July 10, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

93

a downthrow north of 390 ft. has been proved in the
Silkstone coal near the Manor House north of New
Brampton.

Further north, in sheet 100, the chief dislocations are
the Park Hall and Birley faults. The Park Hall fault
has a downthrow south-west of 360 ft. proved in the
Top Hard south-east of Barlborough; and the Birley
fault throws the Parkgate (Deep Hard) coal 96 ft. down
north under Birley Common.

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INERT DUST TREATMENT AND MR.
SIMCOCK’S LETTER OF JUNE 23.

Sir,—I assume Mr. Simcock means the Explosions in
' Mines Committee in his reference to the Experimental
Committee, and in my reply I rely on data obtained from
No. 5 report.

Mr. Simcock apparently confuses two sorts of dust
referred to in this report, viz. : Altofts shale dust and
fullers’ earth.

The report provides an analysis of Altofts dust showing
51*92 per cent, silica, and on p. 34, “ rational analysis
quartz 35*2 per cent., and it is from this Mr. Simcock
apparently gets his free silica figure.

But he makes a great mistake in saying this is the dust
recommended. Up to a certain point the experiments
were conducted with Altofts shale dust. But the
successful experiments were carried out with finely
ground fullers’ earth, but no analysis of this dust is given
in the report, beyond mentioning “ it contains 58 per
cent, silica, combined and free ”—the free silica in this
earth is negligible as it is nearly all in combination, as
Mr. Simcock can readily ascertain for himself.

The successful experiments were carried out with this
fullers’ earth, which on account of its buoyancy (S.G. 1*6)
was capable of being raised in suspension on equal terms
with the coal dust—over and over again the report lays
great stress on the desirability of fine dust being used
because of this buoyancy, and we are justified in
assuming that fullers’ earth is meant in all these recom-
mendations.

On p. 29 “ but a mixture of 50 per cent, of incombusti-
ble matter may be raised in a cloud ” (evidently means
fullers’ earth, as experiment 225 brings this feature
4 emphatically to our notice), “ it might be in our opinion
most usefully adopted now.”

This recommendation plainly refers to this fullers’
earth; such being so the next consideration is the effect
of fine dust on the respiratory organs—this fullers’ earth
would not be injurious, neither would suitable colliery
shale prepared in the same way, z.e., ground to a suffi-
cient buoyancy to float on the ventilation current.

It is accepted by all that the dust should be suspended
on equal terms with the floating coal dust. From figures
provided by a dusty South Wales colliery it is found the
fine coal dust deposits about 7 cwt. per mile of roadway
per 24 hours, so 7 cwt. of this fine fullers’ earth distri-
buted per day per mile would comply with the recom-
mendation of No. 5 report in this instance, and it is
proving so apparently by practice, judging by the amount
actually used.

Can anyone pretend that a steady application of 7 cwt.
fine dust during 24 hours over a mile of roadway is going
to make any difference at all noticeable by people
engaged therein ?

I shall be pleased to provide your readers with any
further details in my power, and trust this explanation
will enable Mr. Simcock to consider the stone dust
question more favourable.	L. G. Hill.

5, Oxford Road,

Acocks Green,

July 7,1914.

Grimsby Coal Exports.—The export of coal from Grimsby
during the week ended Friday, 3rd inst., totalled 18,333
tons to foreign destinations, and 453 tons to coastal ports.
Shipments were as follow :—Foreign : To Bergen, 1,475
tons; Christiania, 1,437; Dieppe, 972; Esbjerg, 615;
Gothenburg, 3,139’; Hamburg, 1,456; Harnas, 2,199;
Hudiksvall, 426; Malmo, 1,807; Rostock, 1,137; Rotterdam,
162; Skein, 716; Trondhjem, 1,479; and Ystad, 1,322.
Coastal : To Lerwick, 350 tons; London, 103 tons.

