December 18, 1914

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1289

mises, and they purchased for £5,016 a site in Borough-
road North, and contiguous to the High School. Last year
an attempt was made to arrive at some idea as to the cost
of providing a suitable school, and it was estimated that full
accommodation, together with an art school, could be
provided for from .£40,000 to £45,000. At the close of the
conference it was stated that resolutions had been adopted
in favour of a technical college being built, in which instruc-
tion in subjects closely connected with the industries of
Teesside should be given; that such college should be for
the North Riding of Yorkshire and Middlesbrough; that the
building should be at Middlesbrough Cand that the Board of
Education be asked to receive a deputation on the question,
with a view to the Board making a grant towards meeting
the capital charges to be incurred.

Cumberland.

A new departure in the way of recruiting meetings took
place at Mr. Ainsworth’s Margaret Mine, Frizington,
recently. At the invitation of the manager, the workmen,
numbering upwards of 200, assembled at two o’clock in the
changing house, and were addressed by Mr. Ainsworth,
M.P., Mr. W. Leek, H.M. inspector of mines, and Mr. R.
Smith, general manager. Mr. Ainsworth said he under-
stood that Mr. Leek had received instructions from the
chief inspector of the district to bring before the notice of
the young men employed at mines and quarries the serious-
ness of the present crisis, with the object of inducing as
many as possible to join Lord Kitchener’s Army. There
was no compulsion now, but he strongly urged young men
to consider it their pressing duty to enlist. The work of
every man who enlisted would be kept for him, and his
dependants would be properly looked after by those who
stayed behind. Mr. Leek mentioned that Mr. Ainsworth’s
eldest son had received a commission, and was now ready to
proceed to the front. Further, his younger son had died as
a hero in France.

Yorkshire.

Feeding Miners' Children During the Strike —Railway
Developments in the Doncaster Area—Interesting Com-
pensation Caset—Another Yorkshire Manager Promoted.

The difficulties of the water supply in the new colliery
districts around Doncaster were emphasised at a Local
Government Board enquiry held at Ad wick-le-Street recently
by Mr. A. W. Brightmore, M.Inst.C.E., into the appli-
cation of the Doncaster Rural District Council to borrow
£7,100 for works of water supply for the parish. Negotia-
tions for a supply of water for the Doncaster colliery district
from the Leeds Corporation not having been carried through,
other arrangements are obliged to be made. The inspector
was informed that the population of the parish had, through
the sinking of the Brodsworth Main Colliery Company,
increased from 307 in 1901 to an estimated population at the
present time of 6,750. Following the sinking of the colliery,
the Brodsworth Main Company erected about 662 houses on
a site known as “ The Woodlands,” and an additional 304
houses at Highfields. The colliery company had supplied
these two lots of houses with water from their colliery. The
population of 1901 was mainly resident in the old village of
Ad wick, where additional houses had been erected since the
sinking of the colliery. It was this particular portion of
the parish that mostly required a supply of water. A tem-
porary supply had been obtained by the Rural Council from
a bore well, but it was necessary this should be extended,
so that water could be placed in each house. An arrange-
ment had been made with the Brodsworth Main Colliery to
do this. The company had obtained a supply from the Bull-
croft Main Colliery Company, in the parish of Skellow, and
this would be pumped by the company into their reservoirs
at Woodlands. The price of the water was to be 6d. per
1,000 galls, of water delivered, and the arrangement is for
a’term of 30 years, determinable at an earlier date if the
Council succeeded in obtaining an improved supply from
another source, a condition being attached in this respect
that the Council should pay the colliery company £100 per
annum for 10 years to help to repay them for the cost of the
rising main, the Council to be at liberty to take water to
the value of £100 per year if they desired to do so.

We recently mentioned that the question of the liability
of Yorkshire miners for expenses incurred in the feeding of
their children attending school during the coal strike m the
early part of the year was being tested in the Courts by
the Education Authority. The matter was before the
Rotherham Trades and Labour Council last week, whose
meeting was attended by Councillor Greaves, of Rawmarsh,
who came as a deputation representing a miners’ joint com-
mittee. He stated that the parents of the children were
never consulted about the latter being fed, they were not
told that they would have to pay for the meals, and had
not before been asked to do so. A joint meeting had been
held at Rawmarsh of representatives of some 30 branches of
the Yorkshire Miners’ Association, and at this meeting it
was unanimously decided to support the Rawmarsh officials
in their action against the appeal of the West Riding
Education Authority, who seek to enforce payment by the
miners. The Rotherham Council passed a resolution sup-
porting the Rawmarsh Trades and Labour Council- in their
opposition to the appeal.

