August 16, 1918. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 345 SCOTTISH MINE WORKERS CONFERENCE. Over eighty delegates, representing the eight mining areas in Scotland, were present at the first day’s session of the twenty-fifth annual conference in connection with the National Union of Scottish Mine workers, which began at Edinburgh on Wednesday. Beyond various formalities, the only business done was the usual review of the past year by the president, Mr. Robert Smillie. This year, Mr. Smillie said, had seen them make two applications for an increase of wages, which were granted. The cost of living had gone up by leaps and bounds, one of the main causes being the desire of people who posed as patriots to become millionaires during the nation’s bleeding time. The miners came in for severe criticism in the Press for their alleged greed in forcing up wages, it was said, at the expense of their fellow-workers. They would much have preferred action being taken to keep down the cost of living, in order that there might have been no wages claim during the war period, but he denied absolutely that the miners had taken advantage of the strength of their organisa- tion to bleed the nation at the expense of their fellow- workers. The Government had been charged in the Press with dealing with the miners in a kid-glove fashion. This arose over the question of output. When they remembered to what an extent mine workers had left the mines for the Army, how could the remaining men make up the output of the men who had gone ? It was the youngest, strongest, best men who had gone. He believed the miners were working as hard to-day as at any time in their history, and he repudiated the criticism of the kind he had directed attention to. In urging the miners to maintain the output, he reminded them that those left behind had been left behind in order to produce coal and keep the nation going. They ought to avoid all unnecessary loss of time at the collieries, and during the crisis they ought to be prepared to endeavour to settle by intelligence and common sense the many differences which arose from time to time. Yesterday (Thursday) the conference passed a resolu- tion demanding houses with a minimum of four apartments, garden, and bath room, the money to be provided by the State free of interest. Resolutions were also adopted in favour of a week’s holiday, an average wage being paid during the holiday, and double time for Sunday work. The conference adopted a resolution that a ballot vote be taken all over the Scottish coalfield on the advisability of adopting the policy of a five days’ week and six-hour day. Five delegates, advocating the resolution, said this was an attempt to institute a con- structive policy for the after-the-war period, when more men would return than there would be work for. The opposition urged that the resolution conflicted with their attitude on maintaining the present output. THE LONDON COAL TRADE. Thursday, August 15. The market shows very little change during the past few weeks. The pressure for supplies is as keen as ever, and unfortunately the quantities coming forward are still very short. Merchants are eager to buy up all the available coal, but very little free coal is offering. The seaborne market has to a certain extent changed its position during the past few weeks, for whilst the shortage of vessels largely affected the trade some little while back, the reports show now that a greater number of boats are at the various ports, while the coal supply is sadly deficient. 25 vessels are reported as arriving in the Thames for Monday’s market and 8 for Wednesday. The new Fuel and Lighting Order is now in full swing, and forms the principal topic of conversation on the London market. Many house- holders have not yet had an opportunity of studying it, or even of seeing the new form. It has been pointed out that always people have been made familiar with new Orders weeks before such Orders took effect, but this one has allowed a gap of five weeks to go by before the forms are distributed to coal merchants and customers. Unhap- has not fully grasped the gravity of the crisis. Restric- tions are resented, and any limitation of the supply is protested against, but the real point which has led to the restriction is to be found in absolute shortage, especially as it applies to household purposes. A coal economy cam- paign has been adopted by the Coal Controller’s Depart- ment, and the whole of England is to be mapped out into districts to enable qualified engineers to co-operate with factories to ascertain means by which fuel consumption may be reduced. The two main sections are electrical undertakings and industrial undertakings. The South Metropolitan Gas Company, in their report for the past six months, have taken a somewhat gloomy view of the future. The report states that it has been necessary to withdraw <£23,000 from reserve in order to pay the statu- tory sliding scale dividend of <£3 4s. per cent, per annum, and that the increased cost of wages and coal will necessi- tate a further increase in the cost of gas to all their customers. It is now 4s. per 1,000 cu. ft. From Messrs. Dinham, Fawcus and Company’s Report. Friday, August 9.