February 28, 1913.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

439

town planning and borough extension will now, it is hoped,
proceed contemporaneously. All these developments are
being brought about entirely through the metamorphosis
which the collieries have produced. The next few years
will, it is said, give a colliery population around Doncaster
of 120,000. The extension of the borough is merely the
forerunner of Doncaster becoming a county borough, which
is felt locally to be a great desideratum.

A meeting of the Notts and Derbyshire branch of the
Association of Mining Electrical Engineers was held at the
University College, Nottingham, on Saturday, February 22
when the afternoon was devoted to a discassion on a paper
by Mr. E. Kilburn Scott, A.M.I.C.E , M.I.E.E., on Si Electric
Cables for Shafts of Mines.” Mr. E. E. Beadsmoor, of
Tibshelf (vice-president of the branch) was in the chair,
and the discussion was contributed to by Mr. F. Cue worth
(secretary of the branch), East Kirkby; Mr. J. Watson,
Loscoe; Mr. E. R. Hudson, Ilkeston ; Mr. F. Smith*
Pinxton ; Mr. F. W. Rowley, East wood ; Mr. J. Higton,
Ilkeston; Mr. J. Topham, Pinxton; and the chairman.

Mr. E. L. Bingham, of Doncaster, a well-known figure in
the local coal world, speaking at County Council meetings
at Ansterfield and Bawtry last week, made interesting
reference to the eastern coalfield. He said he failed to see
what good was to result from the constant reiteration of
the belief that there were 30,000 million tons of coal in the
eastern coalfield. It was all supposition, and had yet to be
proved. He believed there was coal, more or less, all over
this country, and that it was only a matter of depth and
quality. They had had great trouble at Edlington, where
coal had been lost and found again, and there had been
some disappointments at Askern, so they must not be too
sanguine in regard to these things. He had no doubt there
was great mineral wealth in this eastern coalfield, but if
they talked too much about it, up would go the price of
land, and those who owned land would want too much for
it. Mr. Bingham also referred to the enormous output of
the new collieries in South Yorkshire, all of which were
aiming at 4 000 tons per day. Just now, while things were
good in the coal trade, no difficulty was experienced in
finding a market for the enormous quantity of coal brought
to the surface day by day, but with more pits developing
and opening out, and with the market probably at some
future time not as brisk as it was at present, it might not
always be so easy to dispose of this coal. A secondary
school had been advocated for Thorne on a statement that
the coalmining industry was going rapidly in that direction,
and that such a school was necessary to teach mining. But
coal was not likely to be drawn at Thorne Colliery under
the next five years, and seeing they had technical schools
at Sheffield, Doncaster, and Goole, such a school was
unnecessary at Thorne. These schools should be in great
centres of population.

A portrait in oils of the late Mr. Harry Montague James,
general manager of the Whitehaven Collieries and chairman
of the Cumberland Coal Trade Conciliation Board from
May 12, 1902 to July 12, 1911, has been executed by
Mr. J. D. Kenworthy, of St. Bees, to the order of the Board,
and hung in the boardroom at Workington this week.

Important improvements are contemplated at the Water-
gate Pit, near Mary port, the property of the Flimby and
Broughton Moor Colliery Company. At an early date the
company intend erecting an up-to-date electric generating
plant, which will drive both the haulage and pumps. At
the present time a dynamo from the fan at the top of the
main shaft provides light for the pit tops and No. 2 pit
bottom, and the haulage is driven by steam. Many years
ago the Watergate pit tips were lighted by gas from a plant
at Risehow, and the pipes have never been taken out.

Members of the Association of Birmingham Students of
the Institution of Civil Engineers, last week discussed, at
the University, the application of turbines to mines. The
subject was introduced in a paper by Messrs. C. H. Bailey
and R. H. N. Vaudrey. The economy resulting from the
use of turbines was summarised as follows :—Above 200 kw
the steam turbine was more efficient than the reciprocating
engine. The first cost of small turbines was about the
same as for reciprocating engines. But for larger units the
prime cost was only about half the cost of the reciprocating
engine set, including condensing plant. The steam con-
sumption of a turbine of 2,000 kw. output may be about
15 per cent, better than a quadruple expansion engine, and
the maintenance was considerably less. The buildings and
foundations necessary for a turbine were also very much
less costly than for the corresponding reciprocating plant.
Depreciation and repairs for a turbine were also compara-
tively less.

Mr. Wm. Graham has been appointed one of the managing
directors of the Moresby Coal Company, in place of the late
Mr. J. Baird; and Mr. W. Myers has been appointed
secretary to the company.

