596 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. Mauch 20, 1913. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ reach the limit of possibility, and we understand that units of 100,000,000 gallons per day, with a lift of 19 ft., have been designed in connection with Egyptian drainage schemes now under consideration. Other types of the Humphrey pump designed to deal with suction lift, and for pumping against greater total heads than those described above, have been developed. _________________ INDIAN RAILWAYS AND THE OWNERSHIP OF COAL PROPERTY. By Sir Ralph Percy Ashton. [Two articles, specially written by the same author for the Colliery Guardian, on “ The Coal Industry of India,” appeared on February 14, 1913, p. 330, and February 21, 1913, p 386 ] A well-informed correspondent writes as follows :—On February 7 the Bengal Chamber of Commerce addressed to the Government of India a strong letter of protest against the policy of allowing railways owned by Govern- ment to acquire and work their own collieries. [The gist of this letter was given in the Colliery Guardian of March 14, 1913, p. 553.] This policy has been followed in the past, and the following is the list of State- and railway-owned collieries:— Proprietor. Colliery. East Indian Railway... Kurhurbaree & Serampore .... Great Indian Peninsula Railway __........ Mohpani........ North-Western State Railway .......... Dandot ........ Do. do. ... Kbost .......... Do. do. ...*Haranpur ...... Do. do. ...*Khost .......... Central Provinces.... Ballarpur ...... Capital outlay (1910). Rupees. Output (1910). Tons. 8.55.901.. . 39,483 2,37 306... 31,982 2.96.415.. . 44,759 54 650..J 5,897 29,068...fl9 460 7,59,090... 93,277 ______ _________ 30,85,406...559,533 53,17,836...794,393 * Pressed fuel factory. f Pressed fuel. It was announced five years ago that the East Indian and Bengal-Nagpur Railway had acquired lands in the Bokharo-Ramgurh field. The arguments originally adduced by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce were that, if these collieries were successful, all the other Indian railways would endeavour to acquire their own collieries, and an unjustifiable interference by the State with private enterprise would seriously check the development of the Bengal coalfields. The Secretary of State and Govern- ment of India rejected the protest. Coal prices receded, and the railways did not attempt to develop their acquisitions, but a strong rumour now states that they intend to begin operations without delay, and the Chamber therefore renews its protest. The protest refers to the report of the Coal Traffic Conference, which conclusively shows that the progress of the Bengal coalmining industry is now, and has been in the past, grievously hampered by the inability of the railways to move coal from the pits within reasonable time, and urges that until their transport facilities are perfected they have no right to embark upon other under- takings. The proposal is characterised as nothing but an attempt to utilise “ public funds—which are the taxpayers’ savings—in order to depreciate the value of private investments.” It says :— The object of the railways in advancing their proposal is, of course, to enable them to be free of fluctuations in the price of coal. . . . They do not take exception to a down- ward movement in prices. But when there is an upward tendency, and the colliery proprietor is making a profit on his undertaking, they consider the advisability of developing their own collieries. It ought, however, to be borne in mind that the risk of fluctuating prices would be greatly minimised, if not altogether removed, were the transport facilities t fficient, for colliery proprietors would then develop their mines more quickly, and would thus reduce the cost of production, with the result that the price to the consumer would be lowered. The letter goes on to state that even at the present moment there are properties which have been held for years, but which cannot be opened out because the necessary transport facilities are not forthcoming. Finally, it refers to the purchase by Indian railways of South African coal—purchases made because Indian railways are “ so inefficient ” that they cannot remove the coal offered by their own constituents. The Bengal Chamber of Commerce represents many interests, to all of which cheap and ample supplies of coal are a matter of importance; and these interests together far outweigh in importance the coalmining interest. As a body, they want cheap coal, and this fact adds strength to their representation against a policy the ostensible object of which is to further this end. The members of the Chamber, however, know that the method proposed, though it may have the effect of breaking down unwholesome prices established by a boom, is not calculated to establish costs and selling rates at a level which will give a fair return and ensure expansion of the