December 3, 1915.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

1149

Forty miners in the employ of the Middle ton Colliery Com-
pany Limited were last week summoned at Leeds for damages
through absenting themselves from work. The amounts
claimed varied from 15s. to 70s., and totalled £52. It was
explained by the colliery company that during the last six
weeks the average absence from one of their pits had been
30 per cent., and from another pit 25 per cent. Eventually
a number of the summonses were withdrawn, some were dis-
missed, and in the remaining cases orders w-ere made for
payments of the amount claimed.

Some misconception appears to have arisen as to the cause
of the stoppage last week at the Yorkshire Main Colliery at
Edlington, near Doncaster. It appears that it was not due
to a breakdown of machinery, as originally stated, but that
the cause of the temporary stoppage was merely the periodical
overhauling and repair of the winding engines. In the ordi-
nary course of events, this work would have been done during
the Christmas holidays, but owing to the abnormal pressure
arising from the war, the engineers were unable to give a
guarantee to do the work during the ensuing holidays, so
the management decided to take their turn with other colliery
proprietors, and closed the pit for this purpose. The pit was
again soon in full working order, and no breakdown or mishap
of any kind was associated 'with the stoppage.

A useful hint was given at an inquest at Carcroft, near
Doncaster, last week, on Arthur Hobson (14), a trapper, who
losit his life in Bullcroft pit through being caught by tubs.
It was stated the lad sat in a manhole, near the door in the
haulage way, which he had to open and shut whenever the
tubs came along. There was nothing to indicate the approach
of