November 22, 1918. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1077 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ of a higher average boiling point and a higher specific gravity. In order that a motor shall start with reasonable ease there must be a certain percentage of constituents of low boiling point. If the petroleum people should obtain possession of the benzol supply ____________________________ of this country, it would enable them to make use, in admixture with their own product, of large quantities of even higher boiling point constituents, to which the benzol would serve as the ingredient of low boiling point. The benzol producers might sell their whole production to the petroleum people at a price to be agreed upon, or even upon a sliding scale, when the worrying question of distribution would be taken out of their hands. On the other hand, their material is produced already at a very considerable number of centres, and to this extent the problem of distribution is simplified ; but the producers of 50,000,000 gallons per annum of motor benzol cannot hope to control prices with a demand for motor fuel of 200,000,000 gallons. Alcohol can be produced within the confines of the British Empire in practically unlimited quantities, but the only immediate way to encourage the use of alcohol is to mix it with home-produced benzol. It would appear, therefore, to be desirable on most grounds that the supply of home produced fuels should not pass into the hands of its petroleum-controlling competitors. The by-product coke ovens in this country are for the most part owned by wealthy colliery and iron and steel firms who are quite capable, from the financial side, of handling the benz .l proposition, but the crux of the problem lies in the question of distribution. It is here that the motor industry and the motor-using public can step in. It is probably within their power to make such arrange- ments as shall secure the benzol supply as a purely national asset. It may and it will be urged that if the motor user and the motor maker join in some scheme with the benzol producer for the purchase and distribution of the home-made fuel, the prices of petrol may be lowered against them. It is still more certain that if they do not take this action the price will be raised against them. No imaginable increase in any of the industries that lead to the production of motor benzol can conceivably give an increased yield which will keep pace with the ordinary growth of motor fuel requirements. Still less can they lead to such a production as would enable our total requirements for motor fuel to be met. If _____ _____ we could look forward to using a fuel composed as to half or more of alcohol, the benzol supply, aided by a certain amount of ether produced from the alcohol, would probably enable us to keep pace with the growing requirements. There are, of course, many aspects to the fuel problem which we have not yet touched upon. Recent experimental work gees far to prove that the high boiling point coal tar distillates are in many respects much more tractable than the paraffin bodies of an even lower boiling point. The coal and gas producer tar produced in this country yield about 130 million gallons per annum of these ______ ______ __________ heavy oils. Great quantities of these are being used for Diesel engines, as well as for fuel oil for steam raising in the Navy. Certain experiments, however, tend to show that these creosote oils can be vaporised and rendered fit for use in high-speed motors, and this aspect of the fuel problem is worthy of some close consideration. ___________________________ Research. If attempts are to be made to utilise alcohol in _____ _____ _____ admixture with other fuels, a large amount of re- search work will have to be done. It has been proved that alcohol is entirely satisfactory for specially designed engines, and experiment has shown that the modern petrol engine will work quite well on alcohol- benzol mixtures, but the best limits within which such mixtures can be employed still remain to be found out. There are problems relating to the viscosity of alcohol-benzol, alcohol-ether, and alcohol-benzol-ether mixtures which await investigation. The vapour tension of admixtures of various fuels is not by any means the mean of the various ingredients of the mixture. We have to find out what percentage of ______________ __________ water can best be retained in the alcohol. Although alcohol and benzol are miscible in any proportion, that is not true if the alcohol contains more than a certain quantity of water, and the equilibrium not __________ only of alcohol-water-benzol mixtures has to be investi- gated, but the possible influence of paraffin compounds and any other fuel which might have to be eventually added to the mixture. It is stated that alcohol is not suitable for high- speed engines, and unless we are to persist in our policy of empiricism it behoves us to learn something of the relative rate of the propagation of flame in alcohol-air mixtures, both alone