THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1237 December 11, 1911. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Government’s scheme for the creation of an aniline dye industry in this country was explained by Lord Moulton to a large gathering of business men from Lancashire, Yorkshire, and adjoining counties, at Manchester. Lord Moulton said that when he began to investigate the question he found that England consumed some £2,000,000 worth of dyes, which were essential to industrial products valued at something like <£200,000,000 a year, on which at least one and a-half million men were dependent. Of dyes of that value barely one-tenth was produced in this country, and stocks were rapidly diminishing. Among the chief causes of the position of this country was the English dislike to study— the failure to prepare intellectually for the task that had to be undertaken. The whole of these dyes could be manufactured in England, if the proper plant were put up and the proper men- chosen to guide it. There must be a great national effort to create a company, for whose success three conditions would be necessary. It must be large, its loyalty must be beyond doubt, and it must be co-operative. The company must be under national control. A resolution approving a national effort was carried unanimously. Before the Prize Court on Monday in the case of the barque “ Odessa ” and cargo an important statement was made by the Attorney-General as to the intentions of the Crown in cases where cargo was vested in a German company, and must be condemned, but where British bankers had an interest as pledges which could not be recognised. He stated that he had authority for saying that a committee had been constituted called the Prize Claims Committee, for the purpose of receiving and considering claims which were made by third parties against ships or cargoes condemned in that court, in order that the law laid down by the president that those who had charges over ships were not entitled to claim, might not lead to suffering unfairly in cases where it was right that British, allied, or neutral subjects should receive consideration. The hearing of the case was adjourned. In an article written for the Philadelphia Public Ledger, Mr. William Jasper Nicolls considers that Europe must soon turn to the United States to replenish her diminishing supply of coal. This, he says, is where Europe will meet with disappointment. “ We have use for all of our coal at home; we used practically all of it last year, only a fractional part of this enormous- coal production was exported in 1913 say about 25,000,000 net tons. . . . Even although we could produce the coal or any appreciable amount of it, we must consider another thing, and that is the question of transportation. Unfortunately our mines are not situated on or near the sea coast, but at a distance inland, and our coal-carrying railroads are already taxed to their utmost capacity to move the domestic coal tonnage that is offered them. A sudden demand from abroad that would materially increase our production would find the railroads unable to transport it from the mines to the vessels.” Exports and Imports of Coal Tar Products.—The follow- ing shows the values of coal tar dyes imported into the United Kingdom in November and the 11 months ended therewith :— November. Jan.-Nov. ______________ ______________ 1913. 1914. 1913. 1914. Alizarine and anthracene £ £ £ £ ... dye stuffs............. 23,780 .. — ... 251,913... 131,970 Aniline and naphthalene dye stuffs.............120,785...€6,893... 1,412,916.1,054,526 Synthetic indigo ....... 6,560... — ... 70,721... 48,971 Other coal tar dye stuffs.. — ... — ... 570... 154 The quantity of aniline and naphthalene dye stuffs imported in November was 8,249 cwt. The values of the coal products exported in November were as follow :— November. Jan.-Nov. 1913. 1914. 1913. 1914. Coal products, n t dyes - £ £ £ £ Aniline oil & toluidine 1,711... . 6,127... 27.217... 42,856 Anthracene 138.. 334... 1,448... 1,046 Benzol and toluol ... 19,664... 10,013. . 280,033... 173,277 Carbolic acid 14,124... 20,576... 175,178... 122.689 Coal tar, crude ,, refined at.d 700... 732... 16,731 .. 8,914 varnish 5 876... 4,053 64,535... 53,214 Naphtha 1,922... 1,198... 21,909... 16,967 Naphthalene 2,153... . 1,371... 35,357... 22,935 Pitch 123,343... 43,631... 988,161... 683,786 Tar oil, creosote, &c ... 46,270... 17,116... 557,519... 496,300 Other sorts 27,655... 29,235... 277,947... 269,294 Total ........... 243,556...134,386...2,446,035...1,891,278 Coal tar dye stuffs .... 15,633... 11,049.. 163,235... 159,386 The following quantities of the above products were exported in November : Coal products, not dyes : Aniline oil and tolui- dine, 182,5001b. ; anthracene, 161,1421b.; benzol and toluol, 205,458 galls.; carbolic acid, 9,874 cwt.; coal tar, crude, 3,881 cwt. ; ditto, refined and varnish, 181,597 galls. ; naphtha, 24,512 galls.; naphthalene, 2,914 cwt.; pitch, 496,256 cwt.; tar oil, creosote, etc., 890,122 galls. ; other sorts, 50,572 cwt. ; coal tar dye stuffs, 3,132 cwt. Exports of sulphate of ammonia were as follow :— November. Jan.