July 9, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 67 Street Works Act, 1892, the council shall have due regard to the character and to the user or prospective user of such street. The council may, if they think fit, take over and maintain as a highway, repairable by the inhabitants at large, any street or any part thereof, when it shall have been made up in accordance with the provisions of this scheme, to the satisfaction of the council, notwithstanding that such street may not be of the full width prescribed by, or may not be otherwise in accordance with the by-laws. Also, the council may, upon neglect of the owners of lands and properties fronting, adjoining, or abutting any street or any part thereof, to satisfactorily make up in accordance with the provisions of this scheme, the by-laws or the written instructions of the council's official, and to the council’s satisfaction, such street or streets, or any part thereof. The council may undertake to perform all the works requisite in making up such street or streets in accord- ance with the provisions of this scheme or the by-laws, or as the council may deem expedient, preparatory to taking over and maintaining such street or streets as a highway or highways repairable by the inhabitants at large, and have all such powers of apportioning the cost and expenses incurred therein upon the said lands and properties, and perform all the duties of an urban authority within the meaning of the Private Street Works Act, 1892.” A difficulty that may also arise in the making of a town planning scheme is, where plans have been passed by the authority for the erection of buildings to the utmost capacity allowable by the by-laws. Unless the 1907 Act has been adopted by a rural district, buildings may be erected from plans submitted and approved up to seven years previous, although the passing of the plans is not material unless some contract has been entered into, which is quite possible for the builder to do, upon hearing that the local authority intend to apply for sanction to prepare a town planning scheme. The section of the Act dealing with compensation states that no compensation shall be payable on account of any building erected or contract made, or anything done in respect to land included in a scheme after the time at which the application for authority to prepare the scheme was made, and there is a proviso that this pro- vision shall not apply in respect of any work done before the date of the approval of the scheme for the purpose of finishing a building begun, or carrying out of a con- tract entered into before the application was made. Hence an estate for which plans have been approved for, say, 50 houses to the acre, and the streets made and negotiations entered into for the erection of the houses in an area where it is stipulated that not more than 10 houses to the acre shall be erected, the owner must be compensated. But it would appear that if the authority wished to prevent the proposed erection of the houses after paying compensation up to the amount of the con- tracts entered into by the owner, before the sanction of the Local Government Board to the preparation of the scheme, they can do so by inserting a clause in the scheme to the effect that the number of houses for that particular area be limited to 10 per acre, and then a provision to the effect that the particular buildings in question, if more than 10 in number per acre be erected, should be pulled down, and if the Board pass this clause, then the owner of the land would not be entitled to compensation for any buildings erected after the date of the application for authority to prepare the scheme. Again, take the case of a builder or owner who pro- ceeds with the erection of a building after the sanction of the Board to prepare the scheme has been given, which would, if the scheme is passed, infringe the intended building line. It would appear, again, that a special provision should be inserted in the clause deal- ing with building line, to the effect that any buildings erected in front of the building line, as shown on the submitted map, should be pulled down. The result of this, Mr. Morris thinks, would be the avoidance of payment of compensation. United States Imports and Exports of Fuel.—The follow- ing is a comparative statement of coal imports and exports of the United States for April 1914-15, and for the 10 months ending March 1914-15, in long tons :— April. Ten months. Imports:—From 1914. United Kingdom ... 442 . Canada .........136,486... Japan ............ 233... Australia and Tas- mania .......... 29,020... Other countries ... — ... 1915. 1914. 1915. 3,012... 10,133... 32,962 116,632... 882,772... 959,072 4,729 .. 83,441... 72,980 13,027... 226,945... 154,907 321... 3,430... 1,828 Total .......166,181... Exports:— Anthracite : Canada ............392,822... Argentina ............ —■ ... Brazil ............... — ... Uruguay .............. — ... Other countries ... 3,438... Total ...........395,627... Bituminous : Italy .................... — ... Canada ...............395,627... Panama ............... 33,073... Mexico ............... 24,453... Cuba ................. 63,091... West Indies.............. 56,213 Argentina............. 18,966... Brazil................ 15,831... Uruguay ............... 4,179... Other countries ......160,604... 137,721... 1,206,721... 1,221,749 445,118... 3,000,205... 2,856,521 — ... — ... 212 18... — ... 24 — ... 84... — 8,391... 50,077... 50,101 453.527.. . 3,050,366... 2,906,858 253.273.. . - ... 960,233 381.223.. . 9,972,979... 6,962,352 42,946... 311,467... 261,343 32,966... 259,575... 338.919 101,013.. 965,528... 882,572 55,055... 481,284... 379,015 79,531... 118,354... 297,328 66,582 .. 212,668... 339.597 36,503... 41,671... 77,270 63,576 .. 1,066,061... 576,679 Total ........... 772,037...1,112,668...13,435,587...11,075,308 Bunker coal...........695,192... 655,465... 6,449,722... 