May 9, 1913. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 959 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Considering the short time the men had to prepare themselves, he thought the display had been a very creditable one all round. Votes of thanks were then proposed to Mrs. Walker, Lord Murray, the St. Andrews Ambulance Association, the committees and officers of the League, and to the chairman. During the afternoon a new stretcher, specially designed by the St. Andrews Ambulance Association for work in mines, was on view and aroused much interest. ____________________________ THE FORTHCOMING MINING MACHINERY EXHIBITION. Arrangements in connection with the great Mining Machinery Exhibition, to be held at the Royal Agricul- tural Hall from May 29 to June 7 inclusive, have already reached an advanced stage, and it is now possible to state with some assurance the nature of the material for education and enlightenment that will be placed before the visitor. There is one mistake that the experienced promoter, Mr. H. Greville Montgomery, is not likely to make, namely, that of opening his doors before work on the interior has been completed. The Exhibition on May 29, to all intents and purposes, will offer no different aspect to that which it will wear on June 7. The opening function will be presided over by the Earl of Ellesmere, who, as owner of the celebrated Bridgewater Collieries, has himself an important stake in the coal- mining industry, and his lordship will be supported by gentlemen bearing some of the most influential names in the mining world. Throughout the week no effort will be spared to promote the technical interest of the Exhibition, apart , from the exhibits themselves, by lectures, demonstra- tions, &c. Thus on Friday, May 30 a lecture will be given by Prof. J. S. Haldane, F.R.S., M.D., on the testing of mine air, when Surgeon-General Sir Alfred Keogh, K.C.B.. M.D., B.S., will take the chair; on the following day Dr. T. Lister Llewellyn will lecture on the subject of miners’ nystagmus, the chair on this occasion being taken by Sir Ralph Ashton. It is probable that a further lecture on a subject of immediate interest to mining engineers will be arranged at a later date. The list of visits includes the following :— Friday, May 30...... Members of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. Friday, May 30...... The Mining and Metal- lurgical Club. Saturday, May 31.... The National Association of Colliery Managers. Thursday, June 5.... The Institution of Mining Engineers. Friday, June 6...... The Indian Mining and Geological Club,and mem- bers of the Mining and Geological Institute of India. The members of the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers will also visit the Exhibition, but the date has not yet been fixed. In conclusion, we give below a list of some of the more important firms that have taken space in the hall, from which it will be seen that a very representative collec- tion of mining plant, machinery and apparatus may confidently be looked for:— Messrs. Ackroyd and Best Limited (Morley), W. and T. Avery Limited (Birmingham), Anderson, Boyes and Co. Limited (Motherwell), Edgar Allen and Co. Limited (Sheffield). George Burnside (Fence Houses), British Griffin Chilled Iron and Steel Company Limited (Barrow-in-Furness), Henry Beakbane (Stourport), British Humboldt Engineering Company Limited, Bests’ Contract Company (Morley), Adolf Bleichert and Co., Bleichert’s Aerial Transporters Limited, W. E. Boosey and Co. Limited, Bever, Dorling and Co. Limited (Bradford), British Oxygen Company Limited. Geo. Cradoek and Co. Limited (Wakefield), “Ceag” Electric Safety Lamp Company, “Colliery Guardian” Company Limited, “ Coventry ” Chain Company Limited (Coventry), Crossley Brothers Limited, Cremer Lamp and Engineering Company Limited (Leeds). The Diamond Coal-cutter Company (Wakefield), Davidson and Co. Limited (Belfast), John Dugdill and Co. (Fails- worth). Electrical Apparatus Company Limited. Flottman Engineering Company Limited (Cardiff), William Firth Limited (Leeds and Doncaster), Four Oaks Spraying Machine Company (Sutton Coldfield), Clarence A. Fell (Dronfield), Herbert Frood Limited. Gosforth Foundry Company Limited (Dronfield), E. Green and Son (Wakefield). Hadfield’s Steel Foundry Company Limited (Sheffield), H. Hirst and Son Limited (Dewsbury), J. Hopkinson and Co. Limited (Huddersfield), Holden and Brooke (West Gorton), Hardy Patent Pick Company Limited (Sheffield), Head, Wrightson and Co. Limited (Stockton-on-Tees), Hobdell, Way and Co. Limited, Hann and Ingle (Man- chester). Ingersoll-Rand Company, International Channelling Machines Limited (Sheffield). Richard Jacobson. John King and Co. (Leeds), Kennicott Water Softener Company (Wolverhampton), Kyl-Fyre Limited (East- bourne), Kimber Drill and Engineering Company Limited, Kennicott Water Softener Company (Wolverhampton). Lubricators Limited, Lassen and Hjort, Leech, Goodall and Co. (Hunslet). Manley and Sandy Limited, Mining Engineering Company Limited (Sheffield). Mavor and Coulson Limited (Glasgow), Mining Appliances Company (Sheffield), Rudolf Meyer, A.G. (Millheim-Ruhr). John Noel (Cardiff). Pillatt and Co. Limited (Stapleford), Princeps and Co- (Sheffield), Price, Pryse and Co. Limited, Protector Lamp and Lighting Company Limited (Eccles), A. C. Potter and Co. Hans Renold Limited (Manchester), Reavell and Co. Limited (Ipswich). Siebe, Gorman and Co. Limited, T. Sugden Limited, Stewarts and Lloyds Limited (Birmingham), Henry Simonis and Co. Thomas and Bishop, “Trefor” Societe Anon. (Brussels). Unit Sectional Bridge Company. Wallach Bros. Limited, E. R. Watts and Son, Worsley Mesnes Ironworks Limited (Wigan). __________________________ The Housing of Miners.