-Nov. To— 1913. 1914. £ £ 1913. £ 1914. £ Germany ... France 15,242... — .. 2,176... 782.. 39,050... 24,508.. . 96,427.. . 118,366.. . 788,553.. . 43,087 . 26,903 . 745,768 Spain and Canaries Italy 2,429 5,793.. 4,154... 73,814 . . 78,402.. . 514,045.. . 57,809 . 560,876 Dutch East Indits Japan United States of 141,911 .. 75,887.. .1,399,010.. .1,043,735 America British West India 114,480... 26,781.. . 394,079.. . 441,259 Islands (including Bahamas) & British Guiana 11.930.. . 10,770.. 27.470.. . 56,510.. . 124,583 . . 518,453 . 117,184 418,623 Other countries Total............. 358 812 . 274,875...4,031,918...3,455,244 The following were the quantities exported in November :— France, 70 tons; Spain and Canaries, 2,225 tons; Italy, 508 tons; Dutch East Indies, 6,887 tons; Japan, 6,669 tons; United States, 2,472 tons; British West Indies, 983 tons; other countries, 5?138 tons—making a total of 24,952 tons. COAL AND COKE EXPORTED FROM PORTS IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND WALES. During the month of November 1914, compared with the corresponding month of 1913.* Port November 19^4. November 19 4. Coals. Coke. Coals C 4e. Coals. Coke. Increase. Deere ase. Increase. Decrease. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. 1 oils Newcastle 264,419 22,005 854,902 20.062 — 590,483 1,943 — Noith Shields 64,197 1,552 70,639 446 — 6,442 1,106 — South Shiel s 220,148 1,535 137,824 261 82,324 — 1,274 — Sunderland 155,693 99 227,954 1,387 — 72,261 — 1,288 West Hartlepool 42,639 483 95.787 1,998 — 53,148 — 1,515 Goole 37,366 1,154 103,667 2,843 — 66,301 — 1,689 Blyth 147,224 1,317 308,590 1,215 — 161,366 102 — Newport — — 348,684 1,667 — 348,684 — 1,667 Liv« rpool — — 44,033 1,383 — 44,033 — 1,383 Methil • 99,542 ' 3,121 226,836 330 — 127,294 2,791 — Glasgow 208,961 8,655 146,641 1,716 62,320 6,939 Kirkcaldy 8,942 92 9,u 76 134 92 — B urntisland . 89,058 901 117,279 3,049 — 28,221 —- 2,148 Carl iff 898,042 2,165 1,506,945 , 5,668 — 608,903 — 3,503 Borrowstoness 14,808 303 32,897 1,365 — 18,089 — 1,062 Llanelly 8,993 — 13,355 — — 4,362 — — Middlesbrough 2,648 3,666 1,470 1,719 1,178 •— 1,947 Seaham .. .. 24,936 340 81,692 56,756 340 — Swansea 152,351 2,592 291,307 497 — 138,956 2,079 Granton 11,418 3,824 10,859 2,606 559 — 1,218 — Port I albot 98,083 2,166 131,456 — — 33,373 2,166 — Alloa 801 — 9,251 8,450 Grangemouth 27,847 1,657 137,422 7,855 — 109,575 — 6,198 Neath — — — — —— — Hull 157,156 4,082 383,572 6,673 ' — 226,416 — 2,591 Immingham 47,173 — — — 47,173 — — — Amble 26,979 — 39,867 — — 12,888 — — Troon 17,622 — 4,852 — 12,770 — — — Grimsby 71,706 2,105 70,472 1,989 1,234 — 116 — Ayr 14,109 __ 10,621 — 3,488 —— — Greenock ... 1,028 1,028 1 eith t 72,460 — 127,364 — — 54,904 — — At dros-an 6.992 — 10,467 — — 3,475 — — Stockton ______________________ — — — — — — — 1 — COAL AND COKE SHIPPED FOR LONDON AND OTHER PORTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.* Poi’t. N ovember 1913 November 1914. Port. November 1913. November 1914. Coals. | Coke. Coals. I Coke. Coals. Coke. Coals. i Coke. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. i Tons. Newcastle 371,722 772 125,260 85 Ayr 54,085 — 67,139 ! — North Shields 86 — 27,875 i — Irvine 4,855 — 4,270 — South Shields 163,459 1 330 Alloa 1,555 — Blyth 28,870 — | 14,280 Whitehaven . . 17,809 — 15,433 — Amble 6,244 — i 3,615 [ — Liverpool 140,540 212 — — ! Sunderland ... 118,538 — 1 84,725 — Grimsby 3,150 — 195 — Seaham 77,044 — 82,905 i — Granton 21,049 — 12,080 — ___________________ Hartlepool 61,750 — 38,670 — Borrowstoness 11,861 — 2.507 . — Stockton — 90 -— Burntisland ... 18,815 — 7,325 — Middlesbrough ' — — — — Kirkcaldy 2,179 — 873 1 — Hull i 61,251 500 46,070 300 Methil 29,712 — 9,427 : Goole 129,632 90,302 — Port Talbot 10,638 90 c 1'89 pf 9,954 391 Swansea 32,160 — 16,189 — Glasgow 25,079 5 0 19,521 724 Cardiff ... 231,651 • 60 : 58,422 : DO Grangemouth 14,455 600 5,405 — Llanelly 8,473 | — 1 3,490 — Greenock 744 — 2,055 — Newport 48,025 | — j — — Immingham ... — — 8,465 — Troon 16,471 ; 1 6,326 Leith 4,335 16 6,324 — Ardrossan 4,081 — i 5,857 * From Browne’s Export List. