1144

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

November 29, 1918.

Federation has had under consideration a report as to
differences between the Coke Oven Men’s Association and
the members of the Federation at Coedely Colliery, and
it was decided to bring the question before the Miners’
Federation of Great Britain. From the Rhondda came
a request that the council would take steps to secure
abolition of the requirement that 14 days must be given
for terminating contracts, but the council decided against
the idea. The question of income tax on wages was
raised, and a sub-committee was appointed in order to
secure uniformity throughout the coal field in the matter
of making abatements from the income tax. It was ’
decided to accept employees of Guest, Keen and Com-
pany’s washeries as members of the Federation. The
question of rates of pay to workmen at Llanover Colliery
engaged on a new system of mechanical haulage was
postponed till the next meeting. Upon an application
from employees at Nant Wen and South Tunnel collieries
for permission to tender notice because of a price list
dispute, it was resolved that an endeavour should be made
first to effect a settlement, and Mr. E. Morrell was
appointed to assist the local miners’ agent.

Scotland.

The claim from Hamilton Palace Colliery that when a
miner is taken from the coal face to replace a driver who
may be absent for a day his wage should not be less than
that earned at his own occupation was discussed by the
Lanarkshire Coal Trade Disputes Committee. The opinion
was expressed from the employers’ side that the claim was
a reasonable one and -ought in all instances to be allowed.

At Thankerton Colliery, Holytown, organisation was at
a low ebb when the scheme was inaugurated for re-
munerating medical practitioners who attended the
dependants of colliery workers. Both parties have now
agreed to a mutually satisfactory scheme which is to be
put into operation forthwith.

The Lothian Miners’ Board protested against the scheme
by which the houses presently in course of erection by
the Haddington County Council are proposed to be leased
to coal owners in the Tranent District.

All the limestone miners at Cults Pitlessie have now
joined the Fife Miners’ Association. The wages of the
men are not up to the level of the coal miners, but efforts
are to be made to get the wages increased.

At a joint committee meeting held recently with the
Cumberland Colliery Enginemen’s Association and the coal
owners, the men’s representatives succeeded in establish-
ing a claim for extra pay during the week-ends for loco-
motive men, power station men and boiler firemen
working in connection with coke plants. The increased
rates are time and a quarter from 2 p.m. on Saturday
until 6 a.m. on Monday. The award affects men working
at the Moresby, Oughterside, Harrington and Ladysmith
collieries.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE.
CHANCERY DI VISION.—November 27.

Before Mr. Justice Astbury.

Colliery Machinery Agreement.

Re British Red Ash Collieries Limited.—The Couft
decided a motion. The matter arose in connection with
a dispute over certain mining machinery of the Duffryn
Llantit Colliery, which had been sold by the receiver.
The motion was by Lady Elizabeth Margaretta Morgan,
Hendrescythan House, who asked that an enquiry should
be made as to her interest in the machinery under an
agreement for a lease of the colliery. The motion was
dismissed, with costs.

KING’S BENCH DI VISION.—November 25.

Before Mr. Justice Rowlatt.

A Broken Contract.

Whitaker Limited v. Bowater Limited.—This special
case, stated by arbitrators, raised a question as to the
measure of damages for breach of contract. The appel-
lants bought coal from the respondent under a contract
by which the coal was to be delivered in instalments over
a period of 12 months. The appellants broke their con-
tract to accept the coal, and a dispute arose as to the
measure of damages. The appellants admitted that they
ought to pay the sum which would have represented the
actual profit which the respondents would have made if
the coal had been duly accepted, but the respondents
claimed more. They said that to carry out their con-
tract with the appellants they had themselves entered
into a contract with a coal merchant, named Beswick,
and that when the appellants refused to take delivery
they had to cancel their contract with Beswick, and had
to pay him damages for doing so; and they claimed the
right to add to their own damages against the appellants
the whole amount which they had been obliged to pay to
Beswick.

Mr. Justice Rowlatt said that the difficulty of the case
lay not in any obscurity of the law, but in the confusion
in which the parties had allowed themselves to be in-
volved before the arbitrators. The contract was one for
the sale of a quantity of coal slack, and when it was
broken there was no market for the coal. If there had
been a market, the measure of damages would have been
the difference between the market price and the contract
price. The price that the vendors had paid for the coal
would have been quite immaterial. Though the parties
and the arbitrators had stated their position in a very
confused way, he thought that in substance the arbitrators
meant to find that the respondents had resold the coal
to Beswick, and in doing so had acted reasonably and
had done the best that could be done for all parties. He
therefore gave judgment for the full amount of the claim.

