922

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

Mat 2, 1913.

Letters to the Editor.

The Editor is not responsible either for the statements
made, or the opinions expressed bv correspondents.

Al communications must be’authenticated by the name
and address of the sender, whether for publication or
not. No notice can be taken of anonymous communi*
cations.

Asrepliesto questions are only given by way of published
answers to correspondents, and not by letter, stamped
addressed envelopes are not required to be sent.

EXPLOSIONS IN COALMINES.

Sir,—We have read with interest Mr. J. I. Minnis’s
letter in your issue of April 25 last, and we fully concur
as to the danger and practical difficulty of drilling a
fresh hole in near proximity to a misfired shot. Under
the present system of shot-firing, a new primer could
only be inserted after withdrawing the tamping of the
misfired shot, which is an operation attended with
danger But even if it were practicable to insert a fresh
primer, we venture to think it would still be dangerous
for the shot-firer to return to the hole whilst the misfired
detonator, which may only be hanging fire, is still
present in the charge.

By the “ P.P. ” method of shot-firing, to which
reference has been made in your columns of July 12,
1912, and March 14, 1913, the shot-hole is charged in
the first instance in such a manner that whilst the
operation of charging becomes safer in itself, since the
detonator is inserted after the hole is rammed, it is also
possible for the shot-firer to withdraw a faulty detonator
(which is the source of danger in a misfired hole) from
the hole without leaving his place of safety. He may
then approach the shot-hole without risk, and by means
of the “ P.P.” appliance insert a fresh detonator into the
original primer, the whole operation taking only a few
minutes.

At present the withdrawal of the detonator is
technically an infringement of the Explosives in Coal
Mines Order of May 21, 1912, but it is hoped, as the
result of official tests now in progress, that an amend-
ment of the Order may shortly be made.

For Price, Pryse and Company Limited,

J. S. King, Secretary.

32, Victoria-street, London, S.W.,

April 29, 1913.

THE IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY.

In the fifth report of the governing body of the
Imperial College it is stated that the building in Prince
Consort-road for the Royal School of Mines and the
Department of Geology will be occupied in its entirety
at the beginning of session 1913-14. The cost of
erection, based upon the contracts already let, is
£130,820. The City and Guilds (Eng.) College on the
same site will be ready in 1914-15. The council regret
that, owing to insufficiency of capital, it will only be
possible to provide temporary accommodation for the
Department of Chemical Technology, and an appeal for
£50,000 for the purpose has been issued. This amount
would provide and equip a building for three branches
of work—fuel and refractory materials, electro-chemistry
and chemical engineering.

The advisory board of the Royal School of Mines
consists of eight members nominated by the Institution
of Mining and Metallurgy, and one each by the Iron
and Steel Institute (Dr. J. E. Stead, F.R.S.), and the
Institution of Mining Engineers (Prof. Louis). The
council consider that the arrangement will result to the
mutual advantage of the Royal School of Mines and the
mining industry generally, in bringing the profession
and practice into the closest possible touch. They are
considering the question of instituting a similar board
for chemical technology.

A scheme for the mathematical teaching of the college
as a whole is to be planned, under a single professor.

The Royal School of Mines has been approved for the
purpose of granting certificates to surveyors under the
Coal Mines Act.

The British Society of Mining Students has presented
£200 of stock to provide a prize annually to the students
of the Royal School of Mines obtaining the highest
aggregate of marks in the principles of mining,
exploitation of mines, and mine reporting.

In a record of the work done at the Royal College
of Science, mention is made of investigations in the
physics department, by Mr. H. Scholefield into “the
pressures developed by the explosion of gaseous
mixtures,” by Mr. A. Brinkworth on “ the specific heat
of steam,” and by Dr. Smith and Mr. J. Guild on “the
magnetic transition ranges and irreversible phenomena
in a series of steels.” In the department of geology,
new developments have taken place in the teaching of

economic geology, and still further extensions are con-
templated. Dr. Wade delivered a course of six lectures
on the geology of petroleum, and Dr. 0. G. Cullis has
prepared additional lectures on the less common metallic
ores. A course of practical work has been drawn up
in connection with Dr. H. Lapworth’s lectures on
engineering geology.

