196

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

January 24, 1913.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—January 16.
Inspectors of Pit Ponies.

Mr. Butcher asked the Secretary of State for the Home
Department whether, in view of the fact that the Coal
Mines Act, 1911, passed into law on December 16, 1911, and
came into operation on July 1, 1912, and that no special
inspectors of pit ponies, as provided by that Act, have yet
been appointed, or at any rate had been appointed on
January 10, 1913, he will call for special reports from the
district inspectors of mines as to the treatment of pit
ponies during the year 1912, and the observance of the
regulations in relation to pit ponies contained in the Coal
Mines Act, 1911; and whether he will cause such special
reports to be laid upon the table of the House ?

Mr. McKenna replied: As I have stated in reply to
previous questions of the hon. member, the district
inspectors will report on this subject in their annual reports
for 1912, which they will shortly be preparing, and these
reports will be laid before Parliament. It would not be
right to take up time which the inspectors should be giving
to actual inspection by calling upon them to prepare special
reports on this subject in anticipation of their annual
reports.

January 20.

Mr. C. Bathurst asked whether, seeing that the exami-
nation for the special inspectorships, under the Mines Act,
1911, of horses in South Wales coalmines took place at
Cardiff on the 9th inst., the appointments have yet been
made: and, if so, whether he will state the names of the
persons appointed ?

Mr. McKenna said: I am informed by the Civil Service
Commissioners that all the candidates have passed the
examination, and that the medical and other enquiries will,
it is hoped, be completed in a day or two. On receipt of the
certificate of the Civil Service Commissioners, the appoint-
ments will be made at once.

Mr. Butcher then repeated his question asked on the
16th inst., and to this Mr. McKenna gave the same reply as
on the former occasion.

Mr. Butcher next asked if the right hon. gentleman would
give instructions to his inspectors to give as full information
as they can in their reports with regard to the care and
treatment of pit ponies and the observance of the
regulations ?

Mr. McKenna said he would certainly bear in mind what
the hon. member had suggested.

January 22.

The Eight Hours Act: Emergencies.

Mr. Hancock asked the Home Secretary whether his
attention has been called to the violations of the Coal
Mines (Eight Hours) Act at the Eastwood Collieries, Notts,
on various dates, but more especially on June 18 and 21,
when men were kept at work in the collieries eleven hours
in the one case and twelve hours in the other; and whether
he will have these cases enquired into ?

Mr. McKenna said: The matter has already been
engaging the attention of the inspectors. The management
explain that on the occasions referred to in the question
the men were detained under the exception in the Act
which allows emergencies or work uncompleted through
unforeseen circumstances to be dealt with in order to avoid
serious interference with the work of the mine; and state
that if the work had not been done the men in the following
shift would not have been able to work. It appears that
the conditions of the mine give rise to difficulties in working
the coal-cutting machines, but I am informing the manage-
ment that the exception can only be used where the delays
are unforeseen and not in cases where the conditions are
such as habitually to give rise to delays; in the latter cases
due allowance should be made for the occurrence of delays
when arranging the work in connection with the machines.
The inspectors will continue to give the matter their
attention.

North Staffordshire Institute of Mining and Mechanical
Engineers.—A general meeting of the members of this
institute will be held on Monday, January 27, 1913, in the
North Stafford Hotel, Stoke-on-Trent, at 5 p.m., when the
following paper will be read: “ Electricity: a short Paper
addressed to Colliery Managers,” by Mr. B. Nelson, H.M.
electrical inspector of mines. The following paper will be
discussed: “ Some Notes on Haulage Clips in Use in North
Staffordshire,” by Messrs. W. G. Salt and A. L. Lovatt.

9 Partnerships Dissolved.—The London Gazette announces
the dissolution of the following partnerships :—J. J. Martin
and G. C. Herridge, carrying on business as jobmasters,
livery stable keepers, removal contractors and coal mer-
chants, at Prospect-mews, St. Leonard's-road, Windsor,
under the style of Martin and Herridge; G. Rushton and
J. W. Parke, carrying on business as brass founders and
finishers, at Bolton-road, Darwen, under the style of George
Bushton; J. A. Bosher and B. S. Belsten, carrying on
business as electrical engineers and contractors, at Boot-
buildings, Market-street, Aberdare, under the style of the
Electrical Wiring and Accessories Company.

AMD OTHER MOTES.

The Scottish Miners' Federation have recommended
adoption of the colliery doctors' terms in connection with
National Insurance, as a national scheme. These terms
are: (1) That a flat rate be paid by all workers over 16
years of age, half-rate between 14 and 16; (2) that upon
the money being deducted at the colliery office it be
lodged in the bank in name of a committee of workers, who
would issue cheques and pay each doctor in accordance
with the proportion of persons paying for him; (3) the
workers to have absolutely free choice of doctor from the
panel; (4) the rate of payment proposed is l|d. per week
without medicine, or 2d. per week with medicine—to apply
as a national arrangement for Scotland.

