August 21, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

423

When war broke out the Colliery
The Guardian was amongst the first to
Manufacturer emphasise the pre-eminent need of
and the War. maintaining trade in its old channels.

That this cataclysm has disturbed
many long-existing relations and temporarily has
upset the balance of custom is a fact, of course, that
cannot be ignored. But it is a mistake to look upon
this dislocation as being necessarily disastrous to
British enterprise. There has been a disposition on
the part of some of our contemporaries to label every
trader who cannot contrive to carry on his business
as an enemy of his country. A .little sober reflection
will demonstrate how graceless and baseless is this
accusation in general terms. There are manufac-
turers who, owing to the nature of their business,
have temporarily lost their markets ; there are others
who have been unable to obtain supplies of raw
material; who have been deprived of the facilities
for transport, without the accommodation or means
io lay to stock ; and, again, there are cases in which
sources of immediate revenue have become insufficient
to pay wages and other current expenses. These are
all tangible results of the present crisis, and it is the
function of the trade Press to help rather than to
blame.

Some of our manufacturers, indeed, under the first
shock of apprehension, or because their outlook is
circumscribed, seem to have been needlessly timid, and
to have forgotten that there is such a thing us false
economy. To take the name-plate off the door is a
step that invariably must damage if there is any
intention of resuming business when the days of
stress are passed. Old associations may never be.
recovered, and the fresh business may go to newcomers
who have been sufficiently far-sighted to prepare the
ground for future crops.

There are, we feel, two main considerations upon
which the manufacturer of mining machinery should
dwell. In the first place there is no fear now that
the war will demand the closing of many British
collieries; certainly not if the entire industrial
machine runs smoothly and harmoniously, and efforts
are made to maintain a proper “load factor,”
with every effort directed to useful effect. There
may be some tendency to spare expenditure on
new plant, but large profits have been made
out of coal during the last year or two, and, on
our side, we would impress upon our mine owners
the desirability of taking full delivery under contract,
and even of placing new orders where possible, thus
to help their friends the manufacturers to provide
employment for their workpeople. But whether the
wheels at the pit heads continue to revolve for their
wonted daily term or not, large supplies of materials
are still needed to keep the workings intact; water
must still be raised, roofs must be supported, and
everything protected against the disintegrating
effects of disuse. Is there not a chance here for
British mining machinery to come by its own ?
British-made pumps, steel props, electrical appliances,
etc., etc., are every whit as good as the German
equivalents with which they have had to compete in
the past. Means have now been devised by Parlia-
ment to overcome the difficulties that seemed to

present themselves in the shape of German patent
rights.

Secondly, there is the export trade. As we
strongly urged in these columns in the first days
after .the outbreak of war, the chief ends that we
should hold in view at this crisis in the nation’s
history are the continuity of employment and the
maintenance of food supplies. These may rank
below the prime necessity of preserving our liberty
by the exercise of a strong right hand, but they are
not greatly inferior to it, and every day that our forces
on land and sea succeed in barring the path of the
aggressor, the more important it becomes that our
commercial instincts should quicken. We have
already pointed out that our coal trade, at such
times, is an asset of unparalleled value to this
country. Like a lubricant, it prevents the over-
wrought industrial machine from breaking down ; it
provides employment for men and ships; it brings as
a return all kinds of essential goods. Almost every
manufacturer has an analogous duty.

The manufacturer of mining appliances in the past
has complained bitterly of German competition in
the colonies and dependencies. Is this, then, the
time, when that competition is dormant, for the
British maker to sulk like Achilles in his tent? All
over the world, in British possessions and the lands
of friendly Powers, mining is still being carried on
without intermission, and mine Owners who have
used German machinery in the past must perforce
turn elsewhere. They may go to America, but why
not to Great Britain ? Thanks to our navy and our
mercantile marine we can still do the business. But
some manufacturers are not giving these potential
customers a chance; they will not even allow them
to know that they exist, at a time when British goods
are sure to be favourably regarded, if only on
sentimental grounds.

It is not in our own interest solely that we put these
points of view. An old-established journal such as
the Colliery Guardian has many friends in many
countries; it has readers the world over, and, with
the exception of a certain storm centre in the middle of
Europe, it is still reaching them punctually each week,
and one of its chief functions is to tell its readers
where they can get the things they need. We can
only do this, however, with the help of the manufac-
turers.

It is the same at home. The daily Press is now
absorbed in war news, and it has ceased to show its
wonted intelligent interest in industrial affairs. The
man who wishes to know what is going on in his
own trade must perforce turn to the technical and
commercial Press for his information ; some are now
probably studying their trade organs carefully for
the first time in their lives. Even though these
readers may not be able to place orders now, they
will no doubt make mental reservations for the
future, and the seeds of peaceful trade may be sown
in time of war. If we may coin a motto for our
friends the manufacturers we should say

“ Do your best and advertise it.”

If you don’t there are those who will believe that all
the time you have been a German firm masquerading
under an English name, and that you are no longer
in a position to deal!