New railways and railway improvements in the Doncaster
district, following upon colliery developments, are matters
of perennial interest. A veritable network of lines now
stretches over the whole of the industrial portion of South
Yorkshire. And still more are to come. At a meeting of
the Worksop Urban District Council last week, the clerk
reported that he had received a notification of the intention
to apply for powers to construct the projected railway from
Worksop to Bawtry. The Council went into committee to
discuss the matter. The project was also referred to last
week at a meeting of the Blyth and Cuckney Rural Council
at Worksop, when plans were presented for sanction of the
proposed new railway, and also of the Firbeck Light Railway
of the South Yorkshire Line. The Council decided to ask
for a road width of 36 ft. across the proposed bridges, instead
of 25 ft. as proposed.

During the last few months the Great Central Railway
Company have displayed much activity in the Doncaster
neighbourhood, certain extensive improvements comprising
the doubling of the lines between Thorne Junction, and
Doncaster, to provide more adequately for heavy mineral
traffic. At Stainforth, which is quite close to the new Hat-
field Colliery, a fine bridge has been built to take the place
of the old level crossing. A mile from the station a second
bridge is in course of construction. The station is to be

almost entirely rebuilt, and provided with new platforms
and offices, and a footbridge. The process of doubling the
lines will soon be completed, and then there will he four sets
of metals in running order between Doncaster and Thorne
Junction, where the lines diverge in one direction to
Grimsby, and the other to Hull. What an advantage this
will be can easily be appreciated.

Various improvements are being effected at the mining
village of Edlington, near Doncaster, in which dwell the
employees of the Yorkshire Main Colliery. At last week’s
meeting of the Doncaster Rural District Council, a letter
was read from Messrs. Parker Rhodes and Company, of
Rotherham, solicitors for the proprietors of the Edlington
Colliery village, as a result of which the Sanitary Committee
recommended the Council to enter into negotiations with the
Edlington (Yorkshire) Land and Development Company
Limited, for the purchase of the water mains in the streets
of Edlington new village, and to enter into an agreement
accepting the wayleave or site of water tank and rising
main. This was agreed to. A letter was also read from
the Land and Development Company respecting the com-
plaints made as to the condition of the streets at Edlington
colliery village, and it was resolved that Jhey be required
to improve the condition of the back streets without delay.

A remarkably interesting compensation case was heard by
Judge Allen at Doncaster County Court last week, when
Frank Wilson, an Edlington miner, claimed against the
Yorkshire Main Colliery Company. It was stated that on
January 14 last applicant and other men were hauling a
compressed air engine along a road in the Edlington pit
by means of a chain attached to a “ Sylvester,” when the
chain snapped, and he fell backwards, striking his head
against the stone packing and timber. His spine was
injured, and he was treated at Doncaster and Sheffield.
On April 17 the colliery company stopped compensation.
Before he went to Edington he could earn £2 10s. per week.
He had served 13 years in the Army, and been through the
South African War. A large number of witnesses were
called, Dr. Drabble, of Rotherham, stating the man was
suffering from some indefinite injury to the spinal cord.
Witness had stuck pins in him to the extent of drawing
blood, and he never flinched. One witness stated that soon
after applicant returned from Sheffield Infirmary Wilson
challenged him (witness) to fight. Ultimately applicant
agreed to accept £25 and costs in full settlement.

In last week’s Army Orders it was notified that Capt.
G. B. Browne, of the 4th South Midland Howitzer Brigade,
R.F.A., had been promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Col.
(temporary) in the South Midland Division (Ammunition
Column). Capt. Buckston Browne was manager of the
Yorkshire Main Colliery at Edlington when war broke out,
and resided on the Town Fields estate at Doncaster. He
saw service in the Boer War. His many friends in Don-
caster will hear with pleasure of his promotion to the rank
of Lieut.-Col.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Ingenious Fraud by Colliers—Mr. Gerrard's Retirement.