At the general meeting of Messrs. Andrew Knowles and
Sons, held in Manchester, last week, the chairman, Mr. R.
Millington Knowles, alluded to the coming into operation
of the Minimum Wage Act. This new departure in legisla-
tion, he said, was taken without consultation with those
engaged in other great industries in which coal was one of
the raw materials, and it must eventually result in the
closing of some collieries and a permanent advance in the
price of coal to the consumer. The minimum wage had

now to be fixed within the rigid conditions of an Act of
Parliament, instead of by free arrangement between repre-
sentatives of the employer and the employed, and now that
experience of the working of the Act had been obtained, he
very much doubted whether the miners would not have
preferred to have had a settlement on the lines originally
offered by the colliery proprietors. The effect of this
measure, combined with that of the new Mines Act, had
been to reduce the “ get” of coal, and to increase the cost
of its production. The annua] cost of the Insurance Act to
the company would be about .£2,420, not including clerks*
wages and extra offices. This year the shareholders of the
company paid a tax to the Insurance Fund equal to an
extra income tax of Is. ^jd. in the pound. The total
amount paid in local and imperial taxation and in “ State
assistance ” last year, amounted to £20,189.

On the 20th inst., Messrs. Charles Eyles, F.S.I., and T.
Carnwarth, inspectors of the Local Government Board,
conducted an enquiry at Blackhill regarding a complaint
made under the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909, by
the Durham County Council, that the Urban District
Council of Benfieldside had failed to exercise their powers
under the Act in regard to the closing or demolition of
certain properties situate at Bottle Bank area of the district.
The clerk to the County Council quoted from the district
medical reports, which condemned the dwellings as being
unsanitary and unfit for further habitation. The owners
themselves had made certain alterations, but these improve-
ments were not deemed sufficient. The District Council
mentioned that they had no powers to order the roofs of the
houses to be raised, and Mr. George, on behalf of the
Consett Iron Company, said that they lost money on this
class of property. The company had spent <£50,000 in 11
years on improving their properties, and they declined to
carry out the demands of the County Council. The enquiry
was closed.

The pits of the Vogrie Coal Company, Gorebridge, which
were acquired by the Union Transit Company, after the
Vogrie Company went into liquidation, have now been taken
over by Messrs. Gavin Paul and Sons, coalmasters, Edin-
burgh, and it is the intention of the latter to start work as
early as is practicable. The pits have stood idle for the past
two or three years. These pits contain excellent seams of
fireclay as well as coal.

The governors of the - Wigan and District Mining and
Technical College, at a recent meeting, passed a resolution
congratulating Mr. George Knox, the head of their mining
department, upon his appointment as director of mining of
the South Wales Mining School, and recording their high
appreciation of the services which he has rendered at Wigan*
They wished him every success in his new sphere.

As the result of a heavy inflow of water, the men employed
in the Dixie Pit, Rosebank Colliery, Dunfermline, have
been thrown out of work. Messrs. John Nimmo and Sons,
the lessees of the field, have just been at the expense of
deepening the shaft in order to procure the lower coals.
The Rosebank field has always been subject to water
troubles, but it is believed that the deepening of the shaft
has been the means of increasing the difficulties in that
respect. At present the inrush is at the rate of 1,600
gallons a minute.

The monthly meeting of the West of Scotland branch of
the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers was held on
Saturday in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, Mr. M.
Brown, general manager of the Banknock Coal Company, in
the chair. Mr. James M'Cann (Carron) read a practical
paper on “ The Electrical Coal-cutter: Its Installation and
Manipulation.” The paper gave rise to an interesting
discussion, in which Messrs. Willis, Anderson, Simon, Logan,
Smellie, and Lea took part. At a meeting of the East of
Scotland branch of the association, held in the Royal Hotel,
Dunfermline, on the previous day, Mr. H. Gordon Fraser
(Leven) in the chair, a paper was read by Mr. E. Kilburn
Scott (London) on “ Electric Cables for Shafts of Mines.”
The discussion which followed was taken part in by Messrs.
H. J. Humphrys, H.M. inspector of mines (Dunfermline),
Irvine (Dysart), Peters (Lochgelly), Beveridge (Kelty),
Wilkie (Cardenden), and the branch president.

The annual general meeting of the Scottish branch of the
Coal Trade Benevolent Association was held in the Grand
Hotel, Glasgow, last week, Mr. Allan M. Wilson presiding
The chairman, in moving the adoption of the annua}
report, said the income of the society for the past year
amounted to £201, and the expenditure to £45, leaving a
surplus of slightly over £155. This balance fell to be
added to the capital account, which now amounted to £5,866.
During the past year 14 members had joined the associa-
tion, and there were at present 16 applications for member-
ship in the hands of the secretary. Mr. James P. Waldie
was appointed president for the ensuing year. Mr. John
Gemmell was appointed vice-president, aud Mr. G. K.
Goalen and Mr. John Pollock were re-elected hon. secretary
and hon. treasurer respectively.

