October 1, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

689

Probate has been granted of the will of Mr. Wm. Oswald
Kellett, J.P., of Wigan and Lathom, mining engineer,
managing director of the White Moss Colliery Company
Limited, Skelmersdale, estate agent of Lord Gerard, of
Garswood Hall, who died in February last, aged 47 years.
He left estate of the gross value of £91,729, of which
£81,504 is net personalty.

With a view to meeting the growing needs of their town-
ship, the Worsley District Council opened negotiations with
the Earl of Ellesmere for the carrying out of a town planning
scheme on Linnyshaw Moss, Walkden. His lordship’s
chief agent, Mr. Charles Hardy, has now informed the
Council that owing to the war the time is not opportune
for the initiation of such a scheme.

The Midlands.

Slacking ” at BaggBridge Colliery — Prices in South
Staffordshire—Mines Drainage.

Sixteen miners employed at Lord Dudley’s Baggeridge
Collieries were at the Brierley Hill Police Court this week
ordered to pay heavy damages for neglect of work. The
solicitor for the prosecution said that, with two exceptions,
the defendants were pikemen, earning from 7s. 3d. down to
6s. 6d. a day. For quite a long time a number of men had
been absenting themselves from work without cause, and this
had been growing from Sunday to Monday, from Monday
to Tuesday, and from Tuesday to Wednesday. The defen-
dants did not put in an appearance on Sunday, September 5,
and some of them did not turn up on the three following
nights. The firm claimed 10s. in respect of each turn lost.
They had had to summon men previously, when only nominal
damages were claimed, and it. was then stated that in future
damages commensurate with the loss sustained would be
asked for. The actual loss sustained, in respect to the defen-
dants, was £53 6s. 3d., and the amount claimed was £20 10s.
Their neglect caused a loss of 280 tons in the quantity raised,
in addition to which damage was caused to timber in six
stalls, and the dead charges were increased. The defen-
dants dislocated a great colliery, which was doing its best to
supply large quantities for national purposes. The magis-
trates gave judgment for the full amount claimed.

Prices in South Staffordshire range from 27s. 6d. to 30s.
per ton for best deep house coal; second bests show a corre-
ponding increase. Current prices of these range from 22s. to
24s. per ton, as against, in normal times, probably 15s. to 16s.
per ton. One of the most striking things about the coal trade
is the exceedingly high prices which are maintained for slack.
It has been a very long time since slack commanded such
high figures in South Staffordshire for works purposes.
Bough engine slack varies from 10s. 6d. to Ils. 6d., and on
to 12s. 6d. per ton at the pits. “ Fine ” slack, retained by
the riddles of 1 in. mesh, is quoted an average of 9s. 6d.
When it is realised that large steam forge fuel can be
obtained at 14s. to 14s. 6d. and 15s. per ton, whether for
delivery by rail or canal, and that nuts of 11 in. to 3 in. cube
are not more than 15s. per ton, it is easier to see how dear
current slack quotations are. The demand is altogether in
excess of supply.

The annual meeting of the South Staffordshire Mines
Drainage Commission will be held at Dudley on Wednesday
next. It is doubtful whether the chairman (Mr. George
Macpherson) will be able to attend. He is suffering a severe
illness, and has not been able to attend his manifold duties
for some time. However, the year has been a rather
uneventful one. The annual rainfall has been about normal,
although at one period of the year it was very heavy. The
pumping engines have been remarkably free from serious acci-
dent, and the ability of the Commission to keep down the
water in the Tipton district has influenced colliery develop-
ment in that part of the area.

Kent.

Snow down Prospects.

Dover Board of Guardians at their last meeting decided to
approach the Snowdown and Tilmanstone collieries for
quotations for the supply of coal to the Board. Tenders
which had been received for north country coal were so
high that it was decided not to renew contracts for such
coal, the lowest prices being asked for it being two guineas
for household and £1 12s. 3d. for small.

The report on the progress of sinking in the second shaft
of Snowdown Colliery to the deeper seams shows that at
1,920 ft., the previous week’s sinking had been 31 ft., which
is believed to be a record in sinking of this character. The
shaft is lined to a depth of 1,817 ft. The sinking is going
on steadily, and without water trouble, and has just passed
through a hard rocky strata. The lining of the shaft from
the 1,817 ft. level is now proceeding. The Beresford seam
at this colliery continues to be worked whilst this deeper
sinking is in progress, and an output of about two thousand
tons weekly is being maintained. Mr. Wroe, who at present
is in charge of this colliery as well as the Tilmanstone mine,
is to be congratulated on the manner in which he has over-
come difficulties, and the energy with which the work is
being carried on.