During the year Prof. William Frecheville succeeded
Prof. Cox as the head of the mining department of the
Royal School of Mines, and during the current session his
scheme of organisation will be considered. The report
gives an account of the equipment of the new Bessemer
laboratory, and it is stated that arrangements have been
made to afford facilities to engineers for carrying out
tests of ore in the laboratory, students being allowed
reasonable opportunities of seeing the work in progress-

During the year 928 students were under instruction,
of whom 501 were attached to the Royal College of
Science or the Royal School of Mines. There were 147
taking a mining course for the associateship of Royal
School of Mines, of whom 48 were first year, 44 second
year, 28 third year, and 27 fourth year students. There
were besides two full-time students, and two part-time
diploma students, and seven other part-time students
in mining. Thirty-five diplomas were granted by the
school.

INDIAN AND COLONIAL NOTES.

India.

In the House of Commons, last week, Mr. Hewins gave
notice that he proposed to call attention to the economic
and financial relations of India and to move a resolution.

Africa.

H.M. Trade Commissioner in South Africa reports
that the possibility of manufacturing fuel briquettes
in Natal has been under consideration for some time past,
and it appears that the Natal Navigation Collieries have
now practically decided to establish a factory. It is possible
that a suitable site may be found at Wentworth; the
scheme for a site on the Bluff side of the Durban harbour
in close proximity to the coaling appliances has not received
encouragement from the Harbour Board.

A new colliery enterprise has been established on the
Newcastle coalfield, Natal. The venture is called the
Fairleigh Company, which has a capital of £15,000, and has
taken over the assets of the concern known as the Crown
Colliery.	__________________

Australia.

Brown Coal Resources of Victoria.—With reference to a
short report by the Director of Geological Survey on the
brown coal resources of Victoria, it is notified that H.M.
.Trade Commissioner has forwarded a copy of a large plan
illustrative of the report, which has been prepared by the
Victorian Department of Mines. The plan may be seen
by firms in the United Kingdom at the Commercial
Intelligence Branch of the Board of Trade, 73, Basinghall-
street, London, E.C.

Canada.

The Alberta Legislature is being urged to establish
a Provincial Bureau of Mines, with headquarters at
Edmonton.

Two important mining Bills have been introduced into
the British Columbia Legislature, providing respectively for
the inspection of mines by persons appointed for that
purpose by the employees of the mine and providing for a
minimum wage in coalmines of 3 dols. per ton to each adult
underground worker.

The Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company have obtained
a lease from the Dominion Coal Company which will enable
them to work a portion of the submarine areas owned by
the Dominion Company on the Sydney main seam adjacent
to the Scotia Company's workings in the Sydney Mines
No. 1 Colliery. The area leased to the Scotia Company will
give them an entrance into their own submarine areas
lying further to sea outside the areas of the Dominion Coal
Company. It is also announced that the Cape Breton Coal,
Iron, and Railway Company have made arrangements with
the Dominion Coal Company for the lease of an area of coal
intervening between the site of the Cape Breton Company's
colliery at Broughton and the main coal areas of the Cape
Breton Company. The permission given by the Dominion
Coal Company for the working of the intervening area will
enable the Broughton Company to proceed with the sinking
of their slopes, which have been standing since the begin-
ning of 1907, and to obtain an output.

The report of the Commission appointed to investigate
the causes leading to the flooding of the Port Hood Colliery
in Inverness County, Cape Breton, has been laid before the
Nova Scotia Legislature. The Commisioners report that
they are “ unable to find that there was any violation of
good mining practice in the extraction of the coal." They
recommend, however, that before pillars are extracted in
any submarine area every reasonable means should be
employed to ascertain the depth, nature and condition of
the overlying strata. The report does not recommend any

attempt to unwater the mine, and suggests that any further
expenditure which may be made in this field should be on
new winnings on the intact portion of the seam. The
Commission also reported on the Mabou Mine, situated to
the north of Port Hood. This mine has been flooded since
January 1909 by a break from the ocean. The report finds
the distance from the roof of the coalseam in the slope to
high-water mark was only 110 ft., and that considering the
great angle of dip and the nature of the overlying and
adjacent strata, “it was an error of judgment to have
entered the seam under this comparatively thin cover."
The report advises against any attempt to unwater the
flooded mine, and recommends that any future workings
be opened on one of the lower seams.