Mining Subsidence.—At the Newcastle Assizes on
Wednesday, Mr. Justice Bray gave judgment in the action
in which James Bainbridge, of Westerhope, sued the South
Derwent Coal Company Limited for damage to property,
alleged to have been caused by subsidences following mine
working. Mr. Scott Fox, for the plaintiff, stated that
correspondence had passed as to cracks as far back
as 1907, and he showed from the colliery books of workings
that these complaints coincided singularly with workings in
the neighbourhood. In June last year it was stated the
company repudiated all liability, stating they had not worked
in the vicinity for six years. The plaintiff gave evidence as
to complaints from time to time from tenants as to the
property settling and walls cracking, etc. His lordship,
without giving his reasons, assessed the damages at £137
10s., which, he said, would carry up to the present day.
Liability having been admitted by the defendants, it was
only his duty to fix the damages which had been sustained
within the last six years owing to the conduct of the defen-
dants. Judgment, therefore, would be for plaintiff for the
amount stated with costs.

Notes from the Coalfields.

[Local Correspondence.]

South Wales and Monmouthshire.

Alleged Illegal Deductions from Miners' Wages—The
W inborne Royalty Case Result—Slump in Shipping
Profits.

The motion by Mr. E. Jones, M.P. for Merthyr, designed
to secure that workmen’s institutes shall be exempted from
duty, affects South Wales probably more than any other
part of the country, for nearly every part of the district has
its miners’ institute, “ erected mainly by contributions of
the workmen.” Mr. Jones has cast his motion in wide
terms, and necessarily so, some of the institutes having the
only public halls available for general use; and these, there-
fore, serve materially as sources of income. The idea is
that, notwithstanding financial prosperity, the exemption
shall operate in all cases.

The Mynachdy Company, Ynysybwl, have been summoned
at Abercynon for the recovery of money alleged to have been
illegally deducted from a workman’s wages, and the issue
affected nearly a hundred of the firm’s employees. The
facts were that the weighing machine had been out of order;
the men had been, therefore, overpaid, and the deductions
made later were in respect of the alleged over-payment.
Judgment was given for the men.

A second case was of unusual interest, both because of
the parties concerned and the issue involved. Lord Wim-
borne leased eight acres of minerals, and these formed part
of the takings of Bryndu Colliery, a clause in the lease of
the eight acres providing for continuous and uninterrupted
working. The lease came by assignment to Miss Talbot,
of Margam, the owner of vast mineral estates, and largely
interested in Port Talbot docks and town. This lady is dis-
tinguished for her philanthropy, and to avert stoppage of
the colliery, which is in Llangynwyd parish, with the conse-
quent throwing of a large number of men out of employ-
ment, she carried on the colliery for some years at a heavy
loss—no less than £90,000 in all; but ultimately closed it
down. The action was before the court in December, and
now came before the official referee on the question of
damages. Although plaintiff had contended at the trial that
the colliery had been finally abandoned, and that damages
should be assessed once for all, the judge did not take that
view; and the matter came before the referee upon defen-
dant’s contention that plaintiff could only recover damages
as from time to time, and not recover future damages, as
she had not repudiated all the covenants under the lease.
It was now submitted that plaintiff was entitled only to the
minimum rent, £50, and that defendant had been perfectly
justified in ceasing to work. Expert evidence was called-—
Mr. H. T. Wales, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Martin—as to the
practicability of continuing operations; and on the other side
it was stated that even if the working had continued the
Wimborne coal would not have been reached, and that,
therefore, plaintiff was not entitled to more than the mini-
mum rent. Mr. Arthur Lawrence, for the defence, said the
colliery, as a whole, could not be worked at a profit; and
Prof. Galloway also gave evidence. After three days’ hear-
ing the official referee decided that Miss Talbot was bound
by the lease to work out all the Wimborne coal; and he
assessed damages in favour of plaintiff at £1,854, up to
June 25.

As indicating the slump in shipping profits, the report of
Tatem’s Steam Navigation Company, which owns a fleet of
17 vessels, shows a working profit of £120,648, as compared
with £363,139 for the year to June 1913—a decline of more
than two-thirds. The report points out that for the first six
months of the financial year freights were good, but since
then the rates have been unremunerative. The falling off
in freight rates is not entirely responsible for the big decline
in profits, inasmuch as costs have gone up, particularly as
regards repairs, which are estimated to be about 40 per cent,
higher than they were two or three years ago.