—There was no alteration in the sea- borne house coal market, no cargoes being on offer. Car- goes, 9. Monday, August 12.—There was a fair arrival of sea- borne cargoes, and the enquiry for seaborne house coal was good. No sales reported. Cargoes, 25. Wednesday, August 14.—There was only a small supply of seaborne house coal. The demand was good, but no fresh sales were reported. Cargoes, 8. SILICA BRICKS FROM OPEN HEARTH FURNACES* By E. Rengade. The examination of bricks that have served in the arches of open-hearth furnaces shows the extent of the physical changes brought about by constant high temperature, and of the chemical modifications which are at the same time induced in the bricks by the influence of furnace dust. The bricks examined by the author usually presented four distinct zones, viz. : — A. The lower part, which had been in immediate contact with the flames, exhibited a glazed surface with occasional protuberances or stalactites, indicating fusion. The fracture was light grey in colour, and perfectly homogeneous in aspect, though sometimes studded with bubbles. B. The adjacent zone, usually with a very clear line of demarcation, was black or very dark grey in colour, equally homogeneous, and of considerable hardness. C. A transition zone, frequently appearing in the form of white spots in the middle of the black zone, and representing large initial grains of quartz which had not been completely absorbed. In other cases the black ground gave place to light brown—the hete- rogeneous structure of the primitive brick, which appeared to have simply bjeen impregnated with a fused brown substance. D. The topmost zone did not reveal any modification. Under the microscope and by polarised light, thin sections of these zones showed in B the well-known structure, consisting of large and very transparent tridymite crystals, the spaces between them being filled up with an opaque black matrix. In the A zone layers the tridymite had fused, and the large crystals had been replaced by globules embedded in but not intermixed with the opaque black constituent. In cooling, the fused tridymite was transformed into crystobalite, and in some places by refrangible patches of ill-formed tridymite could be observed. In the sections from zone C layers, the large crystals of tridymite were also found, but gradually diminish- ing in size and number towards the less heated parts of the brick, till in the D layers the structure was normal, as in the original brick. The following results were obtained on chemical analysis: — It is noteworthy that, as proved by direct experiment, the fusibility of the bricks is not appreciably modified by the very high proportions of iron oxide; hence the excellent behaviour of the most strongly impregnated bricks under high temperatures. MINERS’ FEDERATION AND ABSENTEEISM. The executive of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain has issued an appeal in the form of a mani- festo, relative to the great need of an increased output, which is reproduced below:— Manifesto to the Miners of Great Britain. During the recent negotiations on the wages question, the Prime Minister and the Coal Controller made a strong appeal to your executive committee to assist him in increasing as far as possible the output of coal. They pointed out that coal, as the raw material of all our iron and steel supplies and also of most of our manufactured goods, was of the very greatest importance to the nation. The drain of recruiting in the «coal mining industry has reduced the output of coal in Great Britain by millions of tons per annum, while we have to meet the claims of our Allies for coal, which means a very large demand upon our exports. The Controller pointed out that, during recent months, the Germans had rendered unworkable a number of the French coal mines, and that this, by limiting the output of coal in France, had increased the demand upon the coal produced in this country. A further claim upon the output of coal in this country has been caused by the entry of America into the war. The American Army now fighting in France is a long way from its base, and the carriage of coal from America to France to carry on the necessary railway traffic for the American Army is out of the question. Consequently the British coal fields are called upon to supply a very large quantity of coal monthly for our American Allies. The Executive’s Fledge. The Government are extremely anxious to keep in close touch with the neutral Governments, and one of the chief factors in retaining inter-communication with them, and securing the return of commodities necessary to this country, is to supply those neutral countries with coal. By supplying them with coal we receive in return, not merely the necessary foodstuffs as well as the raw materials necessary for the prosecution of the war, which are sent in exchange for coal, but we also have the use of their shipping, which is of the utmost importance to us at the present time. The Coal Controller, on figures supplied to him from the various mining districts in Great Britain, is of the opinion that, if unnecessary voluntary absenteeism were abolished, and if the mine workers upon whom the nation depends at the present time for the life- blood of its industries were