942

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

November 5, 1915.

few complaints have been received, chiefly with reference
to ponies rubbing the roof supports, and food and water
pot being supplied to the ponies while at work. The
inspector of horses has found it necessary, on several
occasions, to point out imperfect drainage in the stables;
this is always in connection with old stables, usually
because the pavement has become’ deranged, and this in
many cases owing to a movement of the strata which
has caused the floor to lift. At many of these mines
new stables have been built, and these are excellent in
every way. The report books required to be kept under
the schedule are not always filled up as carefully nor as
fully as they should be. It would appear in many cases
that the horsekeepers have not been instructed in the
matter, and this, of .course, is the fault of the officials
who are over them. There are over 24,000 horses and
ponies in this Division, and on the whole their condition
is excellent. The following are particulars of horses
used underground in the mines :—Number used, 24,230.
Number died (exclusive of those required to be
destroyed) : From injury by accident, 401; from disease,
233 (including eight from old age or being worn out);
total, 634. Number required to be destroyed : In conse-
quence of injury, 372; in consequence of disease, 273
(including 121 from old age or being worn out or blind);
total, 645. Number of cases of injury or ill-treatment
reported to manager (exclusive of cases already
included) : Injury, 2,817; ill-treatment, 43; total, 2,860.

. Inspections on Behalf of Workmen.

The power given to the workmen under section 16 of
the Act is very fully exercised, particularly in Durham
and Northumberland. Quite a new* feature was intro-
duced during the year at a group of six collieries in
North-West Durham. At these mines the workmen
engaged one of their number to devote the whole of his
time to the work of inspection. He does this in con-
junction with one of the local inspectors at whichever
colliery he happens to be visiting.

Eight Hours Act.

The Eight Hours Act continues to work smoothly, and
the registers appear to be better kept than formerly.
Very few complaints have been received, and where they
were justified and the matter pointed out to the manage-
ment they were promptly remedied. In the case of a
complaint from one colliery, the matter was sufficiently
serious to justify legal proceedings being taken.

Effects of the War.

The output of coal for the first seven months of'the
year was unusually large, and the prospects in the coal
trade for the whole of the year were quite satisfactory.
When war broke out, however, everything was changed.
Cumberland felt the change in the times less than the
other counties.

Since the British Empire became involved in war, the
miners of the northern counties have responded to the
call to arms in a manner which has kindled very pardon-
able local pride; and the large numbers which have
joined the Forces and the enthusiasm which they have
displayed in the work of training will be remembered
with very keen satisfaction for many a year to come.

Amongst this large army of miners there were some
1,800 trained ambulance men. About half of them
would be engaged in ambulance work, and half as fight-
ing units. Miners are proverbially brave men, and it is,
therefore, not a matter for astonishment that two of
their number won the coveted Victoria Cross. Pte.
Dobson was a miner employed at Backworth Colliery,
Northumberland, when he joined his regiment of which
he was a reservist. The other Victoria Cross was
awarded to Pte. Robson, of the 2nd Batt. Royal Scots,
and he was formerly a putter at Shotton Colliery,
Durham.

A remarkable feature of this magnificent response of
the mining community is the large number of married
men—in fact, a large majority—who have joined. The
way has been made easier for them by the munificence of
of the colliery proprietors, who undertook to make such
provision for those their own workmen left behind as
would ensure them being able to live in comfort. So
many men had enlisted from the mines of one large firm
in this Division that the proprietors were paying in this
way at the rate of <£70,000 per annum.'

It is difficult to estimate what the loss of output has
been, but Mr. Wilson thinks that, as regards coal in this
Division, the figures cannot be far short of 8,000,000
tons. At many coal mines the management were com-
pelled to re-organise their methods, and in most cases
unusual difficulty was felt in the loss of the skilled
mechanics. These men, and especially the trained elec-
tricians, whose services must have been of great value
to the army, enlisted in considerable numbers. Diffi-
culty has been experienced also owing to the loss of com-
petent officials. Managers have had to do without the
advice and guidance of the agents; many under-managers
with first-class certificates have had to take charge in the
absence of the manager, and others without first-class
qualification have had to carry the responsibility until
different arrangements could be made. In all these
cases the men have been quite equal to the duties
imposed upon them. The deputy or fireman is usually
a very handy man; and being also a man trained in
ambulance work, his services are of considerable value
in Army and Navy medical work. Many deputies joined
these services, and collieries have found great difficulty
in providing men who were qualified to carry on the work
of underground inspection and supervision.

