February 14, 1913.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

343

use for reducing hygrometer readings would be
useful.

The report of the Parliamentary Joint
Select Committee on Gas Authorities (Residual
Products), together with the minutes of evidence,
has been issued as a Blue Book.

A serious shaft accident occurred on the
7th inst. during sinking operations at the new
Ruffbrd Colliery, Rainworth, near Mansfield. A
water barrel was overwound, and being discon-
nected from the rope, fell to the bottom of the
shaft, killing 14 men and injuring four others.
The inquest will be held at Mansfield on March 5.

The report made by Sir George Askwith,
Chief Industrial Commissioner to the Board of
Trade, on the Industrial Disputes Investigation
Act of Canada, 1907, has been issued as a
Parliamentary Paper [Cd. 6603]. The main
conclusions of the report are that the forwarding
of the spirit and intent of conciliation is the
more valuable portion of the Canadian Act
(which is known as the Lemieux Act;, and that
an Act on these lines, even if the restrictive
features which aim at delaying stoppage until
after enquiry were omitted, would be suitable
and practicable in this country.

The Home Secretary yesterday received a
deputation from the Miners’ Federation of Great
Britain in regard to the new Regulations.

During the present week, the Railways Bill
has been considered in Committee in the House
of Commons. Owing to strong expressions of
opinion, the President of the Board of Trade
consented to the insertion of a new clause
limiting the application of the Bill at the will of
Parliament.

A memorandum has been issued by the Home
Office containing certain modifications of the
Safety Lamp Test, mainly in regard to the scale
of fees and the testing of glasses.

Of the total exports of coal during January,
the mean value of the large coal exported was
15s. 0*7d. ; through-and-through (unscreened)
coal, Ils. 8 08d.; and small coal, 10s. 0’9d. The
average value of all kinds of coal exported was
13s. 5 4d., an increase of 4’9d. as compared
with the preceding month. Otherwise divided,
it fetched the following values:—Steam coal,
13s. 8 8d.; gas coal, Ils. 7*09d. ; anthracite,
16s. 4*8d.; household coal, 12s. 7’4d.; and other
sorts of coal, 12s. 5 2d. The value of the coke
exported was 18s. ll’9d. per ton, and of the
manufactured fuel 16s. l’5d. per ton.

A meeting of the Board of Conciliation for
the Coal Trade of Monmouthshire and South
Wales was held at Cardiff on Monday. The
meeting was held to consider a proposal from
the workmen’s representatives that there should
be an advance of 2i per cent, in the general
wage rate, and also a proposal from the owners’
representatives that there should be a reduction
of 1J per cent. The Board were unable to agree,
and the meeting was adjourned until Monday
next, in order that Lord St. Aldwyn, the inde-
pendent chairman, might attend and give his
casting vote.

A special meeting of the Scottish Coal Trade
Conciliation Board was held on Monday, Sheriff
Glegg presiding. The meeting was called for
the purpose of considering a question of inter-
pretation of the rules. Sheriff Glegg decided in
favour of the coalowners. It has been arranged
to hold another meeting of the Conciliation
Board in Glasgow on Monday next.

The result of the ballot on the centralisation
scheme for the South Wales Miners’ Federation,
the main feature of which is the abolition of
existing districts, was made known at Cardiff
this week. The figures show a majority of
19,090 against the scheme. The figures were—
against the scheme, 41,691; for the scheme,
22,601.

At a meeting of the Manchester Geological
and Mining Society, on Tuesday, an important
paper by Mr. G. W. T. Anderson on “ Colliery
Cables ” was read.

A meeting of the South Staffordshire Institute
will be held on Monday at Birmingham.

An application was made on Wednesday on
behalf of the plaintiff in the action Roberts v.
George Watkinson and Sons, which was tried at
the Wrexham County Court by Judge Moss for
an extension of time in which to give notice of
appeal. The case came before the county court
judge to decide the question of what were
“ fast ends ” in a mine and what were “ throughs”
and other things of that sort. The judge
decided against the plaintiff. It was decided
that on the plaintiff depositing £10 as security
for costs in the appeal, the time would be
extended, as applied for, till to-morrow.

A meeting of the members of the North of
England Institute of Mining and Mechanical
Engineers was held in the Wood Memorial Hall,
Newcastle, on Saturday. A paper on “The
Jherria Coalfield (India) and its Future Develop-
ment ” was read by Mr. George Harold
Greenwell.

