December 13, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1253

MEAN MAGNETIC DECLINATION at Kew Observatory, Richmond, in Degrees and Minutes, for each Two-hour Interval
in the Week December I to 7, 1918.

	Magnetic character.	Intervals—Hours G.M.T.												
		0h.-2h.  14° +	2h.-4h.  14° +	4h.-6h.  14° +	6h.-8h.  14°+ i  i	8h.-10h. 14° +	10h.-12h.  14° +	12h.-14h.  14° +	14h.-16h.  14° +	16h.-18h.  14° +	18h.-20h.  14° +	20h.-22h.  14° +	22h.-24h. Mean for day.	
													14° +	14° +
		Min.	Min.	Min.	1  Min.	Min.	Min.	Min.	Min.	Min.	Min.	Min.	Min.	Min.
Sun., Dec. 1	2	45’0	46’0	47’5	47’0	46’0	48’5	50’5	50’5*	43’0*	39’5*	33’0*	36’0*	45’5
Mon., ,,	2	0	44’0	47’5	47’0	46’0	45’5	47’0	48’5	48’0	47’0	45 ’ 5	44’5	45’5	46’5
T<ues., „	3	1	46’5	46’5	46’5	46’5	48’0	51’5	50’0	52’0	49’0	45’5	;	39’5	42’5	47’0
Wed., „	4	0	45’0	46’0	45’5	45’5	46’0	48’0	48’0	48’5	47’5	45’5	43’5	44’5	46’0
Thurs., ,,	5	0	45’5	45’5	45’5	45’0	46’0	47’5	47’5	47’0	46’5	45’5	45’0	45’0	!	46’0
Friday, „	6	0	45’5	46’0	46’0	!	45’5	46’0	48’0	47’5	47’0	46'5	46’5	45'5	45’0	1	46’5
Sat.,	„	7	2	46’0	45’5	45’5	45’0	47’0	47’5	48’5	48’5	49’5 i	40’5*	40’0*	■38’0* ‘	45’0
														Mean value for
Diurnal i n e-		Ih. 2h.	3h.	4h.	5h.	6h.	7h.	8h.	9h. lOh.	llh. 12h.	13h. I4h.	15h. 16h.	17h. 18h.	19h. 20h.	21h. 22h.	23h. 24h.	month.
quality (i.e., Dec. 1917		-0’7 -0’8	-0’6 -0’3	-0’5 -0’7	-1’1 -1’8	-2’6 -1’3	+ 0’5 +2’2	+ 3’6 +3’6	+ 3’0 +2’0	+ 0’8 +0’3	0’0 -0’5	-1’3 -1’8	-1’2 -0'8	14° 55'’5 Dec. ’17
departure from No	v.1918	-0’9 -0’6	-0’3 -0’2	-0’9 -1’3	-1’4 -1’6	-1’6 -0’1	+ 2’4 +4’3	+ 4’4 +3’8	+ 2’9 +2’1	+ 1'0 -0’1	-0’9 -1’6	-2'4 -2'6	-2’6 -1'8	14° 46" 9 Nov.’18
mean value for Nov. 1917		-0’9 -1'0	-0’6 -0’3	-0’7 -1’2	-1’9 -2’8	-2’9 -1’5	+ 1’4 +3’1	+ 3’3 4-3’2	+ 2’8 +2’0	+ 0’8 +0’3	0’0 -0’1	-0’7 -0’9	-0'8 -0’9	!4° 56'’6 Nov.’17
day)														

The day is counted from Oh. (midnight) to 2lh. (milnight) G.M.T. Character “ 0” means a day wholly free from any but small disturbances. Character “ 133 means a day
part or all of which is moderately or considerably disturbed. Character “ 233 means a day p irt or all of which is highly disturbed.

The normal value for an hour is the mean declination for that hour in the month, derived from quiet days only, or from all days excluding those of character “2.33 On a day of
character “ 03' declination at any hour will usually be within about 3' of the normal. On a day of character 133 the departure from the normal will usually not exceed 5', but it may
occasionally be as much as 10', or even more. On a day of character “2” the departure from the normal will seldom exceed 20', but departures of 30' or even on extreme occasions
of 1° or more may occur.

The above values were obtained from measurements made after “ smoothing33 the curves.

* Large disturbances during this interval.	Meteorological Office, Deccu-ber 11.

Notes from the Coal Fields.

[Local Correspondence.]