producing to their utmost capacity, the nation would be able to tide over its present difficulties. The executive committee of the Miners’ Federation during the recent wages negotiations pledged them- selves to do everything in their power to secure the largest possible output of coal from the mines. It is recognised that the first claim on the output of the coal mines will be for the Navy, munition works, and other essential industries, and in the event of a real shortage of coal there is a serious danger that the ordinary household consumer will be very short of coal during the coming winter, and, in spite of any precautions that may be taken to share out fairly the coal by rationing, there is a likelihood that the poorest of the people may suffer most. The Miners’ Federation are exceedingly anxious that everything possible shall be done by the Acid Furnaces. Basic Furnaces. No. 1. No. 3. No . 2. No. 5. No. 6. No. 9. No. 10. A. B. A. B. A. B. C. D. A. B. C. . D. A. B. A. B. C. D. A. B. c. D. SiO2 90’30 87 00 94-30 94’80 79’60 74 76 91*00 95’30 93’60 94’60 93’80 97’50 89’00 84’30 89’00 88’80 91’00 97’30 88’20 83’80 95’70 A12O3 ... o-oo 0’60 0’90 0’50 0-80 1-10 2’70 1-10 0’50 0’40 1’70 0’60 0’70 0’90 0’80 0’70 1-80 0’70 — 0’60 1’30 0’50 CaO 1-20 2-50 1-30 1-15 o-io 0’30 3’35 1-90 0’25 0’80 3’15 1-40 2’00 3’40 3’90 3’85 4’20 1’15 - . 1 90 6’30 2*00 MgO Tr. Tr. Tr. Tr. Tr. Tr. 0’05 Tr. Tr. Tr. 0’04 Tr. 0’20 0’20 0’63 0’72 o-io Tr, — 0’20 0’10 0’12 FeO 0-87 0’51 0*08 0’44 5’73 4-47 1-J2 0’36 1’44 2’5.7 0-75 0’50 — — — 2’18 1’28 — Fe2O3 6-21 8’44 2-97 2 96 13’62 19 03 2’51 1’27 4’50 3’81 1’37 0 43 5’30 7-65 3’59 4 39 2’56 0’48 — 6’43 ; 6’29 1’71 Mn3O4 0’73 1-32 0’24 0-25 0-29 0’28 0*19 0-20 0’18 0’14 0’20 0’20 0’77 1’04 1’11 1’00 0’5 > 0’14 — 0’65 i 1’02 Tr. 100’21 100-37 99’79 100*10 100-14 99^-94 99-80 99-67 100’15 100’11 100’26 100’13 99’41 100’06 99’80 99’96 100’18 99’77 — 100 16 i 100’09 100’03 Fe total 5-02 6’30 2T4 2’42 14-00 16-80 1 75 0-88 4’02 2’95 0’96 0’30 4’84 7’35 3’09 347 2’02 0’38 — 6’20 : 5 40 1’20 Fe* 10-61 5'20 4-35 4’35 6’43 7-18 — — 321 6’81 — — — — — — i — — * On another brick from the same arch. pily, so far thousands of houses have not made any attempt to initiate the necessary economies. In some of the pro- vincial towns the Order has been advertised in the local newspapers and on the hoardings, even an enquiry bureau being established, so as to make everyone familiar with the Order. In London the forms are not yet distributed to the traders. Many deputations have waited upon the Coal Controller to discuss the various points, but as the founda- tion of the whole principle is that a far less quantity of coal is available this year, it is imperative that a consider- able saving both in fuel and in lighting must be effected, otherwise the. extravagances in July and August will mean a fireless grate in January and February. Wisdom demands that economies should commence at once, before it is too late. Many are urging the miners to work more regularly, and they bring forward evidence that some of the colliers are only working three and four days in each week. Others draw attention to the fact of the thousands of fallen trees lying untouched in many a field, and point to the desira- bility of bringing forest fuels more to the front in these days of coal scarcity. It is certain that the public generally From these tables it appears that the zones A and B contain very varying and often considerable quantities of iron, in various stages of oxidation, though approxi- mating closely to Fe2O3. The zones A are often (but no connection with the iron content, but is accounted of B; possibly because the black ferruginous con- stituent, which does not mix with the silica in the fused portions of A, is drawn up by capillary attraction in between the tridymite crystals of B. It is also probable that the lime in the brick ascends, similarly, in the form of a fusible silicate which impregnates zone C at the expense of the lower zones (in acid furnaces). The grey and black appearance of zones A and B has not connection with the iron content, but is accounted for by the high transparency of the tridymite crystals, whilst the indefinite structure of the silica in A renders it translucent. * Com/ptes Rendus de 1’Academie des Sciences, Paris. mining community to prevent as far as possible unnecessary suffering in the homes of the poor for lack of fuel. Joint Committees to be Set Up. In spite of all the efforts which can be made by the British Government to supply France with coal, the rationing in France has already been reduced to about tons per household per year, and this in all proba- bility will have to be considerably reduced unless we can not only maintain, but substantially increase, the output of coal in this country. Italy is even in a worse position. There may, and undoubtedly dots, exist in many of the districts a strong feeling with regard to recent increases in the price of coal, and the opinion may be widely held that coal owners or middlemen are reaping considerable benefits from the present national- crisis. This may or may not be true, but it ought not to be taken as a reason at the present time for the mine workers not doing their utmost to maintain the output of coal.