5,686,855 A NEW WINDING SIGNALLING SYSTEM. Probably no regulation contained in the new Mines Act has been the cause of more discussion among mining engineers, or given opportunity for the exercise of inventive genius on the part of colliery mechanical engineers, and the staffs of manufacturing firms, as is instanced by the number of signalling systems on the market. It is admitted that a true interpretation of the regula- tion was somewhat difficult, and a considerable sum of money has been spent by colliery owners and the various manufacturing firms in attempts to arrive at a satisfactory apparatus to meet the requirements of the Act, and we have no hesitation in saying that most of the signalling systems at present on the market do not fulfil the requirements, according to the interpretation of H.M. inspectors of mines, and for this reason several have been condemned after being installed at consider- able cost. The regulation reads (see Mines and Quarries Form No. 56, p. 24) :—” In connection with every winding engine there shall be provided an appliance which shall automatically indicate in a visible manner to the winding engineman (in addition to the ordinary signal) the nature of the signal until the signal is complied with.” Now, the ordinary signal as here mentioned clearly means the “ aural ” signal as given by the sound of a bell, but, so far as the winding engineman is concerned, he must have an appliance which indicates in a visible manner the number of rings or signals given, and which must remain visible until complied with. Now this seems simple enough until the nature of the ►. A ' ' 1 Bahksmak 2 Scott and Wheatley’s Patent, 3393/15. signals to be given are considered, and then at once the difficulties are realised. The signals to be given are as follow :— (a). For winding persons • (1). When a person is about to descend the banksman shall signal to the onsetter and to the winding engineman ........ 3 Before the person enters the cage the onsetter shall signal to the banksman and to the winding engineman......... 3 When the person is in the cage and ready to descend the banksman shall signal to the winding engineman ............. 2 And the onsetter shall signal to the banks- man and to the winding engineman.. 1 (2). When a person is about to ascend the onsetter shall signal to the banksman and to the winding engineman........ 3 Before the person enters the cage the banksman shall signal to the onsetter and to the winding engineman..... 3 When the person is in the cage and ready te ascend the onsetter shall signal to the banksman and to the winding engineman 1 Now, in the case of persons descending the shaft, there are four distinct signals to be given, and two of these are the same number of rings. The banksman must first signal 3 to the onsetter and to the winding engineman; then the onsetter must reply by signalling 3 to the banksman, and at the same time to the engineman. In the case of the banksman and onsetter, these are merely aural signals; but in the case of the engineman he must have both an aural and a visible signal; or, in other words, he must hear the bell strike three times, and see on an indicator the number 3 and the words “ Men to ride.” This latter he must receive from the banksman as well as from the pit bottom, and the visible indicator must remain in this position until the engine commences to wind. Before, however, the engineman can start his engine he must receive an audible and visible signal of 2 from the banksman, with the words on the indicator of “ Men down.” Clearly, then, these signals can only be given on two dials, as the first signal given by the onsetter must not, under any circumstances, be dis- turbed, in order to allow the banksman to give his signal. The idea of the visible indicator is to give to the engineman a confirmation of signals both from the onsetter and the banksman. On one dial he has the signal 3 with the words “ Men to ride ” from the onsetter, while on the other he must have a confirma- tion from the banksman. The engineman is now satisfied that both onsetter and banksman are aware that “Men are to ride.” The next signal must come from the banksman—this is 2, “ Men down ” or “ Lower- down.” He (the engineman) accordingly lowers the cage, and the starting of the engine immediately and automatically brings the visible part of the apparatus to “ zero.” Much the same routine is to be followed when a person is to ascend the mine; first, the onsetter must signal to the banksman and to the engineman 3; then, before the person enters the cage, the banksman must signal to the onsetter and to the winding engineman 3; after which the onsetter must again signal to the banks- man and to the winding engineman 1. The first and second signals of 3 to the engineman must be visible, and remain so during the time the onsetter signals 1 or gives the order to the engineman to start. The latter has thus three visible signals on his indicator :—Firstly, 3, indicating that men are about to ride, from the onsetter; secondly, 3, indicating the same, from the banksman; and thirdly, 1, an order from the onsetter to start the engine. Again, after the engine com- mences winding, the signals return to “ zero ” automatically. It would seem that here was an opportunity for elec- trical science in signalling, but, so- far, the electrical devices have proved either inadequate or extremely costly. Further, electrical signalling, unless very care- fully installed, has an element of danger, inasmuch as electric bells have been known to signal to the engine- man without the keys or pushes being operated—evi- dently due to some leakage, or faulty connection, or defect in the insulation of the lighting or power circuits. This may seem very far-fetched, but actual occurrences are vouched for. Hence, for this reason, many colliery managers preferred the mechanical signal or “ rapper ” in preference to electric bells for shaft work, or, at any rate, when men were being raised or low-ered; and for this reason, in some mines both electrical and mecha- nical systems were in use; the former for coal winding, and the latter for when men were to ride. These difficulties were all more or less recognised by Messrs. Scott and Wheatley, the inventors of the sig- nalling system now in use at Messrs. Ingham's Thorn- hill Collieries, near Dewsbury, and which we recently had an opportunity of seeing at work. The signalling system in use previous to the new system being intro- duced was a mechanical one, and the object of the invention was to devise a system whereby only one signal wire or cable was required at the pit bottom, so that no difficulty or likelihood of error in giving the signal would be experienced by the onsetter—and bearing in mind all that has been previously said, the problem was no light one. How far they have succeeded, we leave our readers to judge from the following description of the apparatus, which is shown in the accompanying figure. At first sight it looks extremely complicated and cumbersome, but it must be explained that this photo was taken from the one first constructed; and now, having once obtained the various movements to carry. out the desired operations, it is only a question of development and improvement to secure relief from complication and neatness of design. As will be seen,