Scotland.

New	Under-Mana gers' Association — Developments at

Carnock—The Price of Coal Act—The South Kenmuir
Prosecution.

Mr. John George, the Scottish representative for the
“ Ceag ” lamp, has been appointed teacher of mining under
the Cambuslang School. Board. Mr. George is a certificated
colliery manager.

Mr. Wm. McWilliams, manager of Clyde Colliery in the
Cambuslang district, has been appointed to a more responsible
position at Blantyre Ferme Colliery, Uddingston, belonging
to. Messrs. A. G. Moore and Company Limited. Mr.
McWilliams has been 14 years at Clyde Colliery, and in
view of his departure he has been presented by the officials
and workmen with a gold albert and appendage, together
with a gold brooch for Mrs. McWilliams.

A successful association has been formed in Scotland of
colliery under-managers, and the inaugural meeting for the
session was held (in India Buildings, Edinburgh, on
Saturday; Mr. Wm. Wilson, Broxburn, the president of the
association, occupied the chair, and the attendance was
distinctly representative. A paper on “ Bescue Work in
Coal Mines ” was read by Mr. Samuel Dickson Boss,
Broxburn, and gave rise to a profitable discussion. There-
after matters relating to the general welfare of colliery
under-managers were discussed, and points of difficulty
mutually agreed upon.

The price of coal to domestic consumers formed the subject
of a conference in Dundee between the magistrates and
representatives of the coal trade. On behalf of the coal
merchants it was stated that they did not anticipate any

shortage of supplies for wholesale consumption. The price
to purchasers of coal in small quantities would not be
increased, but for larger quantities the price would be raised
if it was found necessary.

The Alloa Coal Company are reported to have purchased
the Carnock estate for the purpose of developing the coal
field. The coal found is of a very good quality, and is
adjacent to their Bannockburn coal field. The coals worked
at Bannockburn are in the carboniferous limestone measures,
and it is expected the Carnock coals are in the same series.
At Bannockburn the two chief seams are the Greenyard and
the Main coal, known commercially as the Hartley steam
coal and the Wallsend respectively.

A meeting of Glasgow coal merchants was held last week.
Mr. Thomas Burton, who presided, referred to the need for
combination among coal merchants at the present time when
there were so many important questions affecting their trade.
One matter which called for attention was the operation
of the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act, upon which widely
diverse views were held. Some of the coal masters had
expressed their intention of taking the average price of
1913 ^s the basis, while others stated that they would work
upon the highest price then ruling. In his opinion, and in
the opinion of many others, it was the individual price that
should be taken. If a merchant bought in 1913 at a stated
figure he should only be charged 4s. per ton on that figure.
So far as the merchants were concerned they could not
limit prices. If prices were put up against them they would
necessarily be obliged to increase their charges. In the
course of discussion it was pointed out that the circumstances
in Glasgow were entirely different from those in London,
where an arrangement had been come to for the limitation
of prices. It was resolved to remit the matter to the com-
mittee to take any further steps considered desirable. The
merchants present resolved to join the Coal Merchants’
Association of Scotland, and to urge upon that body the
pressing necessity for action being taken in regard to short
weight on coal delivered in trucks from collieries.

