920

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

May 2, 1913.

manager of the North-Eastern Railway, who referred to
the difficulty created by the greater size and capacity of
vessels. He said he did not see how the Cardiff
Company could do the work for 2d. per ton (their
present maximum), inasmuch as the North-Eastern
could not do it. He had made returns of the earnings
of the docks apart from the railways, and it showed that
only 26 per cent, was obtained ; and, on the same basis,
the return in Cardiff Docks would be 26 in 1912 and 2'4
in 1911.

For dock-owners the old conditions were better
than those of to-day, because—although a greater
amount of coal could be shipped in a given time to-day
—there was not the same regularity in the use of costly
appliances; and when they had expensive apparatus
standing idle, it ate into the profits. Although there
were facilities for greater despatch in loading, and the
newer ships were practically self-trimming, there was
so much mixing to be done that the dock owners were
not advantaged. Where a ship took a straight load
without mixing, there was, of course, greater celerity.
The capital cost of modern docks varied from £46,000
to £67,000 per acre of water, as compared with an
average price of about £20,000 in the older docks.

Other items of information—relating to labour and
wages—are worth quoting. Whereas wages in 1865
were a charge of only 24 per cent, on the dock revenue,
to-day they are 30 per cent. Formerly local rates took
only 3 per cent, of the revenue ; but last year 6 percent,
was taken, and in a previous year they had actually
been up to £7 8s. per cent.

The auditor of the company gave evidence to show
that the shipping of coal in the docks was carried out at
an actual loss, and that the total amount shipped was
continually increasing. It was added that the com-
pany’s railway had entailed an expenditure of over
£700,000. That railway has never been utilised for the
coal trade—although it has been in existence for several
years; and why the traders should be required to find
dividends upon capital laid out in a property which the
company do not make use of, is a question urgently
calling for a satisfactory answer.

Counsel for the different opponents dealt drastically
with the promoters’ case. It was argued that delays in
getting coal to the tips was Cardiff Company’s own
fault, as they had neglected to provide sidings where
the coal could be sorted. If they had been wise, instead
of giving up land for commercial undertakings they
would have used it for sidings. The company suffered
from mistakes in management, and the expenditure of
money in unprofitable ways. The Queen Dock had not
come into full use yet; and, when it did, dividends
would improve. The Bill would not benefit the company
dr the public ; but only the ordinary stock (held by the
Marquis), upon which last year £76,276 was paid—or
(if £19,500 be added as a fair comparison, seeing that
last year witnessed the strike) £95,776, plus £38,261 for
royalties, wharfage, and rents. Had last year been a
normal year, the Marquis would have had £134,000
direct from the dock. In addition were the rents of dry
docks and works.

Other adverse points also come into the argument.
There is the statement that 2J millions have been spent
on the new Queen Dock, which yields only 15s. 4d. per
cent, on that capital. The traders, however, emphasise
the fact that, besides the dock, this capital had gone to
the reclamation of a huge area of foreshore, which here-
after will prove of immense letting value for works—
just as the land around the older docks now earns
ground rent from the engineering establishments, iron-
works, &c., in proximity.

The Bill offered no inducement to the company to
improve their facilities, and one witness stated that,
exercising the proposed maximum charges, it would pay
them to deal with less traffic than at present, because
they would receive more for less work. Had the money
spent on the unused railway—£700,000—been utilised at
the docks, they would have been getting 5 to 7 per cent,
to-day, and saving thousands of pounds yearly in engine
power. They could afford to lose 25 per cent, of their
traffic, and still be better off than to-day, if the proposed
new rates were sanctioned.

Among the witnesses tendering evidence upon the
Rhondda Tramways Bill were Mr. Leonard Llewellyn
(general manager of the Cambrian Combine) and Mr.
Watts Morgan (miners’ agent for that district). Mr.
Llewellyn said that his collieries employed 12,000 men
in |the Rhondda district, and that there was lack of

housing accommodation and travelling facilities. One
in six of the men in the Rhondda Valley owned their
own houses, and it would be a serious loss to them if
they had to leave owing to their employment being so
far away. Large colliery developments were taking
place, and the Gilfach Goch collieries (where, by the
way, the accident occurred on Sunday night, resulting
in the death of four men) were progressing rapidly, and
there were good sites for houses in the immediate
vicinity and along the route to be served by the tram-
ways.—Mr. Watts Morgan strongly supported the
scheme (which is one for railless traction), stating that
men went between Gilfach Goch and Tonypandy and
Clydach Vale to work, and at present the only
practicable route over the mountains was almost
impossible in wet weather, so that the men had to stay
at home.