It is difficult to deduce anything of value from a com-
parison of ^the figures relating to accidents prior to and
since the war commenced. For the first seven months
of the year at coal mines 126 persons lost their lives
and 466 received more or less serious injuries. This was
a monthly average of 18 deaths and 66 serious accidents.
For the last five months 73 persons lost their lives, and

261 were injured — a monthly average of 14 and 54
respectively. These figures do not convey much, as
latterly the mines worked very short time. Perhaps a
better comparison can be made by considering the
figures from the point of view of output. For the whole
of the year 1913 the deaths at coal mines were in the
ratio of 3-57 per million tons of coal raised. Up to
July 31, 1914, the deaths per million tons raised were
3-60, which is practically the same figure; and the
serious accidents reported amounted to 13*31 per
million tons of output. For the last five months of the
year in the same ratio, it is estimated that the figures
were 4-29 deaths, and the serious accidents 15*35. One
must admit that, as a rule, it was the flower of the
various classes of labour which offered its services to the
country. The men who thought of the future were also
those who were accustomed to think of their safety in
the mine : the good timberers and the careful workers.
Then, many men were set to unfamiliar occupations,
and owing to'the Want of experience were caught and
injured where others possibly would have escaped. This,
to some extent, is probably the answer to the increase
in the number of accidents.

When war broke out it was feared that work in the
coal mines might very seriously be hampered by a
shortage of the timber used as roof supports. The
supplies hitherto had been entirely from foreign sources,
and although, apparently, very large stocks had been
kept in this country, prices were increased to such an
extent that many colliery owners were impelled to use
English-grown wood. This was very often obtained
locally; in some cases the standing timber was pur-
chased and cut as required. Unfortunately the same
results could not be obtained from the home-grown
article as from the foreign, as the former was not given
proper time to season; and green wood is very unecono-
mical, and its use for roof supports is also attended with
a certain amount of danger. The timber difficulty had
one element of good in it, in that it showed some colliery
officials the necessity for withdrawing as much of the
timber as possible from the goaf. Although greater care
seems to be exercised in this direction, there is still much
room for improvement.

COAL MINING IN VICTORIA IN 1914.

The Coal Industry—State Coal Mine.

The annual report of the Secretary for Mines,
Victoria, for the year 1914, has just been issued. The
production of coal, amounting to 617,536 tons, showed
an increase of 23,624 tons over that of 1913. The bulk
of the total was raised at the State Mine at Wont-
haggi, viz., 550,107 tons. The Jumbunna Company,
Jumbunna, raised 24,237 tons; the Austral Company,
Korumburra, 20,033 tons; and the Outtrim-Howitt Com-
pany, Outtrim, 14,703 tons. Brown coal to the extent
of 2,645 tons was produced by the Melbourne and
Altona Company,-at Altona.

The State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi had a prosperous
year, and is now the largest producing coal mine in
Australia. For the financial year ending June 30, after
allowing £46,202 for depreciation, sinking fund, etc., a
net profit of £1,213 was obtained, derived from an
output of 510,490 tons, of which 177,873 tons were sold
as slack. No. 3 area, which yielded 782,000 tons, is now
worked out, and also No. 5 shaft area. Nos. 9 and 10
shafts continue to produce the bulk of the output, but
it is expected that the McBride Tunnel, now that it has
reached the coal below South Dudley, will gradually
attain the position of greatest producer. Employment
is now given to over a thousand men, of whom 450 are
mining coal on contract rates, and are earning on an
average 14s. per shift. The output is about 2,300 tons
per day. Electric coal cutters are employed exten-
sively, and electricity is being utilised as much as pos-
sible for power and lighting. The State Mine has had
two drills proving the ground ahead of the workings, and
during the year put down 130 bores. This policy has
proved so cheap and convenient that two additional
machines have been obtained.

With the above report is issued that of the director
of the Geological Survey, Mr. Herman. He states that
boring for coal has been carried on at Kongwak, Tar win
Lower, Leongatha, Korumburra, and on the Powlett-
North Woolomai Company’s lease at Wonthaggi, but
without results except at Korumburra, where on the
eastern side of the field the borings demonstrate that—
judged by the scale of Victorian seams—large quantities
of coal are still available in that district. Over one
million tons of coal have been proved by the machine
boring for the Powlett-North Woolamai Company,
which is now driving tunnels to develop its lease.

Boring for brown coal has been suspended, but it is
hoped that a resumption of this work will be made at
an early date.

Samples of Morwell brown coal from bores were dis-
tilled at the laboratory, and furnished 16*6 lb. of ammo-
nium sulphate per ton (52*4 per cent, of theoretical
quantity); 68*5 lb. (7*6gals.) of tar; 9,140cu. ft. of gas
(value 364 British thermal units per cu. ft.); and 5601b.
of carbonaceous residue, suitable for briquettted fuel or
producer or suction gas work, containing 0*42 per cent,
of nitrogen, equivalent to 11*66 lb. of ammonium sul-
phate per ton of raw coal.

It is reported that owing to the difficulty of obtaining
Welsh coal, the Sudan railways are about to start an experi-
ment in the use of South African coal, and a steamer laden
with such coal has left Delagoa Bay for Port Sudan. Some
change in the fire grates will be necessary, and the mode
of firing is different, so the services of a South African
railway locomotive inspector have been requisitioned for the
purpose of supervising the necessary alterations.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—October 3.

Mineral Rights Duty.