Leave to appeal was given.

THE TIN-PLATE TRADE.

Liverpool.

The tone of the market is quite firm, and the official
maximum price, at present about 32s. 6d. per basis box,
net cash, f.o.t. at works for coke finish, is freely pa’d for all
descriptions. Makers are booked up for several weeks
ahead, and until the Government intentions are known, are
not very anxious sellers ; of course, all orders are accepted
only subject to the advance clause, a further official rise in
bars being anticipated. Coke wasters in large sizes are
exceedingly scarce, but small sizes are at a slight discount.
Blackplate is rather quiet, but ternes are in better demand
at round <£29 10s. per ton basis, net f.o.t. at works.

News has been received that a strike has been declared
in the Upper Silesian coal districts. Vorwaerts says
Germany is faced with a coal famine.

Notes from the Coal Fields.

TLocal Correspondence.]

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

Singular Coal Shipping Case—Mr, J. Hodge, M.P., v.
Steel Makers’ Policy—Mr. Brace, M.P., Retires from
Under-Secretaryship at Home Office—Railway Control
to Continue — Anthracite Demonstrations — Parlia-
mentary Candidates—Coal for Workmen.

At Swansea, on Monday, more than 30 summonses came
on for hearing against Harries Brothers and Company.
Nineteen of these were that, being the owners of the steam-
ship “ Kingsley,” they had unlawfully received rates of
freight in excess of the maximum for carriage of coal to
French ports. Twelve of the summonses were in respect
of failure to deliver to the Shipping Controller within 14
days a copy of charter contracts in respect of the ship-
ping. A plea of guilty was tendered in respect of 24 of
the summonses, and defendants offered to refund the whole
of £13,192 received in excess. The Bench decided that,
in view of this undertaking to refund the excess, they
would not inflict the maximum penalty. They, however,
imposed a fine of £100 on each of the 24 charges against
Mr. Owen Harries, and ordered also that each defendant
should pay £400 costs.

It was stated during the hearing that under action taken
in 1916, by ship owners voluntarily, certain conditions
obtained. Down to September 1917 defendants honour-
ably observed that undertaking, but on September 10,
1917, they raised the freights to France above the rates
which had been fixed, namely, 24s. for coal and 50s. for
general cargo. In addition to being ship owners, defend-
ants were interested in the firm of coal exporters,
and on September 10 the exporters wrote to a French
firm which held a licence to import coal for the
French Government, stating that, after pleading hard
with Messrs. Harries as owners of the s.s. “ Kingsley,”
they had persuaded them to give them the steamer, which
was then engaged in carrying general cargo, at freights
equivalent to 51s. 3d. per ton. At that time there was
no legal sanction of the agreement which the local ship
owners had entered into, and therefore there were no
summonses with regard to that action, though several
cargoes of coal were carried at the 51s. 3d. rate. But in
February 1918, an Order was made under the Defence of
the Realm Regulations limiting the rate of freight by law,
and on February 11, the day that legal regulations came
into operation, Mr. Owen Harries, on behalf of his firm,
agreed that he would accept, not 24s. a ton as laid down
in the Order for coal, but 48s. a ton. In all 13 voyages
were subsequently made by the “ Kingsley,” and defend-
ants had altogether received in excess £13,192, though
only £8,213 after the legal regulation was made. Early
in September of this year information reached the Ship-
ping Controller, and Mr. Owen Harries saw the Con-
troller’s representative, expressed real contrition, placed
himself unreservedly in the hands of the Controller, and
said that the firm were prepared to refund the differences
and make contribution to any charity he might name.
It was urged by counsel on behalf of defendants that as the
vessel, before being transferred to coal carriage, was earn-
ing a higher rate of freight defendants did not and could
not benefit by the transactions; and it was submitted also
that whatever was done the French Government, greatly
in need of coal, was equally guilty. It was not to the
profit of the defendants to get the business, but it was
at that time to the interest of France. The Bench decided
as already stated.