and mixed with benzol, ether, etc., at ordinary and at higher tempera ___________________________ tures and pressures, in order that this may be com- pared with the corresponding figures for petrol, and that our designers may have facts and not surmises to build* upon. Conclusion. It is stated that the production of motor vehicles alone in the United States during the last 12 months exceeded 1,700,000. Assuming that each car will con- sume 400 gallons of petrol per annum, this means an additional consumption of approximately 700,000,000 gallons of petrol required for the production of one country in one year. This represents, roughly, 2,000,000 tons, and if it be assumed that by modern means 20 per cent, of petrol can be obtained on an average from each ton of crude oil, an additional production of 10,000,000 tons of crude oil is required to keep on the road the production of one year’s cars from America only. A recent estimate of the world’s production of crude petroleum was about 50,000,000 ___________________________ tons per annum. If the present production of benzol available for motor purposes in this country from all sources is 50,000,000 gallons per annum, the output of our gas works would have to be doubled, and our iron and steel trade to be doubled, before the amount available from this source reached 100,000,000 gallons per annum. In view of the growing demands, it is not conceivable that the enormous capital involved in the production of benzol can be got into operation as rapidly as the demand for the fuel progresses, and there is no alternative at present in sight except alcohol. MINING EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS. The Board of Trade Labour Gazette for November reports that employment in coal mining continued good during October. There was an increase of 3,932 (or 0*8 per cent.) in the number of workpeople employed at the collieries making returns, as compared with the previous month, and a decrease of 21,235 (or 4 per cent.) on a year ago. Of the 525,335 workpeople included in the returns for October, 290,991 (or 55'4 per cent.) were employed at pits working 12 days during the fortnight to which the returns relate; a further 202,652 (or 38’6 per cent.) were employed at pits working 11 but less than 12 days. Districts. Work- people em- Average No. of days worked per week by the collieries in fort- night ended Inc. ( +•) or dec. ( —) in Oct. 1918 on a ployed (------*------(-------A----- °27- 02?- Month Year 1918. 1918. 1917. **<>• England Sc Wales. Days. Days. Davs. Days. Days. Northumberland ... 39,093...5*50...5*47...5*29...+0*03...+0'21 Durham .......... 81.280...5 56...5*45...4*86... + 0*11... +0'70 Cumberland ...... 7,065...5’84...5’84...5*44... — ...+0'40 South Yorkshire ... 50,420...5*90.. 5*91...5*88...-0*01... +0'02 West Yorkshire.... 24,542...5’89...5*88...5*84 .. +0'01 +0'05 Lancs. & Cheshire... 50,031..5'96...5'88...5*93... +0'08... +-0'03 Derbyshire ......... 34,983...5'76..5'84 . 5'70...-0'08... + 0 06 Nott< and Leicester 32,415...5'71...5'76...5'67...— 0*05... +0 04 Staffordshire ...... 27,075...5*90...5*60...5'62... +0'30... +0 28 W ar wick, W orcester and Salop......... 6,996...5 87...5'88...5*79...-0*01... +0*08 Glo'ster & Somerset 5,437...5'97.. 5*91...5’97...+0'06... — North Wales ...... 8,200.. 5 94...5'95...5'93 -0*01...+0'01 South Wales & Mon. 111,947...5'87 . 5'92...5*28...-0*05... t 0'59 Total ...... 478,484...5 79.. 5'76...5'48...+0'03...+0'31 Scotland. West Scotland ____ 20,867.. 5*50...5 31...5*35... +0*19... + 0*15 The Lothians ...... 2,480...5'41...5'44...5'40...- 0*03... +0'01 Fife ............... 23,031... 5 59...5'61...4'90...-0*02... + 0'69 Total ....... 46,378...5'54...5*46 5*13...+0'08... + 0'41 Ireland ............ 473.. 5'38...5'49...5'60... -0'11... -0'22 Total, U.K______ 525,335.. 5*76...'5*73.. 5*45...+0'03... + 0'31 * At the collieries included in the table. The following table shows the numbers employed and the average number of days worked, distributed accord- ing to the principal kind of coal raised at pits at which the workpeople were engaged:— Average No. of days worked per Inc. (+) or Work- week by the pits dec. ( — jin people in fortnight Oct. 1918 em- ended on a ployed f----------------------------x in Oct. Oct. Sept. Oct. 1918 * 26, 21, 27, Month Year 1918. 1918. 1917. ag0* ag0* Days. Days. Days. Days. Days. Anthracite ......... 7,011 . 5*38...5'68...5'44...-0'30...-0'06 Coking ............. 24,558...5*80...5'60...5 55...+0'20...+0*25 Gas .................. 36,939...5'56...5'40...4'38...+0'16... +1'18 House................ 52,395...5*78...5*66...5'60... +0 12... +0*18 Steam................ 185,296...5*81...5*82...5 48...-0*01... +0*33 Mixed................ 219,106...5*77...5*75...5*54... +0*02... +0'23 All descriptions ... 525,335...5*76...5*73 5'45...+0*03 . +0*31 * At the collieries included in the table. Iron Mining.—Returns received relating to the same mines and openworks show that 16,908 workpeople were employed in October 1918, a decrease of 170 (or 1 per cent.) on the previous month, and of 59 (or 0'3 per cent.) on a year ago. Work- people Districts. em- ployed Average No. of days worked per week by mines in fortnight ended Oct. Sept. Oct. 26. 