of Parliament within the next subsequent
twenty-one days on which that House sits next after
any such scheme is laid before it praying that the
scheme may be annulled, His Majesty in Council may
annul the scheme, and it shall thenceforward be void,
but without prejudice to the validity of anything done
thereunder.

(5)	The Rules Publication Act, 1893, shall not apply
to any scheme made under this Act.

2. This Act may be cited as the Workmen’s Compen-
sation (Silicosis) Act, 1918.

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS.

The Editors are not responsible either for the statements
"made, or"~the opimonTexpressecTtiy'correspondents?

All communications must be authenticated by the. name
and address of the sender, whether for publication
or not. No notice can be taken of anonymous
communications.

As replies to questions are only given by way of published
answers to correspondents, and not by letter, stamped
addressed envelopes are not required to be sent.

COAL CONTROL: ASSESSMENT FOR C.M.E.P.

Sirs,—I understand certain surveyors of taxes are
seeking to assess for C.M.E.P. in the following form

(A)

Total profits (i.e., profits before any adjustment
for variation of capital employed, or for
pre-war loss) as calculable for excess profits
duty purposes................................

Total profits retainable by owner, viz.—six-
fifths of profits standard, plus .£200 allow-
ance, and any addition thereto under
section 26 (4) of the Finance Act, 1917.....£

Excess of total profits over total profits retainable £
Deduct excess profits duty assessable for the
period__________•.....................................<£

Coal mines excess payments assessable .......£

instead of (in my view):—

(B)

Total profits as for E.P.D.....................£

Less allowance for percentage on increased
capital ..................................£

Profits for assessment.......................£

Less profits standard (plus .£200) ............£

Excess .................................£

b0 per cent, thereof (E.P.Duty) ..........£

20 per cenr. thereof......................£
.....

One-fourth retained ....................£

Liability for C.M.E.P___________________________£

Whilst Clause 3 (5) of the Coal Mines Control Agree-
ment (Confirmation) Act, 1918, limits the “profits”
retained to six-fifths of the profits standard, Clause 15
stipulates how the “ profits ” must be arrived at.

Such profits must be as determined under the Act
(Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915), which allows a percentage
on increased capital to be deducted before arriving at
the profits for assessment.

It is most important that everyone concerned should
be careful to see that any assessment made upon them
is strictly in accordance with Clause 15 of the Control
Agreement Act and the various provisions of the
Finance Acts.

June 22,1918.	Secretary.

__________________________

The wet lignites of Valdarno are used for heating a
Martin furnace at the Valdarno Foundry Works. The
lignite is distilled in a suitable furnace. The results
obtained are very good, in spite of the bad quality of the
fuel and its high percentage of water. With a 30-ton
furnace three melts of steel are produced daily.

Last year over £12,000,000 were spent on stores by the
mines of the Witwatersrand area, and the disbursement
by all the mines of the Transvaal was £13,657,282. Very
substantial sums went for electric power, explosives,
machinery, tools, machinery spares, pipes and fittings, rails
and sleepers, rock drill spares, shoes and dies, mine poles,
zinc and zinc discs, cement, candles, and so forth. The
majority of these items are purchased from the United
Kingdom. Natal spent £416,349 on mine stores last year,
the Cape £658,155, and the Orange Free State £191,481.

THE COAL EXPORT TRADE.

(From a Mining Correspondent.)

The Controller of Mines has decided to make a
definite allocation, from July 1, among the collieries
of the whole of the coal to be supplied for shipment.
The amount of coal to be provided by each district over
the next quarter commencing with July 1 has been
definitely laid down by the Controller, who has been
furnished with lists from collieries showing their allo-
cation of shipment trade. It is intended to exercise a
rigorous priority, and shipments from July 1 on-
wards will be made for stipulated amounts for: The
Admiralty; bunkers on vessels engaged in the foreign-
going trade; export abroad. The last item will in-
clude stipulated quantities for shipment to British
possessions, France and French possessions, Italy and
Italian possessions, other allies, neutrals, and South
America.

The Controller has made arrangements whereby the
specified quantities of coal will be allocated amongst
the collieries in the coal exporting areas.

