1044

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

November 19, 1915.

Northumberland and Durham.

Stream Pollution Due to By-Product Waste—The Collieries
and Recruiting.—Presentation to Mr. J. Batey: Colliery
Manager on the After the War Period.

We -are glad to be able to announce that Mr. R. Y. Batey,
secretary and fitter for the Stella Coal Company Limited,
who has been “ on the sick list ” for some time past, is
making steady progress towards recovery.

Capt. John Hare, R.A.M.C., son of Mr. Samuel Hare, of
Howlish Hall, Bishop Auckland, agent for Messrs. Bolckow,
Vaughan and Company, at their collieries in that district,
tias been mentioned in despatches from the Dardanelles.
This is the second occasion on which Capt. Hare has been
'so honoured, he having been mentioned in a despatch from
tSir John French towards the end of last year.

‘Collections were taken in the Prudhoe, Wylam and
Mickley district last Saturday in aid of the Northumberland
Aged Miners’ Homes Association. Half the proceeds are
to be devoted to a local fund for the provision of free coal
to the occupants of the Edgewell homes. At most of the
•centres in the county the workmen of the adjacent collieries
levy themselves in order to provide coal for the aged people,
and an attempt is being made to do the same at Prudhoe.
Thus far, 198 homes have been erected in the county, but
this number is not nearly -adequate, as there are about 200
old couples still on the waiting list.

At last week’s meeting of the Durham County Council,
the inspector (Mr. Scott Elder) reported that the pollution
of streams by coal washings from certain collieries had
not yet ceased, despite the fact that this form of pollution
was comparatively easily dealt with. Pollution from by-
product works, which were playing a very important part
In the national service, were, however, not so easily dealt
with, as they arose from different sources and causes,
including accidents, the inadequate means often adopted
(for dealing with the wastes, and the failure of the human
•(element. During the past quarter, owners had been
(hampered in their efforts to adopt remedial measures owing
Ito the difficulty of obtaining delivery of material and also
to the shortage of labour. Consequently, several of the
.‘streams were still polluted.

The official notice on the question of the recruiting of
miners has been much discussed locally, .and it is generally
felt that it is well that the further enlistment of miners
has been deprecated to some extent. Mr. Wm. Straker,
corresponding secretary of the Northumberland Miners’
Association, states that so many miners have joined the
Colours that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a
sufficiency of labour to work the pits. At present, the men
responsible for coal production are mostly over age or unfit
for military service. The transit lads, he states, have
joined the Army practically in a body, leaving the work
of transferring the coal from the face to the shaft to be
done by much older men, or by mere youngsters. If more
miners are taken for the Army, says Mr. Straker, the
responsibility for the shortage in the output of coal will
rest with the Government. So far as can be ascertained,
the opinion expressed by Mr. Straker is that which is held
by the mining community as a whole.

On Saturday last, Mr. Joseph Batey was the recipient of
presentations. Mr. Batey is leaving South Shields to take
up his residence in Durham City as an agent of the Durham
Miners’ Association. Mr. Carnes (manager of the St. Hilda
Colliery) on behalf of the St. Hilda lodge, with the members
of which he associated the officials of the colliery and him-
self, presented Mr. Batey with a gold watch, a gold watch
bracelet for Mrs. Batey, and a drawing-room suite of
(furniture. Mr. John Thompson, on behalf of the Marsden
miners, presented Mr. Batey with a Carrara marble time-
piece with side ornaments. Mr. Batey, who, from the age
of 12 years, has been a working miner, has been in recent
years checkweighman at St. Hilda Colliery. A very timely
note of warning was sounded by Mr. C. S. Carnes at the
presentation. He sought to impress upon the miners the
fact that the huge amount of money now being spent on
the war was bound to have a disastrous effect upon this
country, although, perhaps, not immediately. He well
remembered the Franco-Prussian war. He was then at
Haswell. After two or three years, decay began to eat its
way into the trade of the country, and the collieries soon
felt its effects. Every fortnight they were engaged in
writing out the notices of the men—more and more each
time—until they were faced with the serious problem of
keeping the colliery going. Practically they, were giving
the coal away just to keep the colliery working, but they
knew what the result was to Shotton and Haswell in that
disastrous time. What he was afraid of was that we should
have those same times repeated. Therefore, he urged the
miners to prepare for hard times by taking advantage of
their present high wages, and laying by for a rainy day.