—A conference of north-eastern local authorities on the housing question was held in Newcastle last week, when considerable attention was paid to the housing conditions in mining centres. Mr. M. Davey (Northumberland Miners’ Association) said he had visited model centres like Bournville and Woodlands, and had wished many a time it could be made possible for miners to live in similar places and in such good surroundings. Under present conditions they had to live herded together round dirty pit heaps. Often there was much land available for better housing, but exorbitant prices had to be paid for it. A difficulty was that even when a self-contained house was built, containing a living room and a scullery, if there was a possibility of the family living in the scullery they would do so. They wanted to make it impossible for the scullery to be used as a living room. To ask miners to pay above 5s. rent was quite out of the question. An important thing in miners’ houses was the provision of baths. Under the conditions which generally obtained to-day they simply had to order everybody out of the room so that they could wash themselves from head to toe. Mr. Rousell (Whitley Bay) said it seemed to him it was practically impossible to house people decently at rentals of about 4s. a week. In his district they were proposing to build cottages at a reason- able rental of 6s. per week. Mr. P. Lee (Durham Miners’ Association) said there was not the slightest doubt that the condition of housing in Durham was very bad indeed. On the eastern side of the county the houses were structurally the same as they were 60 or 70 years ago. He referred to the granting of free houses to colliery workers, and said there were two ways in which miners could remedy condi- tions. One was to take a money allowance all over the county, and every man find his own house. The other was for the miners to take up the question and force owners who would not build houses to pay rents equivalent to the average rent paid by the men who lived in the respective districts. Aiderman Bartlett (Durham County Council) said the Council was taking an active interest in the subject under discussion. The county of Durham was under a very great disadvantage, because the coalmining, especially on the eastern side of the county, was of ancient date, and the houses which sufficed half a-century or more ago were altogether out of date to-day. Collieries which were actively working in past times, and had, through conditions of trade, been more or less idle, had sprung into life again of late years, but to a large extent the old housing condi- tions remained. He believed one of the direct and immediate remedies for the present housing conditions in the older mining districts would be for the colliery workers to say they wanted a wage which included everything. He thought more could be done by influencing local authorities. Mr. G. Warn (Ashington), speaking as a miner, advocated baths for miners, but he wanted the baths erected at the pit, so that they could leave the dirt at the pit, and not bring it home. He said at New Hirst they had 18,000 people crowded on a few acres of land. Mr. G. Middleton, another Northumber- land miner, thought that if the local lodges would show as much grit over the village conditions as they showed over petty disputes in the mines the housing question would be settled in a short time. Dr. Hill (medical officer for Durham county), said there were at least a dozen housing schemes either proposed or being put into operation in urban and rural districts in the county, whilst other authorities were recognising the fact that if they were to deal with' housing conditions in a county like Durham the first thing to do was to provide additional healthy houses. OBITUARY. The death of Mr. John Knowles, J.P., managing director for Messrs. Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company, which occurred at his residence, Westwood, after a few days’ illness, on the 30th alt., has caused great regret in mining circles, in which the deceased gentleman was widely known and greatly respected. Mr. Knowles had a seizure on the previous Sunday, from which he gradually sank, in spite of the best medical efforts that could be brought to his aid by Dr. Fletcher. Mr. Knowles was born 57 years ago. He was the son of the late Mr. John Knowles, general manager for Messrs. Pearson and Knowles, and, being left an orphan in 1860, he came under the care of his uncle, the late Mr. Thomas Knowles, for nine years a member of Parlia- ment for Wigan. Having completed his education at Knutsford, in Cheshire, and Wigan, Mr. Knowles was apprenticed as a mining engineer, and was eventually appointed general manager of Messrs. Pearson and Knowles’ undertaking at Ince and Coppull, and had under his control some 5,000 men. Later on the company took into amalgamation the Moss Hall Colliery Company and the Wigan Junction Colliery Company, and this greatly increased Mr. Knowles’s oversight and responsibilities. His great and impor- tant connections brought him into touch with the leading mining authorities and corporations in the country. He was a member of the Mining Association of Great Britain, the Lancashire and Cheshire Coal Association, the Lancashire and Cheshire Coalowners’ Defence Association, and represented them in many important mining disputes in Lancashire, [Photo by W. Skeives, Wigan. The Late Mr. John Knowles. ' , -r • ■ - . K1 4 whilst he was also a member of the Federated Institute of Mining Engineers of Great Britain and the Manchester Geological and Mining Society. For many years he was a member of the board of management of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners’ Permanent Relief Society, an ex-president of the National Association of Colliery Managers of Great Britain, member of the board of management of the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan, as well as being on the council of the Wigan and District Chamber of Commerce. He also took a large part in local affairs, and the mayoralty of Wigan was offered to him, but was declined. Mr. Knowles, during a mining career extending over 42 years, had had to contend with numerous mining difficulties and dangers associated with mining accidents. At the outset of his business career he had to take part in the task of recovering the bodies of men who lost their lives at the Moss Pit explosion in 1871 ; again, coming to the last few years, he exerted herculean efforts in a similarly sad manner in connection with the Maypole disaster on August 18, 1908, whilst his splendid endeavours in the most awful calamity in the annals of Lancashire mining, that of the Pretoria Pit, Hulton, in December 1910, when over 340 lives were lost, were spoken of in terms of the highest commendation. He has left a widow, a son and four daughters to mourn their loss. The accompanying photograph is reproduced, by permission, from the Wigan Examiner.