September 27, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

663

Notes from the Coal Fields.

[Local Correspondence.]

South Wales and Monmouthshire^

Question of Increasing Output—Price Lists and Minimum
Wage—Ambulance Case at Abercynon—Rates in
Rhondda—Death of Miss Talbot—Stowing of Small
Coal Underground—Protest Regarding Conscription—
Pithead Food Supplies;

Discussion upon the best means of increasing output has
concentrated attention upon the system both of the mini-
mum wage and of the war bonus at time rate. The latter
is a day wage, and the former is a fixed amount payable
to a man upon the supposition that his working place
presents special difficulty. It is argued by those who seek
a higher tonnage rate that if these two systems were
superseded the output would be materially increased.
Another demand is a revival of the old claim that small
coal should be paid for.

Whilst the foregoing comes from the workmen’s side,
there is also the employers’ case against the present
system, wherein the collieries have to be worked upon
what is practically a restriction of profits, whilst every
endeavour is being made to get out more coal. Collieries,
a wasting asset, are probably being depleted without
adequate provision for replacement of capital.

It is contended from the men’s side that the price lists
are not satisfactory, and that men are content with a
moderate output per day, knowing that they will get the
minimum wage, whereas if their remuneration were en-
tirely on a tonnage basis, under a more liberal price list,
they would do more work. One illustration has been that
a man on a price list of 2s. 3d. per ton fills 15 tons
per week, yielding him .£1 13s. 9d. plus percentage. But
he is entitled to a minimum of £2 Is. 3d. per week, and
having done a reasonable amount of work he can claim
the minimum (7s. 6d. above what he has actually earned
on the price list), so that the cost of that quantity on a
tonnage rate is really 2s. 9d. instead of 2s. 3d. Were
the man to work harder and cut 18 tons, he would still
be below the minimum in payment made to him—so it
is held, and he has therefore no incentive to cut the extra
three tons. Whilst he has increased his output by a fifth,
the only result has been to put more coal on the market
and save the colliery proprietor 6s. 9d., which otherwise
he would have had to pay in making up the minimum
wage. There is no advantage to the man himself in cutting
the extra coal under the present circumstances, and it
is argued that if by making up the minimum the employer
can really pay what is practically 2s. 9d. per ton instead
of 2s. 3d., it would be more advantageous to make that
the list price instead of keeping the present low rates,
and that the greater output would have an advantage for
him by lessening the pro rata cost per ton of the colliery
output.

The Ocean Company were prosecuted at Abercynon for
an alleged breach of the Mines Act by not providing a
suitable ambulance at the Ynysbwl Colliery. A man had
met with an accident, fracturing his leg and spine, and
it was stated in evidence that the ambulance at the colliery
was a hand-litter for holding one person. The medical
man who dealt with the injury telephoned for a taxicab,
and after a delay of 40 minutes the man was conveyed
to the Pontypridd Hospital, the litter being fastened to
the hood of the taxi. Mr. Dyer Lewis, inspector of
mines, said that Home Office opinion was that a motor
ambulance should be employed at collieries where more than
500 men were employed, and that the litter kept at
Ynysbwl was suitable only for short distances. The
defence was that the ambulance, which was of an approved
pattern, did comply with the regulations of the Act,
and medical evidence was tendered to the effect that in
an accident such as that referred to the hand-litter was
often more suitable than a motor ambulance. The sti-
pendiary magistrate decided that the ambulance was of
proper construction within the terms of the Act, and that it
would be straining the regulations to say that a motor
ambulance and nothing else ought to be provided, although
in case of long distances doubtless a motor was preferable.
The case, he said, would be dismissed, but on the appli-
cation of the prosecution he agreed to state a case.

The district of the Rhondda is considerably agitated on
account of the high level to which the rates have risen,
and meetings have been held whereat chiefly owners of
house property, among whom are hundreds of miners,
have discussed the matter.

The death of Miss Talbot, of Margam, which occurred
on Saturday, is of interest because of her great posses-
sions of mineral territory in Glamorganshire and her very
large holding in the Port Talbot Railway and Docks, pro-
jected and carried through by her father. When the late
Mr. Talbot died his total estate was estimated to be of
the value of nearly <£6,000,000 sterling, the bulk of which
came to the lady now deceased. She is cordially remem-
bered by the colliers of the neighbourhood because she
continued the operations of the Bryndu Colliery when
it would have been abandoned because of being unprofit-
able, and she worked it at a heavy loss over a long period
in order to prevent serious unemployment. At the time
of the Morfa Colliery explosion, which was within a mile
or two of her residence, she helped materially to relieve
the widows and orphans, and has also put up several
churches, one or two hospitals, and in other ways advanced
the interests of the mining community. One of her more
recent gifts was £37,000 for the Welsh National Medical
School.