The Corporation of Glasgow, at a meeting on the 23rd ult.,
discussed proposals submitted by a committee to secure the
protection of domestic consumers of coal from further increases
in prices.—My. Dollan moved the adoption of the recom-
mendations of the Special Committee on Coal Prices, which
were as follow :—(1) To report (a) that, in their opinion, the
present prices of household coal—that is to say, the prices
ruling for the current month of September—are sufficiently
high; (2) to recommend that, as they are of opinion that the
Price of Coal (Limitation) Act does not afford sufficient pro-
tection to consumers of household coal, the Corporation peti-
tion the Board of Trade to introduce legislation fixing the
prices of household coal so as to protect the consumer against
further inflated prices during the ensuing winter months; (3)
to recommend the Corporation to extend the remit to this
committee so as to enable the committee to consider and
report upon (a) the letter from the Board of Trade, suggesting
an arrangement with the coal merchants, and (5) the advisa-
bility of the Corporation petitioning the Government to take
control of the coal supplies during the war. Mr. Dollan
said that at present the people of Glasgow were paying on
an average 4s. per ton more for their coal than was the
case in September 1913, which was the basis on which the
present price was regulated by the new Act. Coal which
was selling to-day in Glasgow at 28s. 4d. per ton, in cwt.,
would cost 32s. 4d. in December. That estimate was made
by the coal merchants, who had in their possession tabula-
tions of the prices paid for coal in 1913 and 1914, and they
made out quite clearly that the coal owners were entitled
month by month to ask for an increase of 4s. on the average
price paid in 1913 for the same quantity and quality of
household coal. The coal merchants were unanimous, both
co-operative and private trader, that household coal would
advance 4s. in price before the winter came to an end. The
coal owners stated that they believed the 4s. maximum
increase on the basis price allowed by the Government was a
fair and reasonable increase. It was not likely that they
would forego their right to exact anything less than 4s. The
coal owners, while agreeing that there would be an
increase in price, did not think it would exceed
2s. per ton, but they qualified that by pointing out that
they were unaware of the basis figures on which the coal
merchants made their estimates. Continuing, Mr. Dollan
said the committee had found, according to the evidence
submitted, that at present coal merchants in Glasgow were
not making the exorbitant profits they were supposed to be
making. Since the war there had been an increase in the
cost of distribution which amounted to 3s. per ton. With
the gradual increase in prices from now till next year,
household consumers would be compelled to pay £80,000
more for their coal than at present, if nothing was done.—
Mr. Wheatley seconded.—Mr. Bruce Murray moved the
previous question. He said the recommendations were as
heartily disapproved of by other members of the Corporation.
The Price of Coal (Limitation) Act, in theory at any rate,
regulated the prices of coal as far as the coal masters were
concerned. Surely they ought to wait a little and see how
far legislation of that character could have any real effect.
The proposals, he said, were introduced by the Socialist
group for the purpose of bringing forward the scheme of
nationalisation of industry. Bailie Irwin proposed as an
amendment that recommendation No. 3 be remitted back.
On a show of hands the first and second recommendations of
the committee were approved. On a vote upon the third
recommendation that the remit to the committee be
extended, Bailie Irwin’s amendment to remit back was
carried by 38 to 22.

In the prosecution brought at the instance of the Home
Office against J. Dunn and Stephen Limited, colliery owners,
Kenmuir Collieries, Old Monkland—to which a brief refer-
ence was made in these notes in our last week’s issue—
Sheriff Lee, of Glasgow, who heard the evidence, gave
expression to some interesting views. It will be recalled
that five charges were preferred against the respondents :—
(1) With working their South Kenmuir Colliery without
there being one duly certificated manager appointed by them
responsible for the control, management, and direction
thereof; (2) failing to provide the cages in the shaft with
suitable gates, or other rigid fences in connection with the
raising and lowering of persons to and from the surface of
the mine; (3) employing in moving railway wagons a boy
under the age of 16 years; (4) failing to use the general code
of signals in the shaft in connection with the winding of
persons prescribed by the regulations, and using the old
code instead; and (5) failing to provide an appliance to
automatically indicate in a visible manner to the winding
engineman (in addition to the ordinary signal) the nature
of the signal, until the signal was complied with—all in
contravention of the Coal Mines Begulation Act and General
Regulation 95. Sheriff Lee, in reviewing the evidence when