21, 27. Inc. (+) or dec. (—) in Oct. 1918 on a Month Year 1918. 1918. 193 7. ag0* ag0* Days. Days. Days. Days. Days. Cleveland.......... 7,113 ...6*00...6'00...5*88... — +0*12 Cumberland and Lancashire ...... 4,666 ...4 69f 5*94...6*00...-1*25...-1 31 Scotland .......... 571 ...5*04...6'00 5'75...-0'96...-0'71 Other districts ____ 4,558 ...5'79.. 5'77...5'88...+0'02...-0*09 Total ______ 16,908 ...5*55f 5*92 . 5'91...-0'37...-0*36 * At mines included in the returns. f Time lost on account of a dispute. Shale.—The returns show that 5,030 workpeople were employed in the fortnight ended October 26, 1918, com- pared with 4,920 workpeople in September and with 4,846 in October 1917. The number of days worked per week was 5'99, compared with 6 00 a month ago and a year ago. Pig Iron Industry.—Employment continued good during October. No. of furnaces, Inc. ( + ) or included in the dec. (-) returns, in blast in Oct. 1918 Districts. at end of on a Oct. Sept. Oct. Month Year England <8f Wales: 1918. 1918. 1917. ago. ago. Cleveland 73 ... 73 ... 76 — -3 Cumberland & Lancs. 34 ... 33 ... 34 +1 — S. and S. W. Yorks ... 12 ... 12 ... 13 — -1 Derby & Nottingham... Leicester, Lincoln and 34 ... 33 ... 33 ... +1.’.’ . +1 Northampton 29 ... 29 ... 29 — — Staffs and Worcester... 30 ... 30 ... 31 — -1 S. Wales & Monmouth 12 ... 11 ... 12 +1.’.’’ — Other districts 4 ... 4 ... 5 ... — ... -1 228 ... 225 . . 233 ... +3... -5 Scotland 65 ... 67 ... 63 —2... + 2 Total, U.K 293 ... 292 ... 296 ... +1... -3 Iron and Steel Works.—Employment continued very good at iron and steel works. According to returns relating to 117,490 workpeople, the number of shifts worked during the week ended October 26 was 672,812, showing an increase of 3,115 (or 0'5 per cent.) on the previous month, and a decrease of 630 (or 0*1 per cent) on a year ago. Engineering Trades.—These trades continued to be extremely busy during October, and a great amount of overtime was worked. Trade unions with 336,250 members (mostly in skilled occupations) reported 0'1 per cent, unemployed at the end of October, compared with 0'1 per cent, a month ago, and 0'1 per cent, a year ago. Tin plate.—The number of tin-plate mills working at the end of October showed no change from the previous month and an increase of 8 on a year ago. The number of mills making steel and galvanised sheets working at the end of Octobi r showed a decrease of 1 as compared with September and an increase of 3 on a year ago. Nuts. Bolts, Nails, etc.—With makers of nuts, bolts, nails, rivets, spikes, etc., employment continued good. Tubes.—Employment continued good. Wire.—Employment continued good on the whole, but a little short time was worked owing to shortage of mateiial. Result of Trade Disputes.— Near Whitehaven an advance in the standard rate of wag* s was granted to hauliers, coal miners, etc. Near Mansfield a trade union man who had been transferred to night shift resumed day work. Near Dudley work was resumed after certain colliery workers had been prosecuted and fined for neglect of work. In the Amman Valley work was resumed on old conditions, pending the Coal Contro.ler’s decision regarding an eight hours day for surfacemen. Near Glasgow the underground firemen demanded an advance in wages to a uniform rate ; also recognition of workmen’s representatives. The demands were granted at one colliery; at others work was resumed on previous conditions. At iron ore mines in Cumberland some of the men refused to work with winding enginemen who had formed a trade union independent of the miners and kindred trades associa- tion, and refused to lower miners at a mine where an enginenmn had been dismissed. Asa result the miners and kindred trades association continues to be the recognised organisation, and enginemen .pay up arrears of contributions to that association. Wages—In Leicestershire the enginemen. firemen, mechanics, etc. (steam section men) received an increase of 11 Jd. per day in present wages, 8d. of this amount to be deemed an inci ease in the standard rates reckoned on the basis of 1911. The mechanics’ and shopmen’s section (time workers) in the same area received an increase of 8^d. per day in present wages, 6d. of this amount to be deemed an increase in the standard ra’es reckoned on the basis of 1911, and the lowest rates paid after the addition now made to be deemed the minimum rates for competent men 21 years and over. The piece workers received an increase of 10 per cent, on present rates, 7 per cent, of which is to be deemed an increase on the basis rate of 1911. The enginemen and stokers in the Radstock mining district received an increase of 9d. per day on the basis rate, and their nominal working time was reduced from 68 hours per week to 58. A number of increases, some under the sliding scale, occurred in pig iron manufacturing. Fatalities.—The fatalities in mines numbered 94, compared with 105 in September, and 98 a a ear ag