MINING AND OTHER NOTES.

At Hamilton Dean of Guild Court, last week, plans were
presented on behalf of Messrs. Archibald Baird and Sons,
showing extensive enlargement of their Clyde Steelworks
at Peacock Cross, Hamilton. The plans, which were passed,
provide for a new foundry 168 ft. in length, and an addition
to the present foundry, together with a new iron store and
brattice-cloth store, a new pattern shop, and a pattern and
core shop. These additions will more than double the
existing works, and the intention is to use electricity
entirely instead of steam as a motive power.

An extensive housing scheme has been undertaken by the
Seaton Delaval Coal Company, adjoining the site of the
proposed new pit to be sunk at New Hartley. Each house
contains three bedrooms upstairs, approached by a modern
staircase, and a kitchen and scullery downstairs. A bathroom
forms part of the scullery, and can be shut off and privacy
secured by an ingenious arrangement of folding doors. To
each house is allotted a 20 ft. garden in front and a large
kitchen garden at the back.

At the final meeting of the session of the Manchester
section of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, Mr. D.
Brownlie read a paper on “ The Technical Analysis of Coal.”
The author said in a medium-sized dyeworks, with four
Lancashire boilers, the coal bill was about £40 a week, and
experience showed that if the coal was bought on rational
lines a saving of from 7 to 10 per cent, could be effected.
Mr. Brownlie commended the oxygen bomb type of calori-
meter as the one which gave the most accurate results from
a technical point of view. He suggested that coal
contracts should be fixed on a sliding scale, and payment
made according to the heating value.

The first of two lectures on “ Miners and Rescue Work ”
was given at the Leeds University on the 26th ult., by
Mr. David Bowen, the head of the mining department.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Trustees have decided to
contribute £300 towards the Cadeby relief fund. John
Wilson, of Bolsover, Chesterfield, who on February 17, 1913,
risked his life in rescuing Thomas Wharton at the Glap-
well Colliery, Chesterfield, has been awarded an honorary
certificate and the sum of £5.

A Parliamentary Paper [Cd. 6681] contains the text of
a declaration, additional to the agreement of March 27,1874,
between the United Kingdom and Germany, respecting the
recognition of joint stock companies, and other commercial,
industrial, and financial institutions. It extends the agree-
ment of 1874 to the Protectorates and consular districts of
both parties so that the companies established in the
Dominions shall be entitled to all the privileges accorded
by the agreement. It is further understood that the term
“ joint stock companies and other commercial, industrial
and financial associations ” includes those German Colonial
companies which are engaged in commercial undertakings.

An important meeting of the All-England Tube Trade
Association has been held to receive a committee of associa-
tion buyers with a rebates scheme proposal. At present the
Tube Association allow a graduated system of discounts of
5 to 7| per cent. The associated buyers propose a new
system of rebates having a minimum of 2£ to 5 per cent.,
and a maximum of 10 to 12| per cent. The new scheme
would be identical with that recently prevailing in the
light castings trade. The Tube Association promised
favourable consideration of the proposition.

In a circular issued by the Northern Under-Managers
and Colliery Officials’ Mutual Aid Association it is explained
that, in view of the recent legislation affecting the coal-
mining industry in the United Kingdom, the association has
been formed with the object of improving the conditions
and raising the standard of pay for those holding official
positions. Recently Mr. W. Lee-Better (under-manager of
Us worth Colliery, Durham) read a paper before the
members. Mr. W. Parkinson, of the South Moor Collieries,
Prof. Louis, of the Durham College of Science, Mr. T. H.
Williams, of Acomb Colliery, and other mining experts will
read others at the monthly meetings in May, June, and July
respectively. In addition to the monthly meetings, held
alternatively at Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland, it is
proposed to hold local meetings during the summer months,
at the following mining centres: Bishop Auckland,
Chester-le-Street, Birtley, Stanley, Crook, Consett, Horden,
Easington, Blyth, Ashington, and elsewhere.

In connection with the reorganisation of the work in the
department of the docks engineer on the North-Eastern
Railway, consequent upon the resignation of Mr. T. M.
Nowell, the directors have decided to retain the services of
Mr. J. Mitchell Moncrieff, of Newcastle, who will act for the
company in a consultative capacity in dock engineering
matters.