giving judgment, said he did not know any reason why, as
had been suggested, it should be assumed that the last four
charges should have been brought in to buttress up the
first; but it did seem to him that the last four charges were
to some extent connected with the first, and that they
threw considerable light upon the importance of the first
as a matter of general principle. He had himself formed
the conclusion, and must just proceed upon it, that the first
charge was quite clearly made out. The charge was not a
failure to appoint a manager. The provision of the Act as
his lordship read it was that there must be a manager
managing, controlling, and directing to the exclusion of all
others. It was inconsistent with what the Act required that
there should be any kind of divided responsibility of manage-
ment or control, and if that were so, the very appointment
by Mr. Dunn of a person who was not a manager but a
surface foreman was in itself a contravention, or constituted
an offence against the direction that there should be a single
manager, responsible for the whole control of the mine.
Under the second charge, which was a provision for the
safety of the general workers in the mine, it seemed
ridiculous to argue, under the section under which that
charge was laid, that it was only necessary that gates should
be provided, and that respondents were not responsible for
having them repaired and having the cages properly fenced.
What the section obviously required was that the mine
should be worked with fenced cages, and that for that pur-
pose suitable gates should be provided. The gates supplied
by the respondents certainly were not suitable. On the
two occasions on which the inspectors called they were not
in position. The cages were being periodically worked
without them, and they knew that from several witnesses.
Mr. Willoughby Dunn and the other witnesses for the
defence explained that the gates were of a kind which were
particularly liable to go out of order. The gates needed
frequent repair, and these repairs entailed a visit to the
workshop. While that was happening the cages going up
and down with their human freight exposed the workmen
to the danger which they were there to provide against.
His lordship pointed out that just as in the case of having
to keep blinds down to prevent the lights showing outside,
they must have sufficient blinds to keep their windows
darkened, without pleading that their blind was away at
the wash, so they must have sufficient gates to keep their
cages fenced for the journeys in the shaft. That was what
the section meant, and he accordingly found the charge
proved. The third charge related to the employment of the
boy, Jaap. There was no doubt that he was employed.
This clause was another provision to ensure the safety of
young persons, and it threw the responsibility for keeping
him out of work of this kind which was considered danger-
ous or excessively hard on the managers and the owners.
The only question here was whether the respondents had
freed themselves from responsibility by showing that they
did everything they could. His lordship did not say that
owners should have control over every child in their employ-
ment, but they should have such control of children that
they could not work for a period of days without being
able to. stop it. With regard to the fourth charge, that
of not introducing the new code of signals, there was no
reason in the world why it should not have been introduced.
At other three collieries it apparently was introduced. Had
the management taken every precaution to have this require-
ment of the Begulation attended to? Again his lordship
thought the divided responsibility had much to do with
what happened. The last charge was in rather a different
position, because it was a matter which the respondents were
actually attending to themselves. It was a thing which
was being looked after from headquarters. There did seem
some excuse in the fact that for a long period it was doubtful
whether any indicator had been put upon the market which
could be improved upon, and which could not, without some
experience, be said to be inefficient. Following upon a short
delay which might have been excused from the point of
view he had already indicated, there came the war, which
made it difficult to get instruments of any kind. His
lordship took all that into consideration. At the same time,
the Act was an imperative Act, and long before the war
began an enthusiast would have made his preparations, and
had an instrument ready. Even after the war started, it
was possible to have it completed for this Act coming into
force. A law-abiding citizen would have done so. He must
say he sympathised very much with the inspectors if all
mine owners showed as dilatory enthusiasm as was mani-
fested in this case, and if any explanation were needed
in this prosecution it would easily be found in the desire
to advertise that the patience of the inspectors had begun
to get overtaxed, and that a prosecution would soon have
to be made. With regard to the last charge, his lordship
thought it was one that was not ill-timed. It had not been
brought one day before the prosecutors were entitled to
bring it, but he was going to take into consideration the
circumstances which prevailed. He was, therefore, not
going to impose any penalty in the last charge. With regard
to the first charge, he was going to put that in precisely the
same position. This was said by the respondents—he did
not know whether rightly or wrongly—to be a test case.
His lordship did not think there was much to test, because
the case seemed to him to be a very clear one. In this
particular instance, however, no harm had resulted. The
practice here—he hoped it was rather an innovation—was •
a dangerous one. Anything like divided responsibility in a
mine must always be very dangerous. There was no doubt
that the policy of the Act in appointing a single manager
was that there should be no overlapping. So far as the
other three charges were concerned, these had been, in his
opinion, proved. These were all cases where the neglect had
been clear and obvious, and where there was no excuse for
it. Hitherto he had imposed biggish penalties on the work-
men to try and make them observe the provisions of the
Coal Mines Act, and it was not fair to inflict such penalties
upon them if employers were to be allowed to make con-
traventions which equally endangered the life of the
workmen. He did not know that anything which had
been done here had been much more than the result of
carelessness; but carelessness ought not to exist in the work
of the coal mine, where human life was constantly being
exposed to danger. He thought the only way to make
people more careful—of course, it was generally the manage-
ment who were to blame more than the owners—was to
impose considerable penalties. He accordingly fined the
respondents £5 for each of the second, third, and fourth
offences—£15 altogether.

Messrs. Wm. Johnson and Sons (Leeds) Limited have
just been favoured wfith an order by the Japanese Admiralty
for patent fuel plant capable of turning out 400 tons of
fuel per day of 10 hours.