industry by attracting capital to it As in all other mining enterprises, there is an element of lottery in coalmining. There are blanks among the tickets drawn, and the prizes must be good enough to provide compensation. If the Government is to use its power to deprive the fortunate drawers of the prizes, the industry must languish. Already Government cannot raise the loan capital required for ordinary railway capital expenditure. There is a limited and decreasing reservoir from which they can attract investment in their 3| per cent, stock. The record of the Government’s relations with the coal industry is a bad one. We have seen that Lord Cornwallis treated it with contempt more than a century ago, and handing over the mineral rights to the zemin- dars, created part of the costs from which the railways now try to escape. Only 15 months ago they treated it with similar contempt, dividing the Bengal coal districts between the two provinces of Bengal and Behar without regard to their requirements or interests. The provinces were, in fact, mutilated to subserve the requirements of the great histrionic proclamation which gave such an artistic finish to the Delhi pageant. The history of railway development under Govern- ment auspices has similarly shown slight considera- tion of the paramount claims of the coal industry. From its inception the first aim has been not to create traffic, but to divert existing traffic from the rivers, not to throw open for public development the mineral riches of the country, but to lag behind till public outcry forced them to come forward when traffic waited for them. In the case of a new coalfield, of course a railway is in a strong position, for the coal has no value till the railway connects it with consuming industries. This has been the case with the Bokharo-Ramghur field in which the railways have stipulated for part of the mineral rights in the field, as part of a bargain with the owners of the other part in return for such a connection— a bargain the legitimacy of which seems doubtful, in view of the fact that the money which the railways are using to effect the connection is money obtained from the public Treasury. As we have before pointed out, what the value of such rights is, is still unknown to the general public. The suspicion is entertained in some quarters that it is not great. At this season of the year the Indian railways submit their budgets and receive their grants. It is a time when they anxiously prepare for the coal-purchasing campaign which annually takes place in the hot weather and rains. Their buyers set out on this enterprise with the instincts of sportsmen. As the sportsman endeavours to secure his bird with the smallest expenditure of cartridges, so the coal buyer sets out to obtain his coal for the smallest expenditure of rupees, and there is keen emulation among them to make a good record. The birds which they hope to bag are this year more than usually wild, excited by the high prices recently realised. Under these circumstances it is not surprising if their astute buyers fly kites above the fields where the partridges lie. After their recent disastrous expe- rience, the Bengal coalowners are easily frightened, and the prospect of general railway ownership and of whole- sale importation of Natal coal are most alarming portents to those whose shaken finances and nerves have not recovered from the last depression. It may well be asked whether the Indian Government and their railways should not now abandon once for all this narrow, petty policy, which can but lead to a continued alternation of booms and depressions, and boldly join hands with private enterprise in developing the industry on broad and statesmanlike lines, trusting to competition and improved methods to keep down prices to reasonable limits and to supply coal to the full requirements of the country. We have seen some of the difficulties under which the industry labours, and which all go to increase cost, and we recapitulate them :— 1. The vagueness and uncertainties of mining rights. 2. The imperfections of administration, which have been increased by the recent administrative changes. 3. The want of technical education among native and country born employees—a subject similarly put back by the subdivision of control of the province. 4. The want of labour, accentuated by insanitary conditions and bad water supply. 5. The scandalous want of transport, and the direct discouragement of enterprise which results. 