October 15, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

791

Cumberland.

A War Memorial.

On Tuesday afternoon a fine repousse bordered brass and
copper panel, provided by the Workington Iron and Steel
Company, in which upwards of 800 names are inscribed,
was unveiled by the Mayor of Workington (Aid. P. Walls),
as a memorial of the employees of the company who have
volunteered for service at the front. The inscription, which
is done in repousse, reads as follows :—“ This memorial
is placed to commemorate the loyalty and gallantry of about
800 men of all grades, whose names are hereon inscribed,
and employed by this company in their quarries, iron ore
mines, Mysore manganese mines (India), colliery, coke
ovens, blastfurnaces, steel works, and official staff, who
enlisted for 'active service in the great war of 1914, in
defence of their country 'and the liberties of Europe, at the
call of his Majesty, King George V. By order of the
directors, John S. Randles, chairman.” The tablet,
measuring over 8 ft. by 3 ft. 9 in., is made of brass. The
names of the men are engraved in black in the metal.

Yorkshire.

The, Housing Question at Hemsworth and Darfield—Sheffield
Retail Prices.

Second.-Lieut. F. Bell, who has been awarded the
Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry, was, prior to the
war, a surveyor at the Grimethorpe Colliery. It will be
recalled that Lieut. C. R. Cassells, of the same colliery, had
previously won this honour. It is a circumstance somewhat
unique that two men from the same pit should be similarly
honoured.

The housing difficulty at Hemsworth continues, but the
Rural Council have adopted a recommendation that the
housing scheme be proceeded with as far as possible; 52
houses, two in a block, are provided for by the scheme,
and there are to be 15 houses to the acre. The architect
estimates that to let the houses, erected at a cost of £200
each, at 7s. 6d. per week inclusive, would involve an
annual deficit of £200. It is stated, therefore, the houses
will have to be let at a rental of 9s. per week, rates included,
if they are to be self-supporting.

At last week’s meeting of the Darfield Council, plans
were submitted for a number of temporary wooden buildings
at Low Valley, in which the Darfield Main Colliery Company
proposed to house workmen employed in construction work
in connection with the colliery. Opposition was taken to
these plans on the ground that Low Valley is a congested
area, and that the proposed buildings would, therefore, con-
stitute a danger to the public health. They were declared
to be contrary to the Council’s by-laws. The. approval of
the plans was defeated by the casting vote of the chairman.

Pontefract magistrates have taken decisive action regard-
ing the slacking of miners. At the Court on Saturday, it
was reported that a miner named Nixon, of South Elmsail,
had failed to pay £2 4s. as ordered. It was shown that six
weeks ago he earned close upon £6 for working five days.
He had now dropped from four, to two and three days’ work
per week, and finally he stayed away froom work for another
week. Failing payment, the Bench committed him to prison
for a month. At the same Court, several miners were sum-
moned for neglect of work, and fines and the damages were
imposed. In one case, where a man had enlisted, no action
was taken.

At last week’s meeting of the South Yorkshire Coal Field
Church Extension Committee, plans were approved for a
new church at Rossington, in view of the development of
the Rossington Main Colliery, and the hope was expressed
the building will be dedicated next Easter. It was staged
that the Rossington Colliery Company had very kindly
offered to build a house suitable for a parsonage if the
committee would undertake its upkeep. The committee
accorded a hearty vote of thanks to Col. Philip Barber, of
Messrs. Barber, Walker and Company, owners of the
Bentley Colliery, for the presentation of an organ to the
new Bentley church.

The opening of the Doncaster Corporation’s new tramway
route to serve the mining population of Woodlands model
village has again been delayed by the dispute between the
Doncaster Corporation and a local colliery company. At
last week’s meeting of the Corporation it was stated a
question is to be asked in Parliament concerning the matter.
There now also appears to be friction between the Corpora-
tion and the postal authorities in the matter. At a meeting
of the Council in committee it was proposed that, as the
postal authorities had failed to carry out their contract
within a reasonable time in regard to the moving of tele-
graph poles and wires on the Brods worth tram route, the
Corporation proceed with the fixing of poles, wires, and
other necessaries for the immediate purpose of opening
the section for traffic. An amendment was, however, carried
asking Sir Arthur Markham and Sir Chas. Nicholson to
bring the matter before Parliament, and obtain an explana-
tion from the Government departments concerned.