Admiralty Prices—Household Supplies—Profits on An-
thracite—Election Holiday—Miners from the Army—
Conciliation Board Chairmanship — Coal Exporters'
Organisation.

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

Much dissatisfaction has been caused by the Admiralty
paying prices lower than the figures stated in the Con-
troller’s schedule; and negotiations were entered upon,
through a committee of salesmen, with the result that the
Admiralty made a concession, although even under the
new agreement the Government still obtain their coal at
a rate below that .fixed in the schedule. The salesmen
submitted their case, and negotiations have ended in an
arrangement that certain advances in the prices will be
made retrospective. The increase allowed will be on
transactions from January 1 to June 23, 3s. per ton in-
crease ; from June 24 to 30, 2s. 6d. ; from July 1 to August
31, 2s. per ton; and 6d. per ton as from September 1. This
latter item is chiefly to cover the extra cost incurred
through the advance of tipping and weighing charges by
the dock companies. The Admiralty paid for best coals
only 33s. from January to June 23, and will pay from
September 1 onwards 38s., as compared with 40s. in the
Controller’s schedule. The new agreement will be subject
to three months’ notice of change on either side.

A notice issued by the secretary of the South Wales Coal
and Coke Supplies Committee states that the committee
is making every effort to ensure a proper supply of coal for
household purposes and also for works and railway con-
sumption during the next few weeks.

Speaking at the meeting of the Gwauncaegurwen Col-
liery Company on Friday, Mr. D. R. Llewellyn said that
that anthracite company was one of the very few which
had been able to keep going throughout the war on a con-
sistently profitable basis. Anthracite was not requisitioned
by the Government to the same extent as steel and coal.
The whole of the South Wales coal field comprises approxi-
mately 900 square miles, of which about 10 per cent, was
anthracite.

The South Wales coal owners had before them an appli-
cation from the Miners’ Federation that Saturday being
the day of the poll should be observed as a general holi-
day, and they have decided that in districts where a con-
tested election takes place such a holiday shall be granted.
Where no election takes place, however, it is decided that
the workmen shall work as usual owing to the shortage of
coal, seeing that their attendance at the polling stations
will not be required. The employers state that they
would make every effort to pay the men on Friday, the
13th, at those collieries where holiday is granted.

With regard to the work of Friday night, the Federa-
tion executive has arranged that the night men of all
collieries shall go in for the night shift.

Mr. T. Richards (secretary of the Federation) has issued
a notice to the miners, which states that, since making
arrangements to take a holiday on election day in those
divisions where contests exist, he had received a communi-
cation from the Coal Controller again calling attention
to the serious shortage in the supply of coal. Mr. Richards
therefore urges that there shall be full work on Friday
night, and that no colliery shall stop on Friday night
other than those necessary for election purposes.

Some hundreds of miners have already returned from
the Army to their homes in South Wales. They have not
yet been released from the Army, but are home on fur-
lough. They will have to report to their depots, but it
is understood that prompt release will be secured, and
that in a very short time the men will be returning at the
rate of at least 200 per day. These men are from France,
where enquiry is being made as to expert miners, and
arrangements pushed forward as to their being released
promptly.

Mr. F. L. Davis has intimated to the South Wales
Coal Owners’ Association his willingness to resign the
position of chairman of the Conciliation Board, and it is
said that among the reasons for his action is the changed
condition brought about through the control of wages by
the Government. Mr. Davis has occupied the chair for
14 years. His resignation is not positive, but he places
himself entirely in the hands of the members of the asso-
ciation.

It is announced that the new capital required by
North’s Navigation Company has received Treasury sanc-
tion, with the result that the ordinary shares of the
company will be increased from £600,000 to £1,050,000.
A few months ago the company took over an additional
3,000 acres of mineral area in the neighbourhood of Tondu,
and it is proposed to sink three pits upon this new taking,
and also to reopen the Park Slip Colliery. Contract has
been made also for the erection of new coke ovens and
by-product plant, and it is to these purposes that the new
capital will be applied.

With regard to the formation of a separate organi-
sation by South Wales coal exporters, it is to be noted
that arrangements are now practically complete. The

new body will be called the South Wales Coal Exporters’
Association Limited, and will include members from New-
port, Cardiff, Barry, Port Talbot, Swansea, and the smaller
places. The memorandum and articles of association have
been drafted, and among those who signify their inten-
tion to join the association are representatives of the chief
firms in the district. The necessity of safeguarding the
separate interests of coal exporters has been made manifest
over and over again during the war, and in the difficult
circumstances of reconstruction it is felt that a central
body, fully representative, can best deal with issues as
they arise affecting the interests of the exporters. A notice
has been posted on the Exchange by Mr. W. R. Hawkins,
secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, of a request to
exporters who desire to join the association to communi-
cate with him.