Our Toronto correspondent says:—“ Dr. R. Hoppe, of
San Francisco, Cal., is in Ottawa conferring with officials of
the Canadian Government to secure the construction of a
railway in Alberta from Brule Lake, near Jasper Park, to
Grande Prairie, a distance of 400 miles, in order to enable
him to develop extensive coalmines. Dr. Hoppe holds
leases on claims covering 28,160 acres some 200 miles north
of Edmonton containing coal stated to be of the best
quality, and is organising two companies, the total capital
of which will be about 25,000,000 dole., to establish coal-
mines. English and Dutch capital will be largely interested.
Surveying operations have been carried on throughout the
winter, and mining will be begun as soon as the companies
are incorporated, with a view to making shipments within
12 months."

CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION.

The tenth report of proceedings under the Conciliation
(Trade Disputes) Act, 1896, has just been issued, dealing
with the working of the Act in 1912. An import feature of
the report is the inclusion, in an appendix, of the decisions
arrived at by the joint district boards established under the
Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act.

During 1912 the Department took action in 73 cases, as
compared with 92 in 1911. The most important were the
national strike of coalminers and the strike of transport
workers on the Thames and Medway. During the year
recourse was had in five cases to courts of arbitration
under the scheme established in 1908. Of the 73 cases in
which action was taken, 34 involved a stoppage of work;
joint applications were received in 42 cases; in 18 cases
applications were received from the workpeople only, and in
five cases from the employers. Only two of the above-cited
cases in 1912 were connected with the mining and quarrying
industries—namely, the general strike of coalminers on
February 26, 1912, and a dispute in regard to the wages of
ironstone miners in Lincolnshire, in which Mr. (now
Justice) Bailhache acted as arbitrator*

Coal Trade Benevolent Association.—The twentieth
annual festival dinner of the Coal Trade Benevolent Associa-
tion was held at the Hotel Cecil, London, on the 28 th ult.,
under the presidency of the Right Hon. the Earl of
Durham, K.G., P.C., G.C.V.O., who was supported by the
Right Hon. Lord Joicey, and a company numbering 300 to
400, including the following :—W. G. Phillips (Ansley Hall
Colliery), chairman of the association, H. C. Rolfe (Lancaster
Steam Coal Collieries), vice-chairman of the association, T.
Philip Barber (Barber, Walker and Co.), John Lea-Smith,
Gilbert Alder, jun., R. L. Wedgewood (North-Eastern
Railway, Yorks), J. R. Barlow, T. B. Crawshaw, T. W.
McArthur, W. H. Chambers, W. S. Dugdale, J. F. Phillips,
Geo. Helps, C. Lowndes, W. W. Tremlett, Col. Land,
Ed. W. Hickman, Arth. Sopwith, W. H. Bowater, Horace
Booth, W. J. Collins (general secretary), A. F. Heath,
W. A. Jepson (L. and N.W. Railway), H. J. Warne, H.
Lea-Smith, H. C. Rickett, T. K. Fox, Eric Ohlson, E. T.
Wilks, Geo. Rose, Ernest Oliver, T. E. B. Swallow, G. G. W.
Willcocks, Allan Greenwell, H. W. Dunlop, R. C. Phillips,
&c. Before the speeches, the secretary announced receipt
of a number of apologies from those who were unable to
attend. Among these were:—Admiral Sir Hedworth Meux,
the Duke of Portland, Earl Fitz william, Lord Aberconway,
Lord Merthyr, Lord Ninian C. Stuart, Lord Claud Hamilton,
Sir Guy Granet, Sir Thomas Ratcliffe-Ellis, and others.
In making these announcements, the secretary added, amid
loud applause, that the Earl of Durham had been good
enough to subscribe the sum of £100, Lord Joicey
for the Lambton and South Hetton Collieries £100,
and for Jas. Joicey and Co. Limited £50, F. De
Lambert 50 guineas, Albert Usher £50, H. J. Warne
£25, R. C. Phillips 20 guineas, T. K. Fox 10 guineas,
and altogether a subscription list amounting to £1,200.
The noble president, in a very eloquent speech, advocated
the claims of the Coal Trade Benevolent Association, and
appealed for support for this excellent institution.—Mr. W.
G. Phillips, the chairman of the association, in response
thanked, on behalf of himself and the central board of
management, the noble earl for his presidency on that
occasion, and the valuable help given to the association by
his patronage.—The Right Hon. Lord Joicey, as an old
supporter of the association, received from the company
present quite an ovation, and his lordship urged the
desirability of establishing another branch of the association
further north. A very excellent musical programme was
provided, and altogether the festival was one of the most
successful yet held.