Recently issued figures go to show that the Welsh tinplate
makers are steadily regaining trade which was captured a
few years ago by the Americans. Official reports show a con-
tinuous decline in the export of American plates, but
competition is threatened from another quarter, for there is
a suggestion to establish works in Norway, and to put a
tariff on tinplates. The tinplate imports of Norway were
32,922 tons in 1912 and 28,522 tons in 1913. The exports
from South Wales to the country were 31,503 in 1912 and
25,166 in 1913. It is probable that there will be a demand
for an additional tariff to be raised in Germany, where by
the end of the year the capacity of the works will be
14,000 tons per month.

Messrs. Nixon, of Nixon’s Navigation, recently appealed
against the judgment of the Inland Revenue Commissioners
regarding the valuation of the company’s property in the
parish of Llanwonno, Glamorgan. A referee was appointed
and the appeal was successful. On Monday Mr. Pease, on
behalf of the company applied to Mr. Justice Scrutton to
have the five orders of the referee made orders of the court,
so that the costs could be taxed—the Inland Revenue authori-
ties having failed to agree on this point. The referee had
made an order as to the valuation which carried the costs,
and there was no opposition to the application. The judge
made the order, observing that under the new rules no such
application would be necessary in future.

The recently issued census returns show that the number
of men and women engaged in Wales working in and about
mines, and dealing with the product thereof, was 150,694
males and 92 females; 12,000 men were engaged in tinplate
manufacture and 2,000 in copper manufacture. In Mon-
mouthshire there were 53,500 miners and 86 women engaged
in or about the mines.

It was reported at Swansea last week that a new company
is negotiating for the acquisition of the Carbryn Anthracite
Colliery, Pantyffynon, and that in the event of the deal
going through, it is intended to expend £20,000 on develop-
ing the lower measures.

At Ystrad County Court, on Tuesday, Judge Bryn Roberts
spent five hours hearing a claim by Thos. Perkins against
the Blaenclydach Colliery Company for £11 6s. for driving
98 yards of stall headings. Plaintiff claimed 2s. a yard and
45 per cent., and the claim was based on the price list. In
the price list, however, there was no item dealing with the
claim. Two turnings had been made in the heading, and it
therefore became an ordinary stall heading, for which pay-
ment should be made at the usual rate. For the defence it
was said that stall headings were not in the price list, nor

was there any custom. The man had been paid for all he
had done, but now that the company for their own conveni-
ence brought coal through the heading, plaintiff claimed that
he was entitled to 2s. a yard. In giving judgment for the
plaintiff his Honour said that the case had completely broken
down, and that the company’s books produced were con-
clusive.

The Welsh Navigation Coal Company are erecting at
Tonyrefail, extensive washeries, coke ovens and by-product
plant. The washeries will be driven by electricity, and
750 tons can be dealt with in eight hours. The works will
be a new industry for the district, and over 100 men will be
employed.

The mining industry is largely represented in the list of
new magistrates just issued. Among those honoured are :—
Mr. Robert Gibb, managing director of the Glanavon Garw
Colliery, Gibbs’ Navigation Colliery, and Glynogwr
Colliery; Mr. H. Wallis, director of the Great Western
Colliery Company Limited and of Locket’s Merthyr
Collieries (1894) Limited; Mr. Joseph Davies, of Messrs.
Joseph and Hailey, coal exporters, and joint secretary of
the Coal and Shipping Exchange, Cardiff; Mr. D. M. Rees,
chairman of the North Rhondda Steam Coal Company
Limited; Mr. John Thomas, colliery agent to the Standard
Collieries; Mr. Thomas Evans, director of the Ocean Coal
Company Limited; Mr. J. John, who controls the Llwynon
Colliery. Several well-known miners’ agents have also been
included, amongst whom may be mentioned Mr. W. Jenkins,
Mr. W. Brace, M.P., Mr. Watts Morgan, Mr. T. Lucas,
and Mr. Vernon Hartshorn.

Northumberland and Durham.

New Rescue Station at Newbiggin — Homes for Aged
Workers.