The congestion at South Wales docks has revived dis-
cussion as to the necessity for an increase of dock accom-
modation in the district. Largely, of course, the present
congestion is due to lack of coal—a difficulty which will be
removed as soon as more men return from the Army and
get directly into work. But it was felt even before the
war that need existed for increasing the available dock
accommodation, especially as the construction of docks
takes so long a time, and the prospect of increase in trade
amounts to practical certainty. Swansea is in a more
favourable position in this respect, having only in recent
years completed the great King’s Dock; and Newport
also is in a favourable position on account of its huge
new dock. Cardiff and Barry are not so well served, and if
they are to maintain their position as shipping ports, the
authorities will have to consider carefully the outlook for
the future and take necessary steps for meeting the demand
which must arise. Cardiff, it has long been seen, would
be served by the dockising of the whole estuary—a work
that was planned a generation ago, and which to-day
would be more easily accomplished because of the great
extension on the eastern side accomplished by the Cardiff
Railway Company during later years.

Mr. L. R. Lewis, the secretary of the Bristol Channel
Shipping and Coal Co-ordinating Committee, has taken
an important position under Messrs. Lysberg Limited, but
this will not. interfere with his work for the committee
nor with his superintendence of the coal stemming under
the Admiralty agents at Cardiff.

Employers of labour and representatives of the Employ-
ment Exchange, also of South Wales Education Com-
mittees, have met in Swansea as the outcome of a letter
which Mr. F. W. Gilbertson, of the Pontardawe works,
sent to the authorities suggesting co-operatiOn between
employers and themselves with a view to securing improve-
ment in technical education. Mr. Gilbertson, who is vice-
president of the Welsh Plate and Steel Manufacturers’
Association and also of the Siemens Steel Asso-
ciation, is also a representative of the Welsh branch
of the Federation of British Industries. He explained that
this was an extensive organisation formed for better de-
velopment of British operations, and it was felt that there
must be co-operation between those who directed the
industry and commerce of the country and the education
authorities. The manufacturers of South Wales engaged
in the steel, copper, engineering, tinplate and other indus-
tries were prepared to bear their share of expense in
maintaining an office and a special representative who
would be a sort of education official. They desired that
he should be given facilities to attend meetings of the
education committees and, by permission, to take part
in discussion, so that the experience and opinions of
employers should find expression. Employers desired to
see better education generally, the workers to have higher
technical knowledge and insight into their work. Elemen-
tary education should take account of the needs of the
principal industries of a particular district. Financial
assistance might be expected by the education authorities
from the employers if the bond of union with the authori-
ties were established. Opportunities would thus be given
to young persons of special intelligence, very much greater
in the future than in the past. He hoped that the repre-
sentative of the employers would be Mr. John Rees, of
Llanelly, who ‘had great powers and ability and was
eminently fitted for the position. No resolution was
adopted.

Northumberland and Durham.

Dearer Colliery Stores—.1 Candidate's Proposals—Duke's
Donation — Election Matters — Fire at Throckley—
Household Coal Prices.

The Newcastle Daily Journa1, on Wednesday, contained a
detailed statement, said to be compiled from the books of
one of the largest firms of colliery proprietors in the North
of England, of the manner in which colliery stores, etc , had
increased in price since July 1914, thereby giving justifica-
tion, especially when considered along with labour,
transport and office increases, for advances in coal prices.
The following are typical instances of the increases:—Pit
props, advanced from 70s. per standard before the war, to
£37 10s. ; pit rails, from £5 9s. to £17 ; bar iron, from
£8 ’Os. to £14 12s. 6d.; “ T33 iron, from £7 10s. to
£15 10s.; shoe iron, from £8 to £14 12s. 6d.; locomotive
tyres, from £12 5s. to £45; nails, from between Ils. to 14s.

per cwt. to from 28s. to 32s.; tab sheets (iron), from
£6 12s. 6d. per ton to £22; white lead, from £24 10s. to
£50; brattice cloth, from 5jd. per sq. yd. to lid.; grease-
making oil, from £4 10s. per ton to £18 10s.; rape > il, from
£11 10s. to £28 10s. ; black oil, from £4 10s to £24 10s.;
lamp oil, from 21s. per cwt. to 50s.; other oils, from Is. lid.
per gal. to 3s. 3d. ; explosives, from 80s. per 100 lb. to 135s.;
detonators, from £5 18s. to £11 4s.; cement, from 39s. per
ton to 84s. 2d.; cart horses, from £60 to £150; ponies
(11 hands), from £18 to £36; oats, from 20s. 3d. per
quarter to 64s. 6d. ; and hay, from £4 per ton to £8.