Mr. H. N. Bryan appeared at the Leigh County Police
Court last week to prosecute, on behalf of the Astley and
Tyldesley Colliery Company, George Holmes and Walter
Cheetham, who were charged with attempting to obtain
7s. 6d. by false pretences from the colliery company. Mr.
Bryan said it was rather an unusual case. Defendants were
coal getters, and in the course of their work there was a
certain amount of dirt got as well. The men were allowed
5d. per tub for removing the dirt and packing it. Some
little time ago Mr. Mather, the manager, was suspicious
that things were not as they ought to be, and he directed
them on October 10 to remove some dirt about 10 yds. He
selected an isolated place so that he could tell exactly what
was the amount removed. At noon the men gave in their
number as 30 tubs. On the following Monday the manager
saw Holmes, and he stuck to it that he had got 30 tubs,
and Cheetham also said the same thing. In the morning
the men saw a man who had only commenced work at the
same face two days before, and got him to chalk them up
30 tubs on some props. The manager told them it was
physically impossible for them to get 30 tubs, and when the
dirt was measured it was found there were 12 tubs only,
and they had, therefore, charged 7s. 6d. more than they
were entitled to. Both men pleaded guilty, and were each
fined 20s. and costs. Holmes was ordered to pay three-
quarters of the costs (including two guineas advocate’s fee),
and Cheetham one-quarter. The penalties were £2 3s. and
£5 2s. 6d. respectively.	.

Mr. Norman Fletcher, J.P., of the Ladyshore Collieries,
Little Lever, near Bolton, has received news that his
vounger brother, Capt. Cyril Fletcher, of the 1st East
Lancashire Regiment, has been seriously wounded in the
head, and now lies in hospital at Boulogne. Capt.
Fletcher’s regiment was in South Africa when war broke
out, but they were moved to the front several weeks ago.
Prior to joining the Army, Capt. Fletcher was with his
brother at the Ladyshore Collieries.

At a meeting held in the Manchester School of Technology
on Saturday evening last, it was decided to extend the scope
of the Manchester Mechanics’ Institution and Technical Old
Boys’ Association by including the old bovs of the present
school. It was also announced that it had been decided to
keep an appointments register, bv means of which Govern-
ment departments and private firms who applied to the
school for men qualified to fill vacant appointments could
be put into immediate communication with suitable former
students.

A propo? of the announcement in last week’s Colliery
Guardian, to the effect that Messrs. A. Knowles and Sons
Limited, of the Pendleton and Pendlebury Collieries, near
Manchester, had found it necessary to reduce the allowances
to the wives and dependants of their employees who have
joined the Colours, it is reported that other leading colliery
firms in south and south-east Lancashire will adopt a
similar policy at the beginning of the new year. The
drainage of mine workers through recruiting is now
abating.

Bv the retirement of Mr. John Gerrard from the position
of H.M. inspector of mines for the Lancashire District, the
mining industry in that county loses a popular and
conscientious official. Since he took up his duties many
years ago he has made a large circle of friends among
employers and emploved alike by his determination to see
that everything was done for the protection of the collieries,
while paying due regard to the interests of the coal owners.
All aspects of underground work received careful attention,

and as a member of the Manchester Geological and Mining
Society he has had opportunities of discussing colliery
problems with proprietors and managers, and his frequent
contributions to the debates are always followed with the
keenest interest. For the session 1904-5 he was elected
president, and carried out the duties with an efficiency which
earned the commendations of all members, and he is at
present one of the vice-presidents of the society. On
Wednesday in last week Dr. Sellers, the coroner for the
Ashton district, referred to the fact that they were about to
lose Mr. Gerrard, to whom, he said, he was greatly indebted
for the valuable assistance he had rendered in all enquiries
into mining accidents. Mr. Jesse Butler, miners’ agent,
remarked that Mr. Gerrard was one of the men mainly
responsible for bringing about systematic timbering in mines.
On Friday last the matter was mentioned by Mr. S. F.
Butcher, the district coroner for Leigh, Lancashire. He
said it had been his privilege for the best part of a quarter
of a century to work with Mr. Gerrard, and naturally a
connection of so long standing was not broken without many
feelings of regret. He parted with Mr. Gerrard with very
sincere sorrow, because there never was a man who more
earnestly strove to do his duty than he did. He had little
doubt his retirement was not unconnected with the exertions
he made at the time of the terrible explosion at the Hulton
Colliery, which for a man of his years must have been a
great strain. The district had lost a valuable public
servant, and he hoped Mr. Gerrard’s present indifferent state
of health would quickly improve. Mr. T. Greenall, J.P.,
miners’ agent, associated himself with the coroner’s
remarks, and expressed the opinion that no man in Great
Britain had done more than Mr. Gerrard to safeguard the
lives of the men engaged in the mines.