The new rescue station which has just been opened at
Newbiggin Colliery has been erected by the colliery com-
pany’s own workmen, and cost about £400. The plans were
prepared by Mr. T. J. Cripps, the colliery engineer. On
the ground floor there is accommodation for an ambulance
van, and the rescue apparatus is also stored on the ground
floor. The smoke helmets are of the “ Durham ” type.
Also on the ground floor is the ambulance room, replete with
everything necessary for injured persons. Upstairs are
class rooms and rooms for reading and recreation. There
is a movement to form an ambulance brigade at the
colliery.

An explosion took place on Sunday night at the Crofton
Pit, one of the Cowpen group of collieries. Four men
working in the Low Main seam of the pit were burnt more
or less seriously by the explosion.

One of the finest miners’ halls in the county of Durham
is undoubtedly that opened at Easington Colliery on Satur-
day by Mr. T. H. Cann, an agent of the Durham Miners’
Association. The structure itself cost about £5,000, and
the furniture and fittings £1,000. The main hall has a
seating capacity of 1,100. The committee rooms are also
on a large scale.

The foundation stones of ten cottages for aged miners were
laid at Trimdon Grange on Saturday. The homes have
been built by the workmen of Trimdon Grange and Deaf
Hill, and are built on land given by Mr. John Wood, of
Coxhoe Hall, who is one of the owners of the Deaf Hill
Colliery. The Trimdon Grange Colliery owners have also
made a subscription of fifty guineas.

The miners, mechanics and enginemen connected with the
Wearmouth and Hylton collieries have decided to support
a scheme for providing homes for aged mine workers in the
neighbourhood. The company has been approached with
regard to land for the purpose, and both the chairman and
Mr. Parrington, the agent, are said to be willing to help
in that direction.

The North Bitchburn Coal Company Limited, of
Darlington, have recently decided to instal at their Randolph
Colliery, Evenwood, Co. Durham, a mixed pressure turbo-
generator, and to drive the underground and surface
machinery at this pit by electricity, and also to convey the
current by overhead cables to their Gordon House Colliery,
and subsequently to the Hylton sinkings. By this utilisa-
tion of exhaust steam, the company anticipate a considerable
saving in running costs. The work is to be carried out under
the direction of Messrs. W. C. and K. A. Mountain, consult-
ing engineers, of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

A Local Government Board enquiry was held at Gosforth
last week relative to the appeal of the Seaton Burn Coal
Company against the decision of the Gosforth Urban District
Council in regard to the provision of water closets in the
company’s houses at Gosforth. Over 40 houses owned by
the company were affected by the ultimatum of the Council.
Mr. C. M. Morton, colliery manager, stated that the houses
were an unprofitable concern at present and, with the
additional expense of installing the water system, the houses
would be closed and many men would have to live at Forest
Hall.

A diamond jubilee in the coal trade is that which is being
celebrated by Messrs. Sauber Bros., Hamburg, the well-
known German importers. The firm’s agents in Newcastle
are Messrs. T. H. and J. J. Catcheside and Company. The
firm was founded on July 6, 1839.

Cumberland.

Purchase of Ellenborough Colliery.

Tt is stated on good authority that negotiations have been
entered into for the purchase of the Ellenborough Colliery,
near Maryport, which was closed down in January last,
owing to lack of capital. Mr. Elliott, of the firm of Dunford
and Elliott, ship owners of Newcastle, Middlesbrough and
West Hartlepool, is the principal mover in the scheme, and
preliminary arrangements are being directed to the formation
of a syndicate, and in the event of this being successful
they will proceed to the allotment of the shares. The capital
of the new company will be £150,000, and they propose to
widen and deepen the two existing shafts, to equip the
colliery with the most modern machinery for a large output,
and the erection of a new set of by-product coke ovens.
Towards the end of last year a scheme for the reconstruction
of the colliery was in progress, and an attempt was made
to form a company with a capital of £200,000. but in January
the pit ceased working, and the reconstruction scheme fell
through. Several local people have also been approached
and the promoters have been favourably impressed with the
scheme.

Mr. J. Dickinson, secretary and manager of the North
Lonsdale Iron and Steel Company (Limited), it is stated,