Mr. R. A. Howe, who, prior to the war, was manager of
the Willington (Sunnybrow) Colliery of Messrs. Strakers and
Love, has been promoted to the position of temporary captain
of the 6th Durham Light Infantry, in which earlier he was
lieutenant.

Cumberland.

Active preparations are now being made by the Workington
Iron and Steel Company for the re-starting of one of the
large steel mills formerly carried on by Messrs. Cammell,
Laird and Company, at the Derwent Works, at Workington.
and it is expected that the work will be completed in the
course of six or eight weeks.

Yorkshire.

Hull Exporters and Coal Licences.

Reference was recently made to the war relief fund
balance-sheet of the Brodsworth Colliery Company. The
Hickleton Main, it may also be explained, has a splendid
record; up to the end of September last the men’s con-
tributions were .£3,670. The owners contributed a like
amount, making a total of £7,331. Dependants on the fund
have received £7,262. Over 1,000 employees of the colliery
have joined the Colours.

At last week’s meeting of the Doncaster Board of
Guardians further correspondence with the Board of Trade
was reported on the subject of accumulating stocks of coal
in view of a possible shortage, and it was suggested arrange-
ments should be made for a limitation of profits for the
sale of household coal with coal merchants. The view was
expressed that the matter was one which did not greatly
concern Doncaster, seeing that it was now in a colliery
district. It was also stated the colliery owners were

dealing very fairly with the public. The matter was there-
fore left over until a further reply was received from the
Board.

Second-Lieut. Frederick Mottram, son of Mr. T. H.
Mottram, H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines for Yorkshire and
the North Midland District, is visiting his home at
Doncaster on a few days’ leave. Mr. Mottram is in the
4th S. Midland Howitzer Brigade, R.F.A., and has seen
eight months’ service in France and Belgium. He has two
brothers who hold commissions, one as a subaltern in the
7th East Yorkshire Regiment, whilst the other is a captain
in the 5th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

The Board of Trade has now confirmed an order by the
Light Railway Commissioners, authorising the construction
of light railways from Barnsley to ThUrnsCoe; by way. of
Stairfoot, Wombwell, Brampton, Wath, and Bolton; with
a link to join up with the Mexboro’ to Rotherhairi systerh
from Wath.

At an inquest on a miner fatally injured by a fall ,of
roof at Askern Main Colliery-. Mr. C. Soiir-, manager of tile
colliery, said the stone forming the root wa.s Very friable,
and if at stood any length of time it weathered and crumbled
away. It did not fall in a body, it ran like a stream, and
was going on continually. .It could not be, avoided, and
it came without Warning. The jury returned a Verdict of
“ Accidental death.”

The annual report of the Hiimber Coal Exporters’ and
Shippers’ Association states that during the past year the
work of the association-, in common with others, but
peculiarly by the character of the trade whose interests it
serves, has been hampered by the war. During the present
year the restrictions necessarily imposed by the Government
on the export of coal, the scarcity of labour at the collieries
brought about by the heavy enlistment of men, broken time
at the pits, with the consequent decrease in output, together
with the largely increased demand for coal for manufactur-
ing purposes in this country, have all combined to cut down
the quantity of coal available for shipment. The issue of
licences for the shipment of coal from the North Country
districts (notably Fifeshire and Northumberland) has been
more generous than from the Humber ports. The reason
for this is that the northern coal industries are almost
entirely dependent upon the export trade, owing to the
distance of the mines from the large industrial centres and
the consequent heavy rates of carriage inland, which, apart
from the quality of the coal, places them at a disadvantage
with the Yorkshire -and Midland collieries which are in
close proximity to the great manufacturing districts. These
pits, which are, of course, by their geographical position
the great feeders of the Humber ports during normal times,
have been, quite rightly, called upon to meet heavy national
requirements during the period of -the war. This may be
seen in the fact that at Hull alone the total quantity of coal
shipped for all purposes, coastwise and foreign, during the
first year of the war, showed a decrease of over 36 per cent,
compared with the previous year, while the quantity of coal
exported from Hull to foreign countries only showed a
decrease of, say, 43 per cent, in the same period. Since the
end of the first year of the war the shipments of coal at
Hull have shown a marked increase over a similar period
since the commencement of hostilities. This has been
doubtless brought about largely by the careful manipulation
of the output by the Government War Trade Department
and the Coal Export Committee in regulating the require-
ments of coal for home consumption, and the judicious
licensing of shipments of fuel for abroad based on the experi-
ence gained during the progress of the war.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Coal Found at Newtown—The Observance of the Price of
Coal (Limitation) Act—Colliery Subsidence: Important
Judgment.