A voluntary scheme to limit prices as between merchants
and the public is to be adopted in Sheffield as the result
of a series of conferences between representatives of the
trade concerned and of the City Council. The merchants
have volunteered to observe a certain maximum price per ton
in excess of pit prices, cartage to be charged extra. These
latter charges vary according to distance, and range from
Is. 3d. to 5s. per ton, and even more than the latter figure
in exceptional cases. The members of the Coal Merchants’
Association have further agreed to supply the hawkers at
a maximum above the prices at the pit mouth.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Retail Prices at Rochdale and Bacup—The New Moss
Colliery: New Company.

A trade correspondent learns from inside sources that
certain leading colliery firms in south-east Lancashire are
converting some of their workshops into munition making
works, and it is expected that work in this direction will
be in full swing in the course of the next few days.

At a meeting of the Salford Town Council, on October 6,
complaint was made against colliers using tramcars
immediately after leaving the pits, and it was suggested
that first-class cars be provided. The chairman of the
Tramways Committee promised to put the matter before the
committee.

On October 7, at Atherton, a presentation was made to
Mr. John Horrocks, late under-manager at the Hulton
Colliery Company’s No. 3 bank pit, Atherton. Mr.
Blackburn, in presenting Mr. Horrocks with an inlaid rose-
wood Westminster chiming clock, and Mrs. Horrocks’ with
a silver rose bowl, on behalf of the workmen, alluded to
the cordial relations which had always existed between them
and Mr. Horrocks.

The fact that the Finance Committee of the Rochdale
Corporation has taken no action with a view to coming to
an arrangement with local coal retailers to keep coal prices
-as low as possible during the winter led to strong criticism
at the Town Council meeting last week, but it was pointed
out that the retail distribution of coal in the town was
mainly done throught the local co-operative societies, and
it was assumed that these societies, whose object was to
benefit their members, would retail coal at the lowest possible
price. The question was allowed to drop.

At a meeting of the Bacup Town Council last week it
was reported that a conference had been'held with local coal
dealers, at which the following resolution was passed :
“ That this conference of coal dealers in the borough of
Bacup hereby agrees, and each individual pledges himself
or herself, that the sums which shall be charged over the
cost of household coal at the local colliery or delivered at
the station or sidings to cover expenses of distribution and
profit shall not exceed a maximum of 7s. 6d. per ton for coal
delivered in bags, and 5s. 6d. per ton for coal delivered
in loads, provided that such loads do not require above one
horse to carry the same, but, in cases where the place of
delivery necessitates the employment of extra teams, the
extra cost of the same may be added to the said maximum
of 5s. 6d.” Practically all the merchants not represented at
the conference have since signified their agreement with
the resolution.

Mr. James Waddilowe, who has been employed at the
G-arswood Hall Colliery, has been appointed under-manager
at the St. Helens Collieries of Messrs. Pilkington Brothers.

, It was reported in Manchester coal trade circles that
negotiations have been opened on behalf of a powerful
Wigan colliery concern for the purchase of certain colliery
properties in the neighbourhood of Bolton. No definite
details, however, are yet available.

A Liverpool syndicate, of which Mr. H. S. Higginbotham
■ is the principal, has taken over the New Moss Colliery,
Audensh-aw, which has a normal value of about £170,000.
Mr. Higginbotham also has interests in the North Wales
area, and the business in connection with his new venture
will be carried out at the Liverpool office of the company.
Mr. Higginbotham is also chairman of the New Haden
Collieries, Stoke-on-Trent, and will have as co-directors on
the board of the new company, Mr. Harold James, of Stoke-
on-Trent, and Mr. W. L. Jackson, of Liverpool.

North Wales.

With regard to the manufacture of munitions, a Board
of Management for the North Wales area has been appointed
and approved by the Ministry of Munitions. , Mr. William
Buckley, Hafod, Mold, has been appointed as chairman,
while the secretary is Mr. H. A. Tilby, who is the clerk
to the County Council of Flintshire.

Notts and Derbyshire.

Two Convoys of Motor Ambulances Ready—A Fine Record.