Messrs. Head, Wrightson and Co. Limited, of Thornaby-
on-Tees, have recently received an important contract for a
considerable amount of structural work required in connec-
tion with a special shaft for goldmines in India. These
shafts will be circular, lined with concrete, the cross
girders of H section being placed at intervals with bearing
plates across the shafts. Four sets of rails, 32,000 ft. in
length, will be secured to these by means of special
machined plate sleepers and connected by fishplates which i
will also be machined to take the rail.

At the recent annual dinner of the Hickleton Main
Colliery Official Sick and Accident Dividing Society, Mr.
W. Wilde, chief of the management, made reference to the
condition of trade. He remarked that the tonnage at that
mine practically averaged 5,000 per day. A feature of the
past year was the keenness for work, and the amount of
coal yielded after the mining deadlock. On the very first
day after the strike the tonnage raised was 4,644 tons for
the day, which spoke well for the management, and for the
care which had been taken of the underground workings
during the crisis. The tonnage for the past year must be
approaching a million and a quarter tons.

Mr. Thomas Andrew Walker, goods manager of the Taff
Vale Bailway, has been appointed secretary to the company
in place of the late Mr. Edward Edwards.

At Linlithgow Sheriff Court last week, Peter Thornton,
colliery owner, was charged with having contravened the
Explosives Act by keeping in a store near Crofthead
Colliery, for sale, 100 lb. weight of gelignite and 45 lb.
weight of cheddite, said store being an unauthorised place
for the keeping of explosives. Mr. Thornton said it was
purely an oversight that the licence had not been renewed.
Being a small colliery owner, he had so many things to
attend to himself, and these duties were being increased by
legislation. Sheriff Macleod imposed a fine of 10s.

The monthly meeting of the West of Scotland branch of
the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers was held on
Saturday, January 18, in the Boyal Technical College,
Glasgow, when discussion was resumed on the papers read
by Mr. Campbell King on “The Electrification of a Group
of Small Collieries,” and by Mr. S. A. Simon, B.A.,
Glasgow, on “ Speed Control of Three-phase Motors.” Mr.
H. A. McGuffie, Glasgow, observed that the paper which
Mr. Simon had read was one of the best the branch had yet
received, as the author had been able to cover a very large
and interesting field. He thought, however, that if Mr.
Simon had dealt more fully with speed control of small
motors, say up to 150-horse power, the paper would have
been of greater interest to the branch. He was just afraid
that not many of their Scottish collieries were making use
of such large variable speed motors as mentioned by the
author. He thought, however, there was no doubt that in
Scotland there was an opening for speed control of small
three-phase motors.

Messrs, the Horden Collieries Limited, of Darlington,
who are now having installed at their Shotton Colliery,
near Castle Eden, Co. Durham, a battery of sixty Koppers
coke ovens, have recently placed with Messrs. Witting
Brothers Limited a contract for a washery plant capable of
dealing with 40 tons per hour and working during 20 hours
per day. In this washery, which will be supplied by
Messrs. Fr. Meguin and Co., of Dillingen, Bavaria, the coal
to be used will have a size of 1 in., the coal from fin. being
used as coking coal, and the remainder from f in. to 1 in.
as nut coal. The coal will be separated into these sizes
before washing, being then washed separately on washers;
the nuts will then be run into hoppers, whence they will be
loaded into railway wagons. The washed coking coal will
run into a series of eight draining coal hoppers, which will
be filled and emptied in rotation. The draining hoppers
will be provided with suitable draining appliances. From
these hoppers the coal will be brought by conveyors to the
disintegrators, thence to be finally raised into the coke
ovens. A somewhat new feature will be introduced into
this washery, which is to consist of separating the fine coal-
dust before washing, and treating it separately according to
the amount of dirt it contains. It will be possible to mix
the dust in an unwashed state with the fine coal in the
disintegrators or convey it into a separate dust socket,
whence the dust will be withdrawn into railway wagons.
An arrangement will also be made in the event of the dust
not being suitable, by means of which it may be sent away
with the washed out shale. The whole of the washing
machinery will be driven electrically, and the buildings will
be made partly of steel structure, and owing to the bad soil
the whole structure will be put on a ferro-concrete raft.

Lord Halifax, of Hickleton Hall, near Doncaster, has
come to the assistance of the South Yorkshire Coalfield's
Church Extension Scheme with an offer to build and
furnish a new church at Goldthorpe, a developing part of
the parish of Hickleton. A site convenient for the colliery
workers of Goldthorpe, Highgate and New Barnburgh has
been selected, and it is hoped that the church will be built:
and ready for use within a year.