6. The want of scientific investigation of underground conditions as to the quality and quantity of the coal yet available in the fields now being worked, and of the difficulties that have to be facedin respect to water, trap- burnt coal, and faulting. A survey of the conditions caused by trap intrusions, both in the Jerriah and Raneegunge fields, is badly needed. There is opening for Government in all and every one of these directions to lend encouragement and a helping hand. Its officers have personally done what they can to assist through the Mining Institute ; but such aid has been personal, and varied with the individual, and, as we have shown, Government official attitude has continued, from the time of Cornwallis, to be one of indifference and neglect, while the railways’ attitude has been that of a bazaar buyer to a seller, or of any other provider of public conveniences to an insistent public—an attitude of grudgingly giving way as little as possible. There is far more likelihood of a return to the public for public expenditure in demonstrating and proving the capa- bilities of the two great fields so convenient to Calcutta than there is in running pioneer railways among the remoter valleys of Chota Nagpur. __________________________ MANCHESTER GEOLOGICAL AND MINING SOCIETY. A meeting of this society was held on Tuesday evening, {March 11, in the Geological Lecture Theatre at the Manchester University. Sir Thomas H. Holland (president) was in the chair. The meeting agreed to send a telegram of congratula- tion to Mr. William Pickstone, the oldest member of the society, on attaining his 91st birthday. The following new members were elected:—Mr. F. Carleton Anderson, the Harland Engineering Company, 196, Deansgate, Manchester; Mr. E. R. Davies, the Hulton Colliery Company Limited, Chequerbent, Bolton; and Mr. Arthur F. W. Richards, Allandale. Marslands-road, Brooklands, Cheshire—as members federated; and Mr. Frederick Harvey Leech, 44, Ash- street, Southport, and Mr. Clarence Mellor Coope, The Poplars, Park-street, Farnworth, as students federated, Microscpic Structure of Metals. Mr. 0. J. P. Fuller, F.O.S., contributed a paper, illustrated by lantern slides, on “ The Microscopic Structure of Metals,” in which he indicated some of the more elementary facts brought out by the microscope. The slides showed the microscopic structure of various metals under normal and abnormal conditions. Firedamp in Mines. Dr. John Harger, of the Liverpool University, read a paper on “ Firedamp in Mines.” Many coalseams, he said, contained firedamp, and some of them contained large quantities. Pressures up to 6001b. per square inch had been measured, and it had been estimated that pressures of gas in the coal in some cases exceeded this. The actual quantity given off by some mines was very great—as much as 4 million cubic feet per 24 hours was on record for one mine as a normal state of things. At Is. per 1,000 cubic feet that would yield J2200 per day. The lecturer said it was well known to practical mining men that the gas caps obtained with old firedamp were different from those obtained in the same mine with firedamp from the fresh coal face. With firedamp from the goaf the caps were generally of a darker blue than those at the fresh coal face. In exceptional cases whitish caps had been noticed in gas forced out from old goafs. This question of gas caps had been the subject of much discussion lately, and it had been proposed that men should be trained in gas-testing by using coal gas. He thought most mining people agreed that this was not a sound proposition. Coal gas varied so much in composition, and contained so many different kinds of gases, hydrogen and carbon monoxide being very large constituents; now- adays, it was by no means unusual to find as much as 20 per cent, of nitrogen in it, and, as many people had pointed out, coal gas gave very different caps from the gas caps obtained in mines, not so much in size as in other • espects. He had been trying for many months now to get pure methane in large quantities for practical experi- ments in the laboratory, and it was only within the last two or three weeks that the problem had been solved. After trying most of the text-book methods, the preparation from aluminium carbide, followed by a special method of prepara- tion, had been found to yield methane free from other hydrocarbons and hydrogen. The gas was given off readily, and could be collected in a large gasholder. On testing, it was found that, like methane from any other source, it contained hydrogen. This was removed by passing the impure gas over copper oxide heated to 160 degs. Cent., and the gas so purified gave on analysis the exact figures for methane. It was often contaminated with considerable quantities of nitrogen from leakages and from the water, so it was always necessary in exact work to have an analysis of the gas done at the time of using it. He had tried making methane by many other text-bcok methods. The product obtained from soda acetate and caustic soda was of no use for mining experi- ments. It contained all kinds of impurities and burned with a luminous flame. The product obtained from coal by passing it over copper oxide heated to 160 degs. Cent, was fairly satisfactory, but it contained about 60 to 70 per cent, of nitrogen (using Liverpool coal gas), and the inflammable