Mr. H. H. Bolton, colliery proprietor, of Newchurch.
Lancashire, has nine immediate relatives serving the country
at the present time. Four are sons—Capt. Hargreaves
Bolton, Lieut. John Bolton, Second-Lieut. Geoffrey Bolton,
and Second.-Lieut. Maurice Bolton; Lieut. Douglas Hacking
is a son-in-law; Lieut. Hubert Bolton is a brother; and three
nephews are in the Public Schools Battalion.

Mr. Len. Millar, who has resigned the position of engine-
wright to the Maypole Colliery, has been presented with a
gold watch by the workpeople employed at the colliery, and
a pipe, case, and pouch from the employees in the traffic
department,

North Wales.

Fireclay Works Closed—Mid-Flintshire Railway Scheme—
Widening of the Dee.

A scheme is now being prepared for the completion of the
light railway from Portmadoc to Carnarvon, vid Beddgeleit
to Dinas. A provisional order has been applied for.

Owing to the continued trade depression, and the difficulty
of getting vessels at Connah’s Quay, in which to load their
manufactures for export, Messrs. Edward Parry and Sons,
fireclay goods manufacturers, of Buckley, have been com-
pelled to close down their works indefinitely.

At a recent meeting of the Flintshire Council the question
of the construction of the proposed mid-Flintshire railway
was re-opened. It was stated that the Parliamentary Com.
mittee had recommended the Development Commissioners
to contribute the sum of £20,000 towards the scheme, and
that the County Council should lend the Mid-Flint Railway
Company the sum of £10,000 at the rate of interest at which
the Council could borrow, but in no case to exceed 4 per
cent., to be repayable in 30 years. There has been consider-
able opposition to the scheme, and in the circumstances it
was decided that the whole matter should be deferred until
after the war for further consideration.

For some considerable time past a scheme has been under
consideration by the Flintshire County Council for the
cleaning and widening of the River Dee, in order to make it
navigable to Chester. A scheme has been prepared by the
engineers to the Dee Conservancy Board, which is estimated
to cost £75,000, towards which sum the County and other
Councils, as well as proprietors of local industries, have been
asked to contribute. Before committing themselves, the
County Council asked Mr. A. G. Lyster (engineer to the
Mersey Dock and Harbour Board) to prepare a report on the.
suggested scheme. This he has done, with the result that,
in his opinion, owing to various reasons set forth in the
report, he does not consider the scheme under consideration
to be quite a satisfactory one in the circumstances.

Notts and Derbyshire.

Trent Navigation Scheme.

Some time ago the Nottingham City Council adopted a
scheme for deepening the bed of the River Trent from
Newark to Nottingham, with a view to making the latter
place an important trade distributing centre for the Mid-
lands, and at the same time finding employment at a very
critical time in the history of the country. It was stated at
the time that the scheme would probably cost £150,000,
towards which the Development Commissioners had offered
the Corporation a loan of £50,000, on the understanding that
the Council would not be called upon to repay the principal
or interest until the scheme was profit bearing, and, further-
more, would find the balance of £100,000. One of the main
objects the Development Commissioners had in view was to
find employment during the war, but now the Council have
decided to obtain the necessary powers the Commissioners
have withdrawn their offer of the £50,000, because they do
not consider there is much distress or lack of employment
in the city as would justify the loan. The Council have
now decided not to proceed with the scheme.

A meeting of the Notts and Derbyshire branch of the
Association of Mining Electrical Engineers will be held
to-morrow (Saturday) at the University College, Nottingham,
at 3.30 p.m. The paper on “ The Prevention of Electrical
Accidents in Mines,” by Mr. T. J. Nelson, A.M.I.E.E..
will be discussed.

The Midlands.

Men Object to Steel Props—Haunchwood Colliery Closed.

At a meeting of the Upper Stour Valley Main Sewerage
Board last week, the engineer reported he had examined
the sewers damaged by mining subsidences in the district,
and those in the vicinity of New-street. Quarry Bank, Dudley
Wood-road, Cradley Heath, and near the Cradley Pool dam
required immediate attention. The estimated cost of
reinstating them was £1,500.