Mr. T. G. Scoular, of Whitehaven, the well-known
Cumberland mining engineer, was severely injured last
week while motor cycling through Maryport.

At a meeting of the South Staffordshire Iron and Steel
Institute at Dudley, on Saturday, Mr. R. A. Brown read a
technical paper on " The Re-Solution of Carbon in Solid
Cast Iron.”

The Bolsover Colliery Company’s directors have voted
£1,000 to the Mayor of Mansfield’s fund for the widows and
orphans of the men who were killed in the recent disaster
at the Rufford Pit. The fund, which amounts to £2,000
has been closed.

The London Gazette announces that the King has
appointed Admiral Sir Reginald Friend Hannam Henderson
to be a member of the Royal Commission on Fuel Engines,
in room of Vice-Admiral Sir John Rusworth Jellicoe,
resigned.

On Saturday, the foundation stones of 12 aged miners’
homes at Willington for the Brancepeth and Oakenshaw
Collieries, which are owned by Messrs. Strakers and Love,
were laid by Mrs. J. C. Straker, Mrs. R. L. Weeks, and
others.

At the annual meeting of Ashington. Hirst and District
Nursing Association, reference was made to the proposed
erection of a hospital for the district. The plans, it was
stated, were now in the hands of a sub-committee, and the
question of ways and means had been settled by the miners
agreeing to increase their levies for that purpose. A
deputation had met Mr. E. O. Southern, the agent to the
Ashington Coal Company, who had laid their request
before the directors. In response to that, a letter had been
received from Mr. Southern stating that he was instructed
to inform him that the company would be pleased to
contribute £250 towards the erection of a hospital.

The fact that several collieries, chiefly in Durham, send
large numbers of cases for treatment at the Newcastle
Infirmary, and that no contribution is made to the funds of
the institution either by the colliery owners or the miners,
was referred to at the annual court of governors held in
Newcastle on Saturday.

On Saturday evening a lecture on “The Steam Engine
Indicator Diagram ” was delivered before the members of
the Bradford Association of Engineers and Firemen by
Prof. Charnock, of the Bradford Technical College.

The question of rating collieries was raised at a meeting
of the Pontypridd Board of Guardians last week. Mr. N.
Tromans contended that collieries should be subject to
rating during stoppages. Aiderman E. H. Davies, chairman
of the Assessment Committee, explained that a conference
of unions would be convened, and that the Assessment
Committee at Pontypridd were now waiting the result of
this conference.

THE ASSOCIATION OF MINING ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERS.

A meeting of the Association of Mining Electrical
Engineers was held on Friday, February 7, at 8 p.m., in the
lecture theatre of the Institution of Electrical Engineers,
Victoria-embankment, W.C., when a paper was read by Mr.
E. Kilburn Scott, entitled “ Cables for the Shafts of Mines.”
Mr. W. C. Mountain, president of the association,
presided.

Amongst other points discussed in the paper, the following
received special emphasis:—

(a)	Cables for shafts of mines differ from those in other
situations because the question of weight is such an impor-
tant factor. In order to reduce the weight the cable should
be worked at high tension and insulated accordingly.
Although aluminium has not been used for shaft cables,
there is every reason to suppose that the lighter metal would
be found distinctly advantageous. Contrary to the general
supposition, aluminium is much stronger from the point of
view of supporting its own weight than is copper.

(b)	All metal work which is continuous from top to bottom
of a shaft should be utilised as the earth return. There
is nothing in the revised rules against this being done
or indeed to say that shaft cables must be armoured. In
any event the cross section of the armour of a high tension
cable is likely to be too small to properly earth the low
tension underground feeders. Even where it is not
convenient to use existing metal work it would be very
much cheaper to suspend wire ropes in the shaft for the
earth return than to place the same amount of metal round
a cable as armour.

(c)	The marked success which has followed the use of
siliceous tyre rubber as a mechanical protection on cables
subjected to moisture and hard wear and tear points to its
being also a very suitable material for cables permanently
installed in shafts. Further, as sinking cables must
necessarily be insulated with rubber, the addition of tire
rubber in place of specially flexible armouring seems a
reasonable proposition. By placing the winch in insets as
the shaft descends the length of sinking cable can be
limited to that at which cable without armour is feasible.

(d)	Hitherto casing has always been made of sawn
planks, the joints of which are difficult to keep tight. The
writer suggests the use of telegraph poles sawn longi-
tudinally and having the joints between the halves closed
by steel hoops. Such casing made in that way should be
cheap and easy to erect, and it would form a complete
protection to the enclosed cable. Regarding preservatives
for casing and cleats, it is pointed out that saccharine
impregnated into the wood is the best, because it has no
action on insulations or metals. Also when impregnated
along with arsenic it is a complete solution of the white
ant difficulty, which is so troublesome in mining work
overseas.