Lieut.-Col. Charles R. Pilkington, of Haydock, has been
appointed by the King to be a Companion of the Order of
SS. Michael and George.

A seam of coal has been found at Bank End stone quarry,
Newtown, New Mulls, and machinery has been put down
by Mr. Williamson, the quarry owner, for getting ’the coal.
Some of the coal has already been sold in the district.
The coal is stated to be of excellent quality, and not much
above 30 ft. from the surface.

Speaking at a meeting of the Hyde Town Council last
week upon the question of prices for household coal during
the winter, Coun. Middleton said the municipal committee
which had met the local coal merchants had found them
most reasonable. No blame should be attached to local
merchants for the high price of coal. The fact was that the
Act of Parliament dealing with this question was not
definite or stringent enough, and it left an opening for
unscrupulous persons to evade its provisions. The Act
merely settled the price of coal at the pit mouth. The limit
of the extra price which coal owners were allowed to charge
was 4s. per ton increase on the average price of 1913-14,
but no coal owner was willing to take that price. The
average increase so far, alleged the speaker, was over 5s.
per ton, and the Act of Parliament did nothing to limit the
cost of cartage or to meet railway difficulties. It was
notorious that men on ’Change had stated that they were
not going to take any notice of the Act, and that was a
grave public scandal. In his opinion, local authorities
ought to urge the Government to go deeper into the whole
question.

Mr. Robert Dodd, of Ashtou-in-Makorfield, who has been
employed at the Long-lane Colliery for the past sixteen
years, and worked his way up to the position of under-
manager, has been appointed colliery manager of Madeley
Wood collieries, Shropshire.

Capt. W. T. Woods, who has received special mention in
Sir Ian Hamilton’s recent despatch, was apprenticed to the
mining profession with the late Mr. John Smith, of Messrs.
Ackers, Whitley and Company, and prior to the war he
was an assistant mining engineer in the. employ of the
firm named.

At the Lancashire Chancery Court, sitting in Liverpool,
on Wednesday the 10th inst., Vice-Chancellor Stewart
Smith; K.C., delivered an important judgment in the action
brought by John Heyes, a property owner at St. Helens,
to recover damages for subsidence alleged to have been
caused by the workings of the collieries of Messrs. Bromilow.
Foster and Company Limited.—In a considered judgment,
his Honour said the lease which conveyed to the plaintiff's
predecessors in title the land (on which were now three
houses, 16, 18, and 20, Marsland-street, St. Helens), con-
tained a reservation to the effect that the lessors had full
and free liberty to get the coal under the land without
liability on their part to make any satisfaction for damage

