256 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. Jury 31. 1914. in which M represents the cost in cents of the material as it comes from the crusher, and D represents the dis- tance in feet from the crusher to the intermediate trans- portation system. The freight charge of 1 cent per ton per mile, added to the cost of the material and the labour, makes the use of distant material rather a remote practicability unless some plan of transportation can be evolved that will be of benefit to both the operator and the transportation company. The cost of trough transportation varies from -1 cent per cu. yd. for wood troughs to -3 cent for metal troughs. The cost of pipe transportation per unit of 500 ft. varies approximately as follows :— Kind of pipe. Cost per cu. yd., cents. Steel ........................... 0’30 to 0’35 Wood............................. 0’35 to 0’40 Cast iron ....................... 0’35 to 0'40 Wrought iron .................... 0’40 to 0’45 The cost for the panel or the collective system is considerably less than for the individual system. The cost of drainage and ventilation in connection with hydraulic mine filling is difficult to determine on account of the great variety of possible contingencies. The cost of handling the water used for transporting the filler varies widely; if the usual pumping plant can easily handle the additional water, the cost is comparatively negligible, varying from 0-1 to 0-15 cent per cu. yd., but if additional pumping equipment, such as relay pumps, is required, the cost may vary from to 8 cents per cu. yd. of filler deposited. Under favourable geological conditions the drainage from several adjoining mines may be collected into a common sump, and all the water lifted to the surface by high-duty pumps or by water hoists at considerably less cost than the figures quoted. The cost of re-arranging ventilation, if re-arrangement is necessary, is practically negligible. A recapitulation of the costs of hydraulic mine filling is given in the table following. For surface filling, the cost of depositing breaker refuse, culm, or ashes, varies from 5 to 9 cents per cu. yd. Recapitulation of Cost of Hydraulic Mine Filling.* Surface transportation. Intermediate transporta- tion. Under- ground transporta- tion. Distribution. Drainage. Total. Material. Gravity. Scraper or | g conveyor. ■ g g CO M. Pump. ’ B i Shaft or slope. Borehole. Trough. Pipe. In flat workings. In chute workings. 1 In pitch workings. Incidental. Special. Minimum. I Maximum. Culm Culm mined with crushed breaker and boiler refuse. Local hydraulicked sand, loam, gravel, clay, &c. Local crushed sand, loam, gravel, clay, &c. Material brought from a distance in returning empty car cars. 1-li 4-5j 8-14 30-40 The ma frei pre fac< tioi 4i-6 7|-10 ’ 11H8I cost 0 terial, 1 ght, uni paring, a 3 tran i. 2{-4 54-8 94-164 »f the oading, oading, ,nd sur- sporta- 4- 4 Mi vn 1 -li 1 -14 iVr% 8-7 TO io T%“T8o 1W0 „ 1 - 3 * TO TO >25 per 1 J T3o"T% cent, s 7|-9 should 121-14J be adde 14-27^ d to ea To"To ch cos 14-8 t speci SM). fled ah 564 >ove. * The figures in this table represent cents per cubic yard, and are based on data obtained from operating plants with a capacity of at least 400 cubic yards daily. Smoke Abatement.—Evidence was given before the Smoke Abatement Committee, sitting at the offices of the Local Government Board, on Thursday, 23rd inst., by Mr. Edward Allen, engineer to the Liverpool Gas Company, past presi- dent of the Institution of Gas Engineers and of the British Commercial Gas Association. Mr. Allen had been appointed by the council of the Institution of Gas Engineers to represent them at the enquiry. Mr. Allen said the gas industry was interested in the question of smoke abatement on general grounds, but had a special interest because they were purveyors of smokeless fuel in the form of gas and gas coke. In regard to the cost of gas, it was noteworthy that during recent years special attention had been given to calorific power and not to illuminating power, as in the past. Under the new conditions the gasmakers’ object would be to supply the maximum number of heat units for a penny, and that would mean cheaper light, heat, and power by means of gas. It should be the object of all public bodies to supply gas at as low a price as possible, and thus encourage its use, so as to reduce coal and relieve the atmosphere from smoke. The convenience of gas for cooking, its efficiency and economy in time and money as compared with the use of a coal fire, was hardly open to question. In regard to gas fires, there had been a marvel- lous improvement in design and efficiency during recent years. The prejudice which formerly and rightly obtained was fast passing away. The time had come, declared Mr. Allen, for the entire abolition of the coal fire, and there were no economic reasons why people should not have coke fires, which, he guaranteed, would prove 44 per cent, more efficient. He did not like the word “ compulsion,” but he thought the householder should consider it his duty, what- ever he might use in his grate, to avoid smoke. Unless they dealt with the domestic fire they could not solve the problem of the smoke nuisance. Witness added that in his experi- ence the coke fire gave a great deal more radiant heat than a coal fire. Coke was cheaper than coal. The adoption of gas fuel by various