A meeting of the Mining Institute of Scotland
was held on Saturday in the Heriot-Watt College,
Edinburgh. Mr. C. J. Wilson, Heriot - Watt
College, read a paper on “An Investigation
into the Influence of Variations of Atmospheric
Pressure on Gas Caps.” A paper was also read
by Mr. Henry Briggs, Heriot- Watt College,
Edinburgh, on “ Improvements relating to the
Anemometer and Hygrometer.” Mr. Briggs also
showed a chart which he had evolved in the
belief that something of the nature of a simple
chart to take the place of the tables in common

We publish to-day the first of
The Coal	two articles upon the coal

Industry of industry of India, written by
India,	Sir R. P. Ashton, who is

eminently capable of throwing
light upon this important subject. In India
there are so many forces at work acting and
reacting upon each other, that it is extremely
difficult to obtain a clear conception at any time
of the true position of an industry possessing so
many ramifications.

The effect of these influences was admirably
discussed by Sir Thomas Holland, formerly
Director of the Geological Survey of India, in
a paper read before the Indian section of the
Royal Society of Arts on April 27, 1911,
entitled “ The Trend of Mineral Development in
India.”*

In the present paper Sir R. P. Ashton deals
with the growth of the coal industry, and
shows how, within a period of 27 years (1881 to
1908), the annual output rose from about one
million tons to nearly 13 million tons. The
output dropped about one million tons in the
following year as a result of the “ boom,” but
this drop has since been recovered. The history
of the change in the tenure of mineral property
which resulted from the “ permanent settle-
ment ” of Lord Cornwallis’s Government in
1793,by which “the coal which Lord Cornwallis
treated with contemptuous neglect, passed with
the land to the ‘ zemindars,’ or collectors of land
taxes,” and so became lost to the nation, is
deeply interesting. But this was not the worst,
for, as Sir R. P. Ashton says, the “ ‘ zemindars ’
had made before the settlement, and since,
innumerable grants of villages or parts of
villages to Brahmin priests, cooks, dancing girls

* Colliery Guardian, May 26,1911.

and dependants,” and in many of these cases
such grants carry mineral rights. The danger
of this deplorable policy was uncompromisingly
exposed by Sir Thomas Holland in the paper
referred to above—“ I would more readily grant
the power of life and death to an administration
than freedom in disposing of its minerals.”

The exportation of coal from India began
about 1889, and in 1891 reached 137,000 tons.
In 1896 it was 574,000 tons, in 1901 it was
1,995,000 tons, in 1905 it was 2,767,000 tons, and
the exports of coal from Calcutta for the
12 months ended March 31, 1911, are given as
2,991,697 tons.

Sir R. P. Ashton shows that the coal trade of
India has developed in direct proportion to the
facilities of transport, but that the latter now
show signs of failing. “ The railways are
blocked with traffic and short of wagons, and
the scarcity of steamer space has forced up
freight from Calcutta to Bombay to Rs. 8/8
(Ils. 4d.) per ton—more than double what it was
a few years ago.”

The serious condition of the merchandise
traffic in India is a matter of common knowledge,
and we have referred to it in our columns on
several occasions. It is full time that effective
action was taken, for the condition cannot
remain stationary, and must otherwise assuredly
become worse. The welfare of India is so
closely woven with that of England, that any
check placed upon the national growth of her
industry and commerce must inevitably react
upon ourselves.

On Saturday in last week the
The Invention South Leicestershire colliery
of the officials at Coalville were fortu-
Safety Lamp, nate in having the opportunity
of listening to an instructive
and interesting lecture by Prof. Cadman on
“ The Invention of the Safety Lamp, with a
special reference to the Life of Sir Humphry
Davy.”

Following the recommendation of the Royal
Commission on Mines, Parliament enacted in the
Coal Mines Act, 1911 (Section 33), that only
safety lamps of a type for the time being
approved by the Secretary of State may be
used after January 1, 1913. Prof. Cadman
pointed out that it is 80 years since Mr.
Littleton, M.P. for Stafford, presented a
petition to Parliament in which he prayed, on
behalf of the coalowners and miners, for a
scientific board to examine all lamps intended to
be offered for sale as safety lamps, and to direct
the stamping of the same when approved, and
to prohibit the use of any safety lamp not
approved. It is indeed extraordinary how slow
the authorities in this country have been to
recognise the importance of the safety lamp
which since its introduction into coalmines has
done so much to minimise the risk.

There are many names, however, besides that
of Sir Humphry Davy, which were intimately
associated with the introduction of the safety
lamp, such as George Stephenson, Dr. Clanny,
Dr. Murray, Dr. Grey, the Rev. John Hodgson,
and Mr. John Buddle ; and although Sir
Humphry Davy actually invented the lamp
which goes by his name, he is not entitled to all
the praise. In fact, it has never been con-
clusively proved that the claim to priority made
for George Stephenson by the Brandlings
was unfounded—the popular impression being
mostly derived from Paris’s Life of Davy,
which was, undoubtedly, not free from bias.
Be the truth as it may, the actual fact of priority
is a mere matter of detail from a humanitarian
point of view, and the world’s gratitude is due to
all those who have laboured for the protection