Coal exporters are in much more

The cheerful mood this week. For by
Shipment Of degrees the “ triple bond ” has
Steam Coal, been whittled down until virtually
it has vanished. The decision to
remove the bond was arrived at upon the recommen-
dation of an inter-departmental committee set up to
report upon the desirability of considering the old
arrangement, having regard to its alleged effect on
the shipping industry of this country. The com-
mittee met at the Privy Council on Tuesday, and
soon after they had dispersed instructions were
communicated to the collector of Customs in the
following terms : —

Large steam coal will be removed from the list of
restricted goods. Pending the issue of any proclamation,
the exportation of coal will be allowed without bond and
without regard to destination provided that there is no
suspicion of its constituting contraband by reference to
destination.

Prior to this the bond had been removed in favour
of the Italian railways, which were in sore need of
coal. The obstacles that remain are largely financial,
and it was scarcely to be anticipated that the break-
down of the highly organised system of credit upon
which the export coal trade is based could be repaired
in a day. There is plenty of business to be done,
but at present the impossibility of conserving the
time-hallowed custom of “cash against documents”
acts as a serious deterrent. A vital necessity is to
extend the facilities for discounting bills. To
countries like Italy a supply of coal is of paramount
importance, and it should not be impossible to
establish some system whereby the respective Powers,
to whose ports coal is sent, should arrange to back
financially the purchases of importers.

Coal exporters are naturally anxious as to the
prospects of American competition. During the past
few months West Virginia coal has found its way to
many of the most important coaling stations. For
the present, however, there is plenty of coal but no

tonnage, for the bulk of the American coal exported is
carried in British bottoms. It was certain from the
outset that the United States would attempt to turn the
troubles of Europe to account so far as to
regain her lost pre-eminence in shipping, and
President Wilson is already engaged in building up
a mercantile marine, by a method of detachment.
Many difficulties have to be overcome, however,
before the United States can hope to beat us out of
the field. Nevertheless, we may expect organised
assaults upon our South American markets in the
early future.

The annual report of the Chief
Factory Inspector of Factories and Work-
Inspection SHOPS for the year 1913 contains, as
in 1913. usual, much interesting matter, for
although one result of the various
Coal Mines Acts has been to limit the application of
the Factory Act to places where manufacturing pro-
cesses are carried on, apart from the getting, dressing
or preparation of coal for the market, there is still a
considerable sphere of influence for this Act in
connection with collieries, and both directly and
indirectly the factory inspector and the colliery
manager have points of contact.

Perhaps one of the most important of these is in
relation to the manufacture of patent fuel. It will
be remembered that in 1911 a public enquiry was
held with respect to certain draft regulations issued
by the Factory Commissioner for the regulation of
the manufacture of briquettes. This enquiry was
reopened in 1913 at Swansea, and the regulations were
ultimately withdrawn. The long interval was arranged
for the purpose of discovering how far the men
engaged in this industry would be willing to avail
themselves of baths, and also how far it might be
possible to reduce the amount of dust present in
some of these factories. The Commissioner found
that while the manufacturers were perfectly willing
to do anything in reason to diminish the dangers of
pitch ulceration, the attitude of the men was distinctly
opposed to compulsory baths, and indeed the efficacy
of this proposed remedy was not at all clearly
established. Satisfactory voluntary arrangements
were made accordingly which appeared to meet the
case without the necessity of draft regulations, and
an important experiment was at the same time begun
in a Cardiff briquette works for the purpose of
endeavouring to improve the conditions under which
the industry is carried on.

This experiment consists in treating the pitch with
formaldehyde with the object of eliminating the
auxetic elements. This experiment was placed under
the charge of Dr. H. C. Ross, with the assistance of
three eminent skin physicians, and its result will be
looked for with much interest by all who are
concerned with the industry.

Another field of enquiry which at the present time
possesses great interest in the colliery industry is
that of the relation existing between mineral dust
inhalation and phthisis, which has been further
investigated by Dr. Collis. As is known, the coal
miners’ lungs are as black as the coal itself, but the
death - rate from phthisis amongst this class of
workers is below the normal; whereas ganister

workers, exposed to silica dust, have tough fibious
lungs and an abnormally high death-rate. There is
much perturbation amongst some persons with
regard to the possible influence of stone-dusting in
collieries upon the health of the collier. It may,
therefore, be of interest to give the conclusions of
Dr. Collis upon the effects of different kinds of
dust, as presented by him to the Seventeenth Inter-
national Congress of Medicine last year. These
were as follow :—

1.	Inhalation of all forms of dust is accompanied by
diminished power of chest expansion.

2.	Diminished power of chest expansion so produced
is accompanied by high blood pressure.

3.	Animal dusts, apart from the presence in them of
pathogenic micro-organisms, when inhaled, produce less
effects than do vegetable and mineral dusts.

4.	Vegetable dusts, when inhaled, tend to produce a
type of chest affection best described as asthmatic.

5.	Of mineral dusts those composed of calcium salts
are least injurious.

6.	Inhalation of mineral dusts, which do not contain
free silica, tends to produce irritation of the upper air
passages and respiratory diseases other than phthisis.