Mr. John C. Pearson, who for some considerable time has
held the position of surveyor at the Montagu Colliery,
Scots wood, and has been appointed manager of Messrs.
Benson’s colliery at Fourstones, on Saturdaw night was the
recipient of a testimonial subscribed for by the officials and
workmen of the Montagu Colliery. The gifts consisted of
an umbrella and purse of gold, together with a satchel for
Mrs. Pearson.

Property valued at £204,740 has been left by Col. J. R.
Bun (61), of Bolton Hall, Gosforth, Cumberland, and
7, Sloane-court, Chelsea, S.W., director of the Whitehaven
Colliery Company, and formerly of Messrs. Bain and Co., of
the Harrington Ironworks and Collieries. He left £100 to
Henry Montagu James, manager of the Whitehaven Colliery.

Col. Frank Shuttle worth, a director of the Great Northern
Railway and chairman of Clayton and Shuttleworth,
Lincoln, left estate of the gross value of £911,980, with net
personalty £693,761.

At the meeting of the council of the Huddersfield
Chamber of Commerce on the 25th ult., Mr. W. Dale Shaw
referred to the recent deputation from the Chamber and the
Huddersfield Corporation to the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway Company in Manchester in regard to various
questions, including the huge delays in coal deliveries
during January and February. The railway officials, he
said, had promised an enquiry, and, if possible, some
amelioration. Mr. Shaw cited a particular case of the
transit of coal from Dewsbury. Although three months
had passed since complaint was made, it had not been
cleared up yet between the two companies as to which was
responsible for the delay. There was only one plan left
open, and he regretted that they should have to go to that.
Huge quantities of goods traffic and mineral traffic were
now being conveyed by road; and if the two companies
knew what was known to some of the traders, they would
be astonished with the enormous amount of traffic being
drawn every day from their lines because of delays. He
suggested that every bit of traffic possible should be
withdrawn from the railways.

Practical steps are being taken in various parts of the
South Yorkshire coalfield in the organisation of rescue
stations. A new rescue station is to be erected at Shafton,
Twogates, near Barnsley, in connection with the local
collieries, including Monk Bretton, Wharncliffe, Wood
Moor, Carlton Main, Monckton Main, and Grimethorpe.
An entirely new departure is also taking place in the
Doncaster district, where a fine mining rescue station will
shortly be built, and will be available for a number of the
large pits associated with the new coal centre. The
Doncaster station will be at the corner of Went worth-road
and Wheatley-lane, which is about equidistant from the
collieries of Bentley, Brodsworth and Edlington, and
within easy reach of Bullcroft, Askern, Hatfield and
Rossington pits. The new Doncaster station will comprise
an observation hall, 55 ft. by 26 ft. ; an experimental
gallery, in which training and instruction will be imparted,
and it is to be equipped with all the latest and best appli-
ances. The two-storey building will include apartments
for the instructor, who will live on the premises, committee
room and apartments for single men, the whole site being
about a quarter of an acre in extent. It has been suggested
that when the building is completed it should be named the
Pickering Memorial Station.

A large number of workmen at Polmaise Colliery, Stirling,
met recently to do honour to Mr. Duncan Ferguson, under-
ground manager, who has been promoted to the manager-
ship of Loanend Colliery, Newton, Lanarkshire, under the
same firm.

On Saturday, in Sheffield, nine colliery ambulance teams
took part in the semi-final round in the Wood Shield com-
petition, in connection with the Yorkshire Collieries Ambu-
lance League. There were two sections competing on
Saturday: the South section at Sheffield, in the Victoria
Hall, and the North section at Leeds, in the Corn Exchange.
Both sections will send two teams to take part in the final
round, which will be held on Saturday, May 17, at the
Drill Hall, Rotherham. At Sheffield, Bickleton Main were
easy winners by 40 points, whilst only half a point separated
Elsecar Main from the second winning team, Brodsworth
Main. Addressing the men, both the judges spoke highly
of the efficiency of all the teams. Dr. Demetriadi said there
was not a bad team amongst them. Dr. Fell said the
standard of ambulance work was improving every year and
judges were having difficult work now, because they were
dealing with first-class ambulance work. At Leeds, the
winning teams were Garforth and Grimethorpe.

It is announced that the New Copley Collieries Limited
have acquired by purchase from the liquidators of the
Woodland Collieries Company Limited, the New Copley and
Langley dale Collieries at Cockfield, co. Durham. Mr.
Thomas W. Elliott, Dixon-terrace, Darlington, and Colling-
wood-buildings, Newcastle-on-Tyne, has been appointed to
the commercial management of the collieries.,