During the visit to Cardiff and Newport of Mr. J. Hodge,
Minister of Pensions, a special meeting convened by the
Iron and Steel Confederation was addressed by .him, and
in the course of his remarks he argued that there should
be only one trade union for one industry. The analogy
he traced was the unifying of control during the war when
Marshal Foch was appointed as the one working head of
all the armies. If workmen were to do their full part
in rebuilding and reconstruction, one of the ways in which
it could be best accomplished was to unite in one union.
Several unions weakened the cause of the men, for each
separately did not know which way the others would go,
and employers played off one union against another. They
themselves had experienced the advantage of four unions
becoming one body. Previously these were going in
different directions. They had seen their membership
increase from 50,000 to 100,000. Moreover, it was an
advantage to employers when they made a bargain to
know that it was made for men who spoke with one voice
and had one policy and one determination. The men also
wanted to have a larger voice in the management of
industry. Twenty years ago he tried to introduce an
eight hour day, but the men looked at the money aspect.
Industrial history had since taught them that a curtail-
ment of the hours of labour aided increase of wages, and
this had been proved in South Wales during the past
10 years. Mr. Hodge advocated technical education, so
that a man might take an interest in his craft. The steel
worker should understand the principles of combustion,
the structure of 'the furnace, what effect air had on the
furnace, the reason for putting limestone, etc. At one
time when he had suggested to employers that they should
discuss the question of technical education, his suggestion
was set aside. A big union could do big things. So long
as there was an idle furnace, no foreign steel should come
into this country. For the good of the country it was
doubly essential now that Capital and Labour should work
hand in hand.

At another meeting which he attended, Mr. Hodge,
paying a tribute to the South Wales employers, said they
had been more amenable to the claims of the workmen
than employers had been in other parts of the country.

Much importance is attached to the indication that con-
trol of the railways will be continued by the Government
after the war, for it is evident that the greatly increased
wage rate and cost of materials could be continued by
railways independently only if the charges were con-
siderably increased. Already dock charges in respect of
coal and other traffic at the South Wales ports have been
very heavily advanced, and the danger was that similar
advance would take place in respect of railway carriage.
How far freighters will be safeguarded under Government
control remains to be seen. Early steps will, of course,
be taken to ensure that their interests are properly safe-
guarded.

Further efforts are being made to secure wider use of
anthracite, demonstrations of its value as household fuel
being made in different directions-—one more in Bristol
during the current week at a local hotel.

Sir Leonard Llewellyn, who gave up the general manage-
ment of the Cambrian Combine collieries in order to serve
in the Ministry of Munitions, is the adopted candidate for
the Pontypool Division in the Conservative interest,
unanimous invitation having been extended to him. His

Liberal opponent is Mr. McKenna, M.P., whilst Mr. T.
Griffiths, of the Steel Workers’ Union, is the Labour
nominee.

Mr. Brace (Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs)
informed a meeting of the Abertillery electors—he being
the unopposed Labour candidate for that division—that
he felt himself unable to continue in the Ministry. The
conference - of the Labour Party had decided by a great
majority to call upon Labour members of the Government
to resign; and as it did not appear to him to be sound
democratic doctrine that they should demand representa-
tion at the Peace Conference and at the same time refuse
to take responsibility in the Government, for a time he
had been doubtful whether he ought to observe the con-
ference decision and resign. In the circumstances he
thought it just possible that he might continue as Labour
Minister in the Labour Government until peace terms had
been settled, and then resign and take up his work as
president of the South Wales Miners’ Federation and
Member of Parliament; but he had been forced to the
conclusion that if he adopted that course it would not
be helpful to the nation, as no Labour Minister can do
his best work without the sympathetic work of his
colleagues and the class he represented.

A fine of £10, with 20 guineas costs, was imposed at
Pontypool upon the Blaendare Colliery Company for fail-
ing to furnish certain returns to the Coal Controller.

The heavy demand for coal and the present congested
state of the docks foreshadow still greater changes in
the coal trade in the immediate future. The enormous
demand of the Admiralty for coal ceases by a reversion
to something more nearly approaching the normal. The
system of convoying merchantmen has ended, thus re-
ducing coal consumption, and with that reduction has
gone the delays and hindrances which convoy entailed,
so that vessels can now make more speedy voyages with
less consumption of fuel. To this increase of available
tonnage we must now begin to reckon a steady addition,
month by month, of new craft, both British and foreign,
supplemented, as these will be to a large extent, by vessels
put under repair, vessels released from the Baltic and
the Black Sea, and others. This is as to shipping alone.
The other factor is the enhanced output from the mines,
as the release of 100,000 miners from the Army takes
effect.