The arbitration between the conflicting claims of the
Blast Furnacemen’s Union and the Iron and Steel Trades
Federation, so far as regards the South Wales members,
is to be conducted by Mr. J. Bailey. The dispute is one
of those inter-union difficulties having relation to the
classes of men who shall respectively join the different
unions.

Further comment has arisen as to the stowing of small
coal underground. Mr. George Barker, of Abertillery (one
of the miners’ leaders), asserts that in the South Wales area
about 100,000 tons per day is thus kept underground while
rubbish is brought to the surface. His argument is that
the men should be allowed to fill the small into the trams
instead of being bound down by contract to fill clean large
coal only. If the miner were allowed to fill the small
instead of throwing it into the gob, the output would, Mr.
Barker believes, be increased from 5 to 10 per cent, with-
out’ the employment of a single additional man. Mr.
Barker adds that this subject came before the South
Wales miners’ conference in April last. The executive
were instructed to take up the matter, and the Coal
Controller was interviewed on May 15, “ but he refused
to deal with it, presumably because clause 7 of the Con-
ciliation Board agreement says that standard cutting
prices shall be paid upon the large coal, and any small

coal filled with the large shall be deducted from the gross
rate in the tram and only the large paid for.”

The Sir W. Thomas gold medal for 1918 has been
awarded to Mr. H. Price, of Nantymoel, a student at
the Bridgend advanced classes, who has headed the list
in the Glamorgan county examinations in mine surveying,
etc. He is an assistant surveyor at the Ocean Collieries,
and his father is cashier in the colliery at Nantymoel.

The Risca Council discussed the Fuel and Lighting
Order, the chairman remarking that as so large a propor-
tion of the population—at least 60 per cent.—were miners,
there being also ironworks men, all of them rising early
in the morning, he thought that the district was one
where the Order should be suspended. Other members
agreed with him ; but Capt. Carter, who represented the
Coal Controller, stated that the peculiar circumstances of
districts like Risca had been fully considered, and it
nevertheless had been decided to apply the Order every-
where. He could not hold out any anticipation that the
Order would be suspended. The matter will be brought
up again.

At the latest meeting of the Ebbw Vale tribunal a
protest was submitted by the executive council of the
Workmen's Sliding Scale Committee, their allegation
being that Ebbw Vale men were called to the Army
whilst workmen imported from outside districts remained
untouched. The matter had been brought before the
Regional Director of National Service (Lord Treowen),
and he had promised to institute enquiries. The chair-
man of the tribunal stated that he had made repeated
enquiries as to who it was that issued the protection cer-
tificates to the imported men, but he had received no
satisfaction. The tribunal passed a resolution asking for
an investigation.

Sir Edgar Jones, M.P., has been appointed by the
Welsh Plate and Steel Manufacturers’ Association to the
position of their diplomatic and intelligence agent. Sir
Edgar Jones represents Merthyr in the House of Com-
mons, and for the past two or three years until recently
occupied the position of Controller in the Priority Depart-
ment of the Ministry of Munitions.

Mr. T. Langley, Pontnewynydd, checkweigher at the
Gwenallt Colliery, and secretary of the Monmouthshire
Eastern Valleys miners’ district, has been appointed poli-
tical agent of the Nuneaton Labour Party.

The Merthyr Education Committee has resolved to
establish mining classes at the following schools during
the winter season : Dowlais, Abermorlais, Heolcerrig,
Abercanaid, Treharris, and Troedyrhiw. Mr. D. R. Hill,
official lecturer, will conduct the classes.

Particulars have now been issued as to the scheme of
pithead food supply for miners, and the establishment
of restaurants for their service. The details have been
submitted to the men, and are now under consideration.
The idea is that there shall be cooking places at the
pitheads where the tin boxes of the miners can be filled
with food—the men bringing their own bread—and that
their boxes should be given them in the same way as their
pit lamps. Sausages, meat pies, patties, rissoles, saveloys,
etc., are listed amongst the items to be supplied, the men
to leave their boxes in the cook house with their orders
and to pick up the box when going below. Hot potatoes
will also be supplied. It is intended also that the surface
workers should have their meals in a canteen.

Mr. James Winstone, president of the South Wales
Miners’ Federation, has received a letter from the Food
Controller with reference to the South Wales miners’
agitation for more and better food. Mr. Clynes disclaims
any idea that Mr. Winstone’s complaints were prompted
by political motives, and he expresses hopes of remedying
the complaints.