Dr. T. M. Allison, a Newcastle medical man, who is
standing as British Workers’League candidate for Morpeth,
comes of mining stock, and has original views as to what
should be done with collieries and colliery villages.
Dr. Allison advocates that the Northumberland collieries
should combine and co-operate to pay a reasonable standard
dividend. Any surplus, after providing for depreciation,
redemption of capital and other proper deductions, should
be divided amongst the workers, as wages, and the public.
Then high or profiteering dividends would cease. Royalty
rents should be abolished over a just period, and if, for
example, Is. per ton be paid, a proportion should go to help
the poorer collieries to pay the standard dividend, and a
proportion should go towards wages and reduction of prices.
In fairness to the landowners who have hitherto legally
received the royalties, the change should be gradual. As
to miners’ dwellings, Dr. Allison thinks that they are no
credit to sanitation or civilisation, and suggests that belts
of land along both sides of our high roads should be
purchased as dwelling sites at one and a-half times the
agricultural value, and that on each one-eighth of an acre
a miner’s cottage should be erected, four together for
company’s sake. The ideal to be aimed at should be one-
eighth of an acre, a cottage and a goat—the latter for the
supply of non-tuberculous milk.

Keeping up the custom of his late father, the new Duke
of Northumberland las given £200 as a Christmas present
for the purchase of coals to be distributed amongst the
poorer families of Alnwick, each of whom will receive
half-a-ton.

A little controversy between Mr. John Cairns, financial
secretary of the Northumberland Miners’ Asssciation,
Labour candidate for Morpeth, and Mr. C. H. Meares, the
Unionist candidate, has added to the gaiety of the electors.
Mr. Cairns is reported as having said that Mr. Meares did
not know the difference between a “ jenkin ” and a
“stenton” (two local terms), and, therefore, was not a
suitable representative of a mining division. Mr. Meares
replied that coal mining was not the only form of mining,
and that, although he had little knowledge of coal mining,
he had a very wide experience in copper, oil, silver and
plumbago mining and, if Mr. Cairns were asked what
casing-head gas was or what the difference between azurite,
malachite and porphyry was, Mr. Cairns would probably be
unable to answer. Mr. Cairns has retorted by inviting
Mr. Metres to goto the district he understands and leave
the coal mining district to him (Mr. Cairns).

Mr. Wm. Straker’s December circular to the members of
the Northumberland Miners’ Association urges support for
the four miners’ candidates—Messrs. John Chapman, Wm.
Weir, Eb. Edwards and John Cairns, who are contesting
Parliamentary seats in the county. It is explained that,
the Federation having accepted financial responsibility for
three candidates only, Mr. Chapman is being financed
locally, but his candidature has been endorsed by the
Federation.

A fire at the Isabella Pit, Throckley, last Saturday,
resulted in practically the whole of the pitstead being
destroyed. The Derwent water pitstead, close by, was
threatened but escaped destruction. The foreshift men at
work in the Isabella Pit had to be brought out by another
shaft than that which they usually used. The pit has
been laid idle, and the men will be drafted to the Heddon,
Maria and Blucher Pits, to prevent any unnecessary
curtailment of output.

In response to an appeal sent out to colliery owners to
aid the Durham County Aged Mineworkers’ Homes
Association’s funds, the Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries
Company Limited has contributed £50. The South Moor
Colliery Company Limited has given £105, and has pro-
mised an annual subscription of £50.

At the 24th quarterly meeting of the members of the
Northern Colliery Officials’ Mutual Aid Association, the
general secretary (Mr. Robt. Nuttall) stated that four new
branches had been opened, with 120 members, making a
total of 53 branches and over 1,500 members. They would
close the year by having doubled their membership and
having added to their financial reserves. The meeting
decided to continue to press for the legal and associated
rights of the association.

At an inquest regarding a fatality in the Dean and
Chapter Colliery, Coroner John Graham commented with
satisfaction upon the fact that that colliery was well
equipped with ambulance appliances, and said that, if he
had his way, he would like to have it laid down that a
man should not work in a colliery unless he could show he