The Military Cross has been awarded to Second-Lieut.
Noel E. Webster, son of Mr. R. M. Webster, of Nottingham.
The gallant young officer—he is only 21—served his
apprenticeship to colliery management at the Buckley
Collieries, North Wales, and during that period he obtained
a first-class mining certificate and a first-class ambulance
certificate. He received an appointment as assistant
manager at the Blackwell Colliery Company’s Alfreton pit
two years ago. He enlisted as a private soon after the
outbreak of the war, and was granted his commission in
February, being connected with the 7th (Robin Hood’s)
Sherwood Foresters.

The Duke of Devonshire inspected in the Nottingham
Market Place on October 7, the completed portion of the two
convoys of motor ambulances presented by the coal trade of
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to the British Red Cross
Society, and the St. John Ambulance Association. Credit
for the organisation of this scheme belongs entirely to Mr.
H. Dennis Bayley, assistant director of transport to the
Red Cross Society. Mr. Bayley received the hearty co-
operation of owners in the two counties and the Notts and
Derbyshire Miners’ Associations. Each convoy will consist
of 50 motor ambulances, four touring cars, three lorries,
seven motor cycles, and one field repairing lorry, the total
outlay of which is approximately £70,000, while the yearly
cost of maintenance, £5,000, is also being borne by the
coal trade.

Touching reference was made at the meeting of the
Midland branch of the National Association of Colliery
Managers, held at the University College, Nottingham, on
Saturday, by Capt. P. Muschamp, Mansfield (president),
to the loss of two members by death—Mr. J. W. Fryar, of
Eastwood, general manager of Messrs. Barber, Walker and
Company’s collieries, and Mr. George Dixon, manager of
Moorgreen Colliery, who had been killed on active service.
A vote of condolence with the relatives of the deceased was
passed. The secretary (Mr. R. Laverick) was instructed
to forward a letter of sympathy and best wishes to two
other members—Mr. L. C. Hodges, of Brinsley, and Mr.
Percy Bell, of Sutton-in-Ashfield—both of whom have been
wounded. An instructive discussion took place on a paper
on “ Superheated Steam,” which was read at a previous
meeting by Mr. A. Beeston.

Rather remarkable circumstances were associated with an
inquest held at Chesterfield last week upon a miner named
Hardy, a stallman, who met his death in Grassmoor Colliery.
It was stated to be the first fatal accident that had occurred
in this pit through top coal falling since it first opened
26 years ago. Evidence was given that the top coal had
always proved so firm it had been found quite practicable
to clear the bottom coal out first, but Mr. T. H. Mottram
of Doncaster (Chief Inspector of Mines for the Midland
district), elicited from deceased’s son that the safest plan
would be to get the top coal out first. The fall was 10 ft.
long, 4 ft. wide, and 18 in. thick. The jury found a verdict
of “ Accidental death.”

It is stated that a colliery company owning one of the
pits in the Leen Valley has decided upon an extension of
their operations by opening a mine in the parish of Blidworth.

The Midlands.

South Staffordshire Mines Drainage.

At the annual meeting of the South Staffordshire Mines
Drainage Commission at Trindle House, Dudley, last week

—Aid. John Hughes presiding—Mr. George Macpherson
was re-elected chairman of the Commission, and Messrs.
J. R. V. Marchant and H. S. Childe, arbitrators. In
moving the adoption of the reports, the chairman said
that the Act of Parliament last year had enabled the com-
missioners to keep the district going to supply the munition
factories with sufficient coal for their requirements. It had
also enabled them to make arrangements for continuing the
commission another nine years. The reports and statements
of accounts were adopted.

Mr. John Davies, for the past 12 years general manager
of the Hanley Colliery, having accepted similar duties in
connection with the Bromfield Collieries, Mold, the principals
and officials of the Northwood pits met at Hanley recently
to bid Mr. Davies farewell, and to present to him (as an
expression of their goodwill) a gold watch and chain.
Occasion was taken at the same time to present to Mrs.
Davies a gold necklet and pendant. The departing
manager’s successor is Mr. Thomas Dobson;

Kent.

Progress at Snowdown and. Tilmanstone—The Miners and
the Dover Coal Dues.

Snowdown Colliery second shaft to the deep sinking is
now down 1,943 ft., and is bricked down to 1,920 ft. The
sinking, which is being continued, did not make such rapid
progress during the last week as has been the average
during recent weeks, as it is proceeding through hard
sandstone.