The population of Featherstone having doubled whilst
the erection of houses has been practically at a standstill,,
the Urban District Council have taken the only step open,,
and decided to build houses under the provisions of the
Housing of the Working Classes Act. A scheme has been
approved by the Local Government Board for the erection
of 159 houses. The scheme, it is estimated, will cost
.£35,745, and the houses are to be erected on three different
sites on the outskirts of the village. The cottages are to be
similar in plan, but varied externally to avoid monotony.
The proposed rent is 6s. per week, and after allowing for
empties, it is estimated that the receipts will be £2,433 per
annum. The Urban Council are to repay the loan by equal
yearly or half-yearly payments of principal with interest on.
the balance outstanding. The new houses will form a garden
suburb. That they are badly required is shown by the fact
that the sanitary inspector of this colliery area (Mr. J.
Sagar), reports that of 389 houses visited by him, there-
was overcrowding in 205.

At a meeting of charterers at the Exchange, Newcastle,,
on the 17th inst., it was unanimously resolved that, having,
given full and careful consideration to the proposed,
coasting coal charter, it should be recommended to-
charterers to give the charter a fair trial from April 2 next..
It was also resolved to endeavour to arrange a meeting
with the fitters of collieries with the committees of the Coast-
ing, Mediterranean, and Baltcon Charters with a view to
adopting a uniform colliery guarantee.

The works of Messrs. Ernest Scott and Mountain Limited',
at Gateshead, have been purchased on behalf of Messrs.
C. A. Parsons and Co., of Heaton Works, Newcastle-on-Tyne,.
together with the more important portions of the plant and.
machinery and the goodwill. Owing to the large number
of enquiries received Jt>y Messrs. Parsons, and to some very
large contracts recently undertaken by them, the works-
will, in the first instance, be chiefly engaged in assisting^
their general manufactures, as well as continuing the-
business carried on by Messrs. Scott and Mountain.

In a Scottish law action by a tenant for damages in'
respect of alleged damage to furniture and goods owing to
mineral workings, and for loss due to the tenant not having
the full occupancy of the premises let to him, the sum.
claimed was £17 13s. 6d., and the Sheriff at Hamilton gave-
decree in the tenant's favour for £2 damages, and in the*
landlord's favour for £2 10s., on account of the rent due
The Sheriff stated there could be little doubt of the landlord's
liability up to a certain point, and he was liable in initial
damages. But in the second place he was not liable for
continuing damage. In remaining in -occupancy so long'
the pursuer was accepting the imperfect house and the
unfavourable conditions. The result, in the Sheriff's opinion,,
was that the tenant was entitled to some abatement of rent
in respect of beneficial occupation of part of the subjects
let, and that he was entitled to £2 for damage caused in
the early stages while the house was settling over tha-
workings. It was settled law that nothing could be-
allowed for inconvenience.

Mr. Walter Bourne has been appointed to succeed Mr. A..
Smith as under-manager in the Ellistown Colliery top seam.
Mr. J. C. Burdett succeeds Mr. M. D. B. Richardson, as-
manager of Nailstone Colliery. On leaving Granville
Colliery, where he had been under-manager for 16 years, he-
was presented with a testimonial, consisting of gold watch
and chain and fountain pen, with a gold brooch, set with
emeralds and pearls, for Mrs. Burdett.

One of the largest engine-houses for working compressed
air coal-cutting machines ever built in Lancashire has been
established at Lord Ellesmere's Ashton Field Colliery,
Walkden, near Manchester. Additional compressed air-
coal-cutting machinery, it is understood, is to be introduced
at other of his lordship's collieries in Manchester and
Bolton districts.

At the last meeting of the council of the Institute of
Metals it was announced that Sir Henry Wiggin, Bart.,,
a vice-president of the institute, found it necessary to-
resign his position owing to pressure of other duties. The
member of council selected for elevation to the vacant
vice-presidency is Mr. G. A. Boeddicker, of Henry Wiggin
and Co. Limited.

Beally good progress is at length being made towards
the town planning of the Doncaster area. It has now, at
an official conference, been definitely decided to town plan
the whole of the area in the Doncaster Union which is in
Yorkshire. This area will be divided into four or more
portions. No. 1 district will include the borough of
Doncaster, Balby, Wheatley, Bentley, Carr House and Elm-
field. The Corporation of Doncaster will be the applying
authority, and the final scheme is to be prepared by the
surveyors of the various authorities. No. 2 district includes
Bolton-on-Dearne and Thurnscoe urban districts, and the
first-named council will be the applying authority. They
will ask the Local Government Board for sanction to