During discussion by the Committee on Ways and
Means, the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed
that “ Where the amount payable to any person as rent
(including royalties), in respect of the right to work minerals,
or of any mineral way leaves, varies according to the price
of the minerals, and the amount so payable in respect of
any working year ending on any date after the commence-
ment of the present war exceeds the pre-war standard of that
rent, there shall be paid, as an addition to the mineral rights
duty payable by that person, an amount not exceeding 50
per cent, of the excess.” This second resolution, Mr.
McKenna stated, has arisen out of the discussion on tjie
excess profits tax. It had been 'pointed out that there was
one source of profit which arose directly from an increase in
price, and yet was not included in the Bill. He referred
to the mineral rights royalties in respect of which excess
profit was being made, due entirely to the fact that, as the
price of the coal or the ore had risen, so had the royalty. The
Government proposed to apply to the mineral rights duty
the same principle as they applied to the excess profits tax.

Sir A. Markham, following, said that in the Cumberland
district the price being paid to royalty owners to-day was
about 8s. a ton. One owner was receiving £150,000 a year
in increased royalties alone because of the high price of
haematite ore. The price of haematite iron alone was greater
than the basis figure on which they had to pay 50 per cent.,
and he did not think that the proposal in any way met the
case. If they were only going to take the amount of 5s. a
ton, they only got half-a-crown, and the royalty owner would
get the new increased royalties, which had accrued largely
owing to the policy adopted by the Admiralty, who had
forced up the price of iron in that district. The right hon.
gentleman should take not merely 50 per cent., but the whole
100 per cent.

Mr. Booth asked whether the firms in the west of
Cumberland and in Lancashire were not now controlled firms.
There would be great dissatisfaction if large institutions
were taken over and made controlled firms, allowing 6 per
cent, on capital, at the very time they were purchasing at
enormous prices raw material, which was practically a
monopoly created by the Government demand. Before the
resolution was passed, he trusted the right hon. gentleman
would be able to say what was the dividing line between
controlled firms and the institutions in the same trade which
had only to pay on excess profits tax.

Sir Courtenay Warner thought that in dealing, with
royalties it would be found rather a difficult process to
control them, in view of the fact that the owners were doing
nothing but receive money. There were cases where the
price had not risen, but where the royalty owner, instead of
getting a royalty on 10,000 tons, was getting a royalty on
100,000 tons. Because the demand and output had been
so enormously increased, there were very much larger
royalties and the owner was better able to pay. He would
like to see not only the man who got an increased income
out of the increased royalty pay this tax, but also to see
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer received something
out of the enormously increased royalties arising out of the
increased number of tons upon which royalties were
received.

Mr. McKenna said the tax in the present year could not
apply to any controlled firm. No controlled firm came into
existence before July 2. It was a question of percentage
between the two Acts, and they had as yet no experience
of what happened under the Munitions Act; but when they
had that experience, before next year, he hoped to be in
a position to give all the information required. The ques-
tion was then put, and agreed to.

Ship Owners and the Excess Profits Tax.

In Committee on the Finance (No. 3) Bill, Mr.
Houston moved that the ship owning industry should
be added to the trade® exempted.

Sir A. Markham pointed out that before the war, in
July 1914, freights on coal to Genoa were 7s. a ton. He
presumed the cost would be about 6s. per ton, which would
leave about Is. per ton profit. The rates to-day had
increased from 7s. to 45s. a ton. What was the extra cost
to the ship owner? Even supposing that the cost was
double, there was a very big margin. Take the case of
Marseilles. From Cardiff to Marseilles the freight was
8 fr. per ton before the war. To-day it was 53 fr.

The amendment was negatived.

H.M. Consul at Batoum reports that, owing to the exceed-
ingly inferior product obtained, the only coal deposit that
has ever been worked in the Caucasus ha® never been
profitable. This deposit exists at Tkvibuli, and, except
locally, there is no demand for the coal won from the mines,
as it is considered not to be worth the cost of transport.
The industry, therefore, is unlikely to attain commercial
importance.

The Engineer Surveyor-in-Chief to the Board of Trade
recently conducted a preliminary enquiry into the explosion
from a water-tube boiler which occurred on July 25 last
at the coke ovens and by-product plant of the Llanbradach
Colliery, Llanbradach, near Cardiff. The boiler was of the
usual Babcock and Wilcox water tube type, having one
steam and water drum about 24 ft. in length and 4 ft. 6 in.
in diameter, and 100 heating tubes 18 ft. in length and 4 in.
in external diameter. The tubes were made of steel, those
in the bottom row being solid-drawn, the others lap-welded.
The original thickness of the tube which failed was 0T5 in.
The boiler was fired by the waste gas from the coke ovens.
The explosion was not of a violent nature. The fifth tube
from the left-hand side in the bottom row failed in two
places for a length of 2^ in. and 1| in. respectively, and,
through the openings thus formed, the contents of the boiler
escaped. The explosion was caused by the tube becoming
overheated until it was unable to withstand the working
pressure. The boiler was one of four similar boilers installed
for supplying steam to drive the machinery in connection
with the coke ovens and by-product plant. Three of the
boilers were fired by the waste gas from the coke ovens,
and the fourth by hand in the usual manner. Inside the
tube which failed a clay-like deposit had accumulated, and
it was this deposit, in the opinion of the examiner, which
caused the tube to become overheated and finally to rupture.