to the surface or buildings thereon occasioned by the
workings. In October 1899 a lease of the minerals Under
the land was granted to the defendant company; who were
also entitled under other agreements to work the minerals
lying under the neighbouring land; Included in the grant
were at least three seams of coal, called the Higher Florida
mine; at a depth of 1,145 ft;; the Lower Florida mine; 10
or 12 ft. lower; and the, Ravenshead Higher Deli, 4CJ0 ft.
below the Higher FloficU. the seams were respectively
4 ft. 6 in., 5 ft. 6 in.-, and 3 ft. The mines were worked by
the longwall process from east to west. In May of 1909
the, three hoiises had Become rujnoiis; No. 16 was repaired,
and the other two we,re taken down, and new houses were
built on the site. The foundations were excavated to a
depth of 6 ft. or 7 ft., 2 ft. of concrete was put in, and the
buildings were strengthened by long iron girders. That
work was finished by the end of June 1909, and subsidence
set in so rapidly Iht Nos. 18 and 20 again became ruinous,
and had to be pulled down at the end of 1910. No. 16 had
not been so seriously affected, but was now barely habitable,
and must soon come down. It was admitted that the
damage was due to subsidence, and that the defendants were
the only colliery owners in the neighbourhood whose
workings could cause it. It was contended that the with-
drawal of the minerals giving vertical support would not
have any effect upon the surface, and that- the damage was
attributable to the withdrawal of lateral, and not of vertical,
support. The opinions of the experts differed as to what
was the immediate cause, but all agreed that the subsidence
was not brought about by the extraction of coal vertically
under the plaintiff’s premises. It seemed probable that a
general subsidence had been caused by the working of the
Higher Ravenshead Delf and Higher Florida mines in a
large area in, and under, and around the plaintiff’s premises,
and though it was extremely difficult to assert that any
particular working had caused it, the indications pointed to
the cause being in part, if not wholly, the later workings
in the Florida mine to the west of the plaintiff’s premises
up to the Tickle’s Vein fault. The law on the subject was
well settled. Where the minerals belong to one person and
the surface to another, the law presumed that the surface
owner had a right to support, unless the language of the
instrument regulating his right or other evidence clearly
showed the contrary. In order to exclude a right of support
the language used must, unequivocally, convey that inten-
tion either by express words or by necessary implication.
The only instrument affecting the plaintiff’s rights were the
lease and conveyance to his predecessors in title, and the
effect of the reservation was to except the minerals under
the land and give the colliery company the power to get
them without liability to make satisfaction for any damage
to the surface or buildings thereby occasioned. Therefore,
if any damage had been done by the withdrawal of vertical
support, or by the withdrawal of lateral support in the
ordinary course of getting the subjacent minerals, the
plaintiff could not have sustained a claim. The right of
the defendants was to get the minerals under the plaintiff’s
land by a proper method of mining. If they did so they
were not liable for surface damage, but the reservation gave
them no larger right. It made no difference whether those
operations started in land leased to the plaintiff’s pre-
decessors in title. In ascertaining what was a proper
method of mining, the defendants were not bound to treat
the minerals under the three houses as separate mines, but
might work them as part of the seams in which they were
found. Williams v. Bagnall was put forward as an
authority for a right to mine under and around the plaintiff’s
land at the convenience of the defendants, and destroy all
lateral support without liability, but he did not so read
that case. He could not accept it as an authority for the
proposition that if the operations had been solely for the
purpose of getting minerals under the adjoining land or
elsewhere, the defendants could let down the plaintiff’s
surface without incurring liability for the damage thereby
caused. A right to let down the surface by mining opera-
tions in the neighbourhood did not arise from the express
terms of the reservation, or by necessary implication from
them, and taking that to be the true construction of the
reservation, he was unable to find any evidence that the
subsidence was caused by the withdrawal of lateral support
through operations reasonably necessary to get and win the
minerals under the plaintiff’s land. It was common ground
that the withdrawal of vertical support would not cause
subsidence, because of the depth of the seam and the small
surface area of the land in question. He came to the con-
clusion that the subsidence of which the plaintiff complained
was not due to the withdrawal of support arising from
the taking of minerals under his houses, or as the result of
necessary operations for obtaining such minerals, and that
the defendants were not protected by the terms of the
reservation or by anything necessarily implied from those
terms. The burden of showing the defendants were pro-
tected by the reservation lay upon them, and that burden
they had not discharged. The plaintiff, therefore, was
entitled to an enquiry as to the amount of damage caused
by subsidence within six years from the date of the writ.
—Mr. Nuttall (for the defendants) asked, in view of the
far-reaching importance of the judgment, that the enquiry
should not be proceeded with for a fortnight, in order that
his clients might have an opportunity of considering the
question of appeal.—Mr. Rutherford (for the plaintiff) did
not object if the appeal was launched forthwith. The
defendants had other mines under the land, and the writ
asked for an injunction in regard to those.—The Vice-
Chancellor pointed out that if the houses were in a ruinous
condition, the plaintiff would probably get all the damages
he was entitled to on that enquiry.—Mr. Rutherford said
he would not press for the injunction because he had other
remedies if there was any cause.—The plaintiff was given
the costs of the action to be paid over, with the usual under-
taking to repay if the appeal succeeded.

Owing to the great depletions in the ranks of the workers
through enlistment, several colliery owners in Manchester
and Bolton districts are preparing to close certain of their
less remunerative mines. The men left will be transferred
to other mines belonging to the same owners.

The Hulton Colliery Company Limited, of Bolton and
Chequerbent, are pushing on with the opening out of their
new mines at Cronton. Several of their mines in the
Chequerbent district, near Bolton, are becoming exhausted.

An extensive and well equipped generating station is
being provided at Lord Ellesmere’s Bridgewater (Sandhole)
collieries, Walkden, near Manchester. Similar provision
has been made at his lordship’s Ashton Field and Mosley
Common collieries.

Half-a-dozen leading colliery owners in south and south-
east Lancashire, including Clifton and Kersley Coal Com-
pany, Messrs. A. Knowles and Sons, Lord Ellesmere, and