manufacturers had been very successful, said the witness, and the supply of suitable appliances was rapidly increasing. In regard to coke for industrial purposes, it could be used as a substitute for coal with great advantage to the public. MINING AND OTHER NOTES. Sir Guy Granet (general manager of the Midland Kailway Company) has been ordered by his doctor to take a prolonged rest, and, accordingly, he has temporarily vacated his position. The directors have appointed Mr. Frank Tatlow, at present Parliamentary assistant to the general manager, to be acting general manager during Sir Guy Granet’s absence. It is announced that the Panama Canal will be opened to traffic for vessels drawing not more than 30 ft. of water on August 15. Francis Charles Granville Egerton, third Earl of Elles- mere, who died on July 13, left unsettled property pro- visionally sworn for probate at <£250,000. A conference of over 1,000 representatives of assessment committees of England and Wales met in London on Thursday, 23rd inst., to consider the Government’s proposed Valuation Bill. About 360 assessment committees were represented. A deputation was appointed to wait upon Mr. Lloyd George. The deputation was received by Mr. Herbert Samuel, in the absence of Mr. Lloyd George. In his reply, he said there was no intention to abolish the assessment committees, and there was no proposal that the approval of the valuation list should be transferred to a Government Department, which, he agreed with them, would be wrong. What was proposed was that they should take full advantage of the local knowledge of the assess- ment committees. Their composition might perhaps in certain cases be improved, but assessment committees would continue in the reforms they contemplated. The assessment committees would hear objections, and if there was any difference of opinion between them and the Valua- tion Office the matter would go to a Court of Appeal, instead of at present to a Court of Sessions. Keferring to the gross inequalities in rating that existed all over England, and even between different parts of the same county, he said this question of assessment became of greater importance when the Imperial Parliament proposed to give grants in aid of local rates on the basis of ratable values. It was certain that if there was to be a special rating of land with a view of lowering the rates on houses, and improvements, they must have a special assessment of land valuation, and the Valuation Office had been for the last four years actually accumulating enormous masses of material as to the actual value of the land for the whole country. Herr Ballin, director-general of the Hamburg-America Line, is now in London, in connection with negotiations for the purchase, it is understood, of extensive oilfields in Mexico, with a view to supplying the company’s vessels running on the Panama route with liquid fuel. Mr. Joseph Cliff, of The Grove, Scawby, Lincolnshire, a director of the Frodingham Iron and Steel Company Limited, D.L., J.P., high sheriff for the county in 1901, who died on June 9, aged 73, left estate of the gross value of <£233,206, of which .£156,383 is net personalty. As finally agreed to and reported by the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, the Clayton Bill, supple- menting the anti-trust Acts, contains several important amendments. One amendment provides for a court review of orders issued either by the proposed Federal Trade Commission, or the Interstate Commerce Commission in the enforcement of the anti-trust laws; it also provides for an appeal to the United States Supreme Court from a final decree of any district court in any proceedings. The Judiciary Committee retains, but modifies, most of the so- called “ price fixing sections ” of the House Bill, making it unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, either directly or indirectly, to discriminate in price between different purchasers of commodities for the purpose of destroying or wrongfully injuring a competitor’s business. It does not, however, forbid price discrimination, which is made in good faith to meet fair competition, and makes only due allowance for differences in grade, quality, or quantity, or difference in cost of selling, transportation, &c.; nor does it prevent sellers from selecting their own customers in bona-fide transactions, and not in restraint of trade. The section exempting labour, agriculture, and other favoured organisations from the operation of the Anti-trust Law is retained, though somewhat modified. The provision permitting traffic arrangements of common carriers is eliminated. Section 9, as adopted by the House, was intended to prevent directors or officers of railroad corpora- tions from being directors of other corporations supplying materials for equipment and other supplies. This section, as recast by the Senate Committee, limits the amount of purchase from such supply corporation to 50,000 dols. in any one year, except where there is competition under regulations prescribed by the Commerce Commission. Heavy penalties of fines and imprisonment are retained. A preliminary summary of the railway returns for 1913 has been issued by the Board of Trade, from which we extract the following:—Mileage of lines open for traffic, including sidings, 55,438 miles of single track; goods and minerals conveyed — general merchandise, 72,879,000 