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MINING AND OTHER NOTES. The case of Messrs. F. Ropner and Co., shipowners, of West Hartlepool v. Mr. Hermann Ronnebeck, coal merchant, of Middlesbrough, was heard on the 4th inst. by Mr. Justice Bailhache, in the King’s Bench Division. Mr. A. A. Roche, K.C., for the plaintiffs, said the action was on a charter party, under which the defendant was to load coal for Petrograd on one of plaintiffs’ vessels. The loading was to be completed in a certain number of days. The vessel reached Bly th on June 20 last, and on that date notice was given to the defendant to proceed with the loading. At that time there was a strike of engineers, and the defendant refused to load, on the ground that he did not know how long the strike would last. He asked for guarantees that plaintiffs would not have a strike of engineers on their ship. Plaintiffs refused, and the result of the delay was that the ship did not reach Finland till the war broke out, and she was now detained there. Plaintiffs contended that defendant was not entitled to refuse to load, and that they were entitled to recover £344 3s. 4d. for demurrage. His lordship, in giving judgment, said no doubt there were circumstances which would entitle a charterer to refuse to load a steamer if he reasonably thought she would not be able to proceed with her cargo to her destination within a commercially reasonable time. But such cases, so far as he knew, had hitherto been always in cases of war, and he was not prepared to be the first to apply that principle to the case of a strike. He did not think a charterer was entitled to say he anticipated a strike would be so long that it would delay his vessel to such an extent as to frustrate the adventure. There would be judgment for the plaintiffs, for the amount claimed, with costs. According to the Umpire under Part II. of the National Insurance Act, unemployed contributions are payable in respect of war refugees employed as workmen in insured trades. The Board of Trade have been notified by the Panama Railroad Company that from October 15 last until further notice it is prepared to supply coal to vessels at the following rates:— At Colon, At Balboa, Atlantic end, Pacific end, dols. per ton. dols. per ton. For steamships, delivered in lighters or cars, trimmed in bunkers, when ships use their ..... own gear................... To parties taking carload lots . . . To parties taking smaU quanti- ties from car or bin......... 5’4° 6 40 6-25 7‘60 7’75 9 20 An additional charge of one dollar per hour will be made for the use of steam hoist and crane when these are furnished by the railroad company. During September 262,890 tons of coal and 26,245 tons of coke were imported into Spain, as compared with 211,492 tons of coal and 33,653 tons of coke in September 1913. In the nine months ended with September, 2,018,943 tons of coal were imported, as against 2,029,846 tons, and 294,460 tons of coke, as against 273,160 tons. Only 393,120 tons of iron ore were exported in September, as against 614,514 tons and 670 tons of manganese, as against 4,148 tons, the totals for the nine months being 5,275,047 tons (6,984,838 tons) and 7,908 (22,229 tons) respectively. At the meeting of the London County Council on Tuesday, the Stores and Contracts Committee reported as follows with reference to the publication of values of contracts for coal:—“ A regulation provides that in cases in which the publication of the estimated value of a contract for stores, &c., may lead to the disclosure of the individual price or prices quoted, the particulars, instead of being included in our report to the Council, shall be laid on the table for the information of members. It has, however, been the practice for many years to include in reports to the Council details of tenders proposed to be accepted for the supply of coal and coke, and we are of opinion that we should be enabled to continue this practice. If the Council agrees with our proposal, the General Purposes Committee will submit the necessary amendment of the regulation.” Accordingly, the C uncil decided that the inclusion in reports of the committee of details of quoted prices should be duly authorised. In the Appeal Court on Saturday, an application was made to postpone the hearing of the appeal of Barwell against the Newport-Abercarn Coal Company, until Thurs- day (yesterday). The appeal is against a judgment of Judge Hill Kelly at Newport. The judge decided against Edward Barwell in a claim by him for Ils. 3d., balance of wages due for the week ended April 27, 1912. The point at issue was whether the onus of the production of a certificate as a condition precedent to the recovery of the minimum wage was upon the workman. Their lordships consented to the application. The will of the late Mr. Thomas Bell, Newcastle (Pyman, Bell and Company, coal exporters), has been proved at Newcastle at £504,598 gross and £498,886 net personalty. ___________________________ Immingham Coal Exports.—Returns for the week ending December 4, show that the coal exported from Immingham totalled 15,830 tons foreign, against 43,133 tons foreign and 4,500 tons coastwise for the corresponding period of last year. Shipments are as follow :—Foreign : To Bergen, 1,028; Dieppe, 1,697; Christiania. 2.881: Gothenburg, 1T99; Gustafsberg, 1,865: Malmo, 1,800: Middlefart, 1,479; Oporto, 1,056; and Savona, 2,825 tons.