Northumberland and Durham.

A Coal Control Appointment — Durham Mineworkers'
Homes Association — Increased Dock Dues — Coal
Owner Fined on 1J Charges.

Mr. John S. Hindley, who for many years has been
associated with the firm of Messrs. Stephenson, Clarke
and Company, coal exporters, Newcastle, has been
appointed to a position in the Coal Control Department
in London.

Presiding over the half-yearly meeting in connection
with the Durham Mineworkers’ Homes Association, held
on Saturday, Mr. J. W. Taylor, M.P., reviewed the
balance sheet of the first six months of the year. Contri-
butions from miners’ lodges totalled £2,250, a decrease
of £66 compared with the corresponding period of last
year; enginemen, mechanics, cokemen and deputies had
contributed £42, a decrease of £46; the district com-
mittees £90, a decrease of £536 ; and coal owners £122,
although to that figure was to be added a legacy of £1,000
from the estate of Mr. Milburn, of Newcastle. They were
not satisfied with the response from the coal owners, and
were making appeals, both privately and in other ways,
to some of them to give further donations. The gift of
£1,000 from Mr. Cecil A. Cochrane, M.P., was not men-
tioned in their balance sheet. That sum was earmarked
for the workmen of the district in which the colliery
formerly owned by Mr. Cochrane stood. As compared
with a year ago, there was an increase in expenditure of
£288, and with the decrease in income steps would have
to be taken to remedy the financial position. Including
£6,000 in War stock, the sum total worth of the associa-
tion was now £7,217, as against £1,006 Is. 2d. a year ago,
showing a gain of £6,211. It should be borne in mind,
however, that there were other obligations to be met,
including housing schemes in the county, towards which
some districts had contributed for three or four years.

The North Eastern Railway Company announces that
on and from October 1 the rates or dues in operation at
the company’s docks at Tyne Dock, the Hartlepools and
Middlesbrough, and at the coal shipping staiths at
Dunston-on-Tyne will be increased, as compared with
those in operation on and from June 1, 1917, to 2d. per
ton upon all coal and 3d. per ton upon all coke put on
board any vessel, this increase of 100 per cent, being in
substitution for the 50 per cent, increase which came into
operation on March 1 last. In addition, the charges for
shipment of coal and coke, which are included with the
railway rate in one lump sum charge, will be increased
by l^d. per ton in the case of coal, and 2d. per ton in
the case of coke, these charges being in substitution for
the increases of |d. per ton and Id. per ton respectively
which came into operation on March 1 last. Furthermore,
it is notified that the dock rates and charges at Tyne
Dock are to be increased on October 1 by 100 per cent,
above the charges which operated immediately prior to
March 1 last so far as assistance in moving vessels,
wharfage on goods, storage of goods in dock warehouses,
cranage, weighing, and all miscellaneous dock charges—
save dock tonnage rates on vessels and labourage charges
on goods—are concerned, and that the charges for storage
of goods in the open will simultaneously be increased by
50 per cent, above the charges in operation. The 100

per cent increase in dock rates and charges is in substi-
tution for the increase of 50 per cent, which came into
operation on March 1 last.

Capt. John Edwin Rogerson, who has been chosen as
Unionist candidate in the Barnard Castle Division, was
one of the founders of the North Walbottle and Seaton
Burn coal companies, of both of which he is chairman.
He presides also over the directors of Messrs. John Roger-
son and Company Limited, Stanners’ Close Steelworks,
Wolsingham, the Weardale Steel, Coal and Coke Com-
pany Limited, and the Broomhill Collieries Limited,
besides being deputy chairman to Lord Furness of the
South Durham Steel and Iron Company Limited and the
Cargo Fleet Iron Company Limited, of both of which
companies he was chairman until June of last year, when
Lord Furness and he made a reshuffle of certain chair-
manships.

A special council meeting of the Northumberland Aged
Mineworkers’ Homes Association is to be held at the
Burt Hall, Newcastle, on Saturday, October 12 to appoint
a successor to the late Mr. John Wilson, secretary of the
association.