tons ; coal, coke and patent fuel, 226,528,000 tons; other minerals, 72,164,000 tons—total, 371,571,000 tons ; engine mileage—train miles, 435,346,000 miles ; shunting miles, 137,830,000 miles; other miles, 54,603,000—total, 627,779,000 miles; goods train receipts—merchandise, <£32,978,000 ; live stock, <£1,675,000; coal, coke, and patent fuel, £22,903,600 ; other minerals, <£9,061,000—total, 66,617,000; total traffic receipts, £123,546,000 ; total receipts, £139,253,000 (steamboats, £2,579,000; canals, £1,101,000; docks, harbours and wharves, £3,734,000); expenditure on railway working, £78,803,000 ; other expenditure, £8,439,000 ; total expenditure, £87,242.000. THE LONDON COAL TRADE. Thursday, July 30. The London coal trade for the past week has in all its branches shown a considerable amount of activity, except for smalls and slacks. Best qualities continue scarce, and all prices have been well maintained, a steady business has been transacted, but the quantity available has been some- what restricted, the shipping departments claiming the larger quantity, and the Yorkshire qualities being almost exclusively absorbed by the Humber ports. The increase in the demand for Derby brights and for the bakers’ nuts has been most marked. Supplies, however, have been plentiful, and the tonnage has rapidly increased. The steam coal market is firm, especially for the best quality of hards, but the plentiful supply of D.S. nuts and peas and slacks of all kinds have found very little favour, and prices have gradually reduced. The holiday season has caught many of the merchants with only a sparse supply in hand, and the colder weather has awakened a strong desire to fill up all available stacking ground. The many weeks of quiet trade, when merchants have been persistently holding aloof from buying, hoping for lower prices, has at last culminated in a brisk demand for fuller supplies, and in some cases in an advance in pit prices. The question of the renewal of contracts has also been seriously to the front during the week, and in many cases contracts which have been long held in abeyance have been settled. Very little alteration from last year’s prices have been made in the better qualities of house coal, but all the contracts settled during the past week are reported to be at from 6d. to 9d. per ton lower than last year. Bakers’ nuts and kitchener cobbles have been the quality specially dealt in. The softer qualities of house coal are still a negligible quantity, for the demand is not yet sufficiently strong to work these qualities straight from the truck, and they are too tender to put into stock to any great extent. The worst feature of the market is the depression in small coal. Electric works, especially lighting plants, are not large consumers yet, and the plentiful supply of every description of small nuts and slack has made the market very weak for these qualities. Some heavy enquiries have during the week been noticeable, more particularly for Welsh steam coal (Admiralty list). The Austrian navy have asked for tenders for 50,000 tons of best Welsh. The Bulgarian State Railway are enquiring for 14,000 tons of locomotive fuel, and Spain also has been asking for about 18,000 tons of patent fuel. The Russian authorities have been buying freely, and recently the Greek navy have purchased about 35,000 tons for speedy delivery before, the end of August. The Belgian railway authorities have bought 20,000 tons. Some of the War Office con- tracts are said to be in the market again, as the cheaper class of coal accepted earlier in the summer is said to be unsuitable, and tenders for other qualities are required for many of the “ Commands.” Altogether the outlook for the coming month begins to look far more hopeful than hereto- fore. ” Wakes and feasts ” are considerably lessening the output of coal in many neighbourhoods, and the holiday season amongst the miners will undoubtedly restrict the quantity available during the next few weeks. The sea- borne market has been very sparsely supplied, and prices are unaltered. On Monday 26 vessels were reported, but all contract coals; and six vessels were enteied for Wednesday’s market. The attendance each market day has shown an increasing interest in the trade generally, and “ buying ” on Monday and Wednesday was distinctly brisk. The delivery trade is still reported as slow, but at all the depots more activity prevails, and many of the merchants have a fair number of orders in from the general public, so that after the holidays the trade for both house coal and manu- facturing qualities bids fair to be brisk. The Port of London Authority, in their annual report, which was issued on Wednesday last, shows an increase of 2,404,140 tons as compared with the preceding year in the cargoes to and from the London docks. From Messrs. Dinham, Faweui and Co.’i Report. Friday, July 24.—The seaborne house coal market was very quiet to-day, no cargoes being on offer. Cargoes 23. Monday, July 27.—There was a slightly better tone in the seaborne house coal market to-day. A cargo of best and second Yorkshire was disposed of at quoted price for Sharlston W.E., but the price of Sharlston Main did not transpire. Sharlston W.E., 20s. 6d. Cargoes 26. Wednesday, July 29.—There was no alteration in the seaborne house coal market to-day, no cargoes being on offer. Sharlston W.E. 20s. 6d. Cargoes 7.