In view of the very prominent part taken by H.M.S.
“ Cardiff ” in the surrender of the German fleet, members
of the Coal Exchange in the great South Wales port have
decided to signalise the incident in some permanent form;
and Mr. T. J. Callaghan, president of the Chamber of
Commerce,.has intimated that he and other members will
present to the officers’ mess a piece of plate in commemora-
tion of the event. It will be remembered that the vessel,
towing a kite balloon, led the escorting flotilla through the
13 miles of Allied warships.

The South Wales representatives who attended the
national joint conference with the Coal Controller on the
question of an eight-hour day for surface workers, were :
For the employers, Messrs. Evan Williams, B. Nicholas
and Hugh Bramwell, with the secretary, Mr. Gibson; and
for the workmen, Messrs. J. Winstone, Vernon Harts-
horn, and George Barker.

With regard to the Parliamentary candidature of Mr.
Vernon Hartshorn for the Ogmore District, it was an-
nounced at a meeting in Bridgend that a telegram had
come from headquarters to the effect that the Prime
Minister did not approve of opposition to Mr. Hartshorn.

The Labour candidate for the Parliamentary Election of
South Cardiff is Mr. J. T. Clatworthy, who is one of the
agents of the Coal Trimmers’ Union.

The joint committee of employees of the Powell Duffryn
Company has considered a report from a deputation which
waited upon the company’s agent in regard to alleged
short supply of house coal for the workmen. It was stated
that the company is making every endeavour to remedy
the grievance, but it was pointed out that some of the
miners had had to wait seven or eight weeks for coal for
domestic purposes. Proposition was made to stop work
immediately until the grievance had been remedied, but
finally it was decided to postpone drastic action for two
months.

Owing to the difficulty in securing space for miners now
being discharged from the Army, several members of the
South Wales Federation council brought a question before
the executive meeting and complained that efficient steps
were not being taken at the collieries to extend the areas
of working so as to absorb the discharged sailors and
soldiers promptly. It was resolved that Mr. T. Richards,
M.P., general secretary, should make request for a special
meeting of the Conciliation Board at an early date, in
order that the whole matter of the return of discharged
men should be gone into with their previous employers;
and the executive further resolved that endeavour should
be made to secure a grant of at least £5 for every man
upon demobilisation.

Northumberland and Durham.

A Pitwood Case—Sir Hugh Bell on Saving—Returns
Wanted—Tub Fatality—Powder and Precaution—
Shot Fir er Fined — Municipalities and Electrical
Power.

Newcastle magistrates last Friday fined Messrs. Osbeck
and Company, Newcastle, £50 and costs for having con-
travened the Pitwood Order, 1918, by offering to sell to
the Moira Colliery Company, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, home-
grown pit props at a price exceeding the maximum fixed
by the Order. The Moira Colliery Company was similarly
penalised for having offered to buy the props. Mr. H.
Ingledew, prosecuting on behalf of the Board of Trade,
explained that, for the purposes of the Order, the country
was divided into districts. No wood could be moved from
one district to another without the sanction of the Timber
Controller. It was an offence to sell or offer to sell, or
buy or offer to buy, at any price above the maximum
fixed. In October Messrs. Osbeck applied for a permit
to move certain pitwood at prices which greatly exceeded
the maximum. Later, they reduced the prices and made
a second application for a permit. Their original prices,
as compared with the maxima, were : 4 in. props, 40s.,
as compared with 32s.; 6 in., 80s., as against 63s.; 7 in.,
100s., as against 80s.,; 5 in., 60s., as against 47s.; and
6^ in., 90s., as against 72s. Mr. H. Temperley, for Messrs.
Osbeck, stated that the props were more suitable for the
needs of the Moira Company than for this part of the
country, and if Messrs. Osbeck sold at the controlled
prices they would have had a heavy loss. After the
necessary expenditure the profit was most trifling. The
Controller was simply asked to grant permission to sell
at the prices quoted, and the offence was only technical.
Mr. T. A. B. Forster, for the Moira Company, said that,
owing to a lack of timber, there was a danger of his
clients’ colliery having to close down; therefore they sent
out inquiries for props. When the Controller refused to