Coincidently with the working of the Five-feet seam now
proceeding at Tilmanstone Colliery, the management are
making preparations for a change in the system of winding,
so that up -and down traffic can be carried on -at the same
time, which would result in a great saving in the cost of
winding. Some portion of the necessary work is now in
hand. The output of this colliery has reached nearly 1,200
tons weekly.

The miners living in Dover who are employed at the
Tilmanstone and Snowdown collieries have adhered to the
decision taken at the recent meeting of their association
not to pay the Dover dues on the coal which they obtain from
the colliery proprietorate and bring into the town for their
own consumption. This matter was again before the Town
Council on Tuesday afternoon, when the town clerk
expressed the opinion that he would have to take pro-
ceedings to recover the money from the miners. He was
instructed to take action in the County Court if the dues
are not paid within a week. The coal dues are Is. 7d. a
ton, collected on all coal brought into the borough. A test
case in the County Court went against the miners several
years ago.

Scotland.

The Development of Electricity in Scotland—Prices in
Glasgow—Home Office Prosecution at Linlithgow.

The opening meeting for the session of the West of
Scotland branch of the Association of Mining Electrical
Engineers was held in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow,
on Saturday, Mr. A. B. Muirhead, president, in the chair.
Mr. D. Land-ale Frew (hon. local secretary) submitted the
financial report, which showed a credit balance of £47.
The membership stands at 201. In outlining the work
mapped out for the session now entered upon, the chairman
specially referred to a series of coal-cutting demonstrations
which had been arranged for through the kindness of Mr.
Arnott, of the United Collieries, and Mr. J. P. C. Kivlen,
Bradisholm Colliery. The demonstrations would take place
on Saturdays yet to be arranged. It was the desire of the
council that managers and electricians who were in a position
to do so should submit the names of likely men in their
collieries who might desire to make themselves proficient
m this department of mining. The president’s prize of two
guineas was won by Mr. Andrew Gibson with a paper on

Bearings of Electrical Machinery.” The vice-president’s
prize was not competed for. The president afterwards
delivered an address on “ The Development of Electricity
in the Scottish Mining Industry.” He said they had now
got sufficiently far from 1911, when the present code of
electrical rules applicable to mining became the law of
the land, and sufficiently near 1920, when plant installed
under the code of 1904 must be removed from active service
in order to comply with the law of the land, to make a
resume of the position desirable. The yearly output of
Scotland had reached approximately 45,500,000 tons Her
mining development had been rapid, for in the past 30
years her output had increased by 22,000,000 tons, or more
than doubled itself. Her coal might be said to be hardlv
won. The difficulties incidental to Scottish mining had
not always been understood and appreciated by legislators
hailing from across the border, for these gentlemen had seen
fit to make laws to govern and direct all British mining
operations, as if -there was only one colliery, one seam, anti
one set of conditions to be met. Mr. Muirhead went on to
show that the difficult nature of Scottish mining had
resulted in • a most marked development in the use of
electricity for power purposes above and below ground. The
power installations at some of their collieries were triumphs
of engineering skill and unequalled by any Division in Great
Britain. He submitted tables to show that there was in all
approximately 137.200 electric horse-power in motors and
taking this at 340 out of a total of 547 collieries, thev had*
an average of 403’5 electric horse-power per colliery.* The
number of electrically operated coal-cutting machines in
use, which reaches a total of 747, showed in an interestin'1
light to what extent electricity had been called upon for
inbye purposes in the Scottish field, and if the managers
amongst them who were still supporters of compressed air
lor coal cutting purposes in preference to electricity on the
score of having an easier mind, could find anv consolation
m the ratio of numbers given, their ideas of consolation
must be unique. The number of compressed air coal-cuttin<>
machines in use and the output per year obtained from
them did not appear to indicate that tliat type of machine
need be seriously considered as a rival to the electrical
machine ad; this time of day.

At a meeting of the Glasgow Corporation Special Com-
mittee on Coal Prices at Glasgow on Monday, it was stated
that an acknowledgment had been received from the Board
of Trade of the Corporation resolution requesting the Board
to introduce legislation fixing the price of household coal, so
as to protect the consumer against further inflated prices
during the ensuing winter months, it being the opinion of
the Corporation that the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act did