Shipments to France and Italy.

Instructions have been received by collieries to the
effect that shipments to France and Italy should, as
far as possible, consist of first-class qualities. To pro-
vide for fluctuations in the supply of shipping tonnage,
the collieries are authorised to exceed in any one
month the monthly quantity by 5 per cent, by with-
drawing an equivalent quantity temporarily from
inland consumption on the strict understanding that
shipments are to be correspondingly reduced over the
following month and the inland arrears thus made up.

The collieries have also received notice that it may be
necessary later to increase the quantity specified for
shipment to France by an additional 12 per cent.
This will involve a corresponding reduction in the
supply of coal for inland consumption, and collieries
will be notified when provision must be made for such
increase as is needed.

France's Need for Coal.

It has been laid down by the Controller of Mines
that France and Italy must receive the full quantity
of coal that has been specified for them. In order to
accomplish this it will be necessary to cut down the
home demand to such an extent that inland consumers
must be prepared to make a sacrifice of comfort. It
has been estimated by the Controller that the recent
comb-out of miners will result in a loss of output equal
to 22,000,000 tons per annum. Concurrently the
demand from France has increased to a large extent.
Trades of no national importance will probably have
very great difficulty in procuring supplies.

Question of Shipping Tonnage.

The question of the supply of vessels to carry the
increased quantities to our Allies has been thoroughly
considered by the Controller of Mines, and arrange-
ments are being made at each coaling district to
expedite the loading of all vessels. Advantage will
be taken of gluts of tonnage arriving at the ports by
the release of coal which otherwise would be sent to
inland destinations. Where exporters have difficulty
in procuring tonnage arrangements have been made
with the Controller of Shipping to provide the neces-
sary vessels.

___________________________

THE AMERICAN COAL TRADE.

According to the Coal Age (June 1), the estimated
weekly production of bituminous coal needed to cover 1918
requirements is 11,900,000 short tons. Basing calculations
on this estimate, the total actual production of bitumin-
ous to May 18 was more than 25,000,000 short tons behind
schedule. Though the car situation evidences signs of
improvement, it appears likely that the shortage of labour
in the mining districts will tend to keep output below
maximum.

A distribution plan for the entire output of both anthra-
cite and bituminous coal has been decided upon by the
Fuel Administration. The available supply will be appor-
tioned by geographical districts and States so that every
section will receive the entire amount that can be devoted
to its industries. The production of bituminous coal will
likely fall considerably short of the necessary quantity, and
no material increase in the output of anthracite can be
expected during the present coal year.

The reduction of 10 c. per ton in the mine price of
bituminous coal, and the order that all consumers are to
pay the same price for their coal settled the long-standing
controversy between the Fuel and Railroad Administra-
tions. The net result will hardly show any effect in the
gross tonnage; however, it will undoubtedly cause a more
even output from individual mines.

The Fuel Administration continues ruthless in denying
coal to “less essentials.” Shipments by the train-load
have been diverted from paper manufacturers, for instance,
who are engaged exclusively on goods for the Government.

In the Fairmont district 71 mines were recently idle for
lack of cars. The effect upon labour is serious. In central
Pennsylvania car-supply is not so far in arrears, taking
into account the shortage of labour. The best opinion is
that with the number of mine workers available and at
what is now their average working time the whole district
would be put to it to load 200 or 300 cars more a week,
if they could be furnished. The average weekly output
is a round million tons.

Persistent enquiry from buyers fails to disclose any
“ free ” coal. Coal men are making a general request that
the administration in Washington should stop urging people
to insist on immediate deliveries of coal that is not avail-
able. The National Fuel Administration urging has un-
doubtedly placed the retail hard coal trade in an unfor-
tunate position.

The visible influence limiting coke production in the
Connellsville region is shifting from car supply to labour
supply. There is a rather limited demand for coke in
the open market and operators display some fear that
free offerings in the open market would tend to depress
prices below the set maximum. The market remains quot-
able at the set limits : Furnace, 6 dols. ; foundry, 72-hour
selected, 7 dols. ; crushed, over 1-in., 7-30 per net ton
at ovens.