Richard Atherton, owner of the Bishop’s Park Col-
liery, a small pit near Bishop Auckland, was charged
before the local magistrates on Monday with 21 offences
under the Coal Mines Act. Mr. W. Wainwright, sub-
inspector of mines, said that he visited the colliery on
July 29 and 30. He found that the plans were not up
to date, and that it was impossible to follow the direc-
tion of the workings. There was no sketch plan at the
pit head. The arrangements of the upcast shaft were
not adequate. The return airway was in a deplorable
condition. It took him about one and a half hours to
travel a quarter of a mile. It was said for the defence
that Mr. Atherton had been handicapped owing to shortage
of labour. About 30 men were employed at the colliery.
There had only been one fatal accident there in 13 years.
Defendant was found guilty on 14 charges, and fines
and costs amounting to £26 6s. were inflicted.

Yorkshire.

At Mexborough and Wath gold watches were presented,
on behalf of the Manvers Main Company and their work-
men, to 25 soldiers (or members of their families) from
the Manvers Main and Barnbrough Collieries who have
won distinction on the battlefield. Thomas Waller, a
deputy, was the recipient of a gold watch and medal in
recognition of his courage and resource in rescuing a
fellow workman who was buried by a fall of roof in
Manvers Main Colliery recently.

Mr. H. Smith, president, Yorkshire Miners’ Associa-
tion, addressed a large meeting of the Dinnington miners
on Saturday. Mr. Smith enlarged upon the need for
increasing the output of coal, and urged upon all workers,
both young and old, to do all they could to this end, not
only in the interests of the war and munitions, but also
for the sake of the poor in our crowded towns and cities,
who could scarcely get coal at any price owing to the
shortage.

Presiding at a meeting of the council of the Yorkshire
Miners’ Association at Barnsley on Tuesday, Mr. H. Smith
said the council had instructed the officials to bpen nego-
tiations with the South and West Yorkshire Coalowners
for the discussion of rules for appointing committees to
increase the output. These would have application to
cases of irregular attendance, and any charge against the
management in refusing proper facilities for carrying on
the work. The miners were anxious to do the best they
could, and were pleased to see that Lord Aberconway
agreed that the miners as a body were doing all they
possibly could to increase the output, and also that the
shortage was caused by the National Service taking away
75,000 Grade I. men from the pits in face of advice to
the contrary. It was impossible, Mr. Smith added, that
men of 40 and 50 could attempt to tram corves and deal
with transport generally in the pits as efficiently as the
younger men. These were the class of men drawn away
from the pits, hence the reduction of the output; but,
as Lord Aberconway stated, the output per man was
larger now than was the case prior to the war. This was
in contradiction to Mr. G. Blake Walker, who said if
the men would produce as much as their grandfathers
they would produce twice the quantity they were doing
to-day. He should have thought gentlemen in the posi-
tion of Mr. Walker would have realised that the altered
conditions of working—the long distances which coal had
to be brought—would reduce the output. In addition
to that the miners had no intention of going back to the
long hours worked by their -grandfathers, as men could
not stand the extra strain involved with the different
methods of working.

Kent.

The amount of coal raised from the Tilmanstone and
Snowdown collieries continues to be about 300 tons a week
in excess of what it was a month ago, the output of each
colliery being now well towards the 3,000 tons mark
weekly. There are still at times delays caused by short-
age of trucks, and the men also sometimes suffer delays
in getting to their work from Dover and the neighbour-
hood, so that, these things being taken into consideration,
the increase is remarkably good.

In the East Kent district the underlying reason for
the recent jump in the value of the shares of the Light
Railways is believed to be due to the probable early de-
velopment of the Wingham and Woodnesboro’ collieries
and other colliery areas to which the railways are already
built, or for which the company holds the powers of
construction.

Scotland.

A largely attended meeting of the Scottish Mine
Managers’ Association was held on Saturday evening in
Glasgow, Mr. Wm. Stevenson (Cleland) presiding. It
was reported that the advance of £50 per annum recently'
granted to the mine managers in Scotland had now been
conceded to the managers of shale mines. The position
of the managers engaged in fireclay mines had not as yet
been adjusted, but the officials of the association/were
hopeful that arbitration proceedings would be commenced
which would result in the desired advance. Steps were
being taken to organise a fusion of forces between the
Mine Managers’ Association and the Scottish Association
of Colliery Clerks, and hopes were entertained that a
satisfactory working arrangement would speedily be
entered into. The chairman explained the course which
it was proposed to take at the forthcoming enquiry into
the disaster at Stanrigg Colliery, Airdrie, to safeguard
the interests of the manager, who was a member of the
association, and satisfaction was expressed at the grati-
fying progress which had been made.

At the meeting of the Scottish Mine Managers’ Asso-
ciation in Glasgow, on Saturday, a discussion arose over
the draft memorandum of agreement entered into by the
Controller of Coal Mines, the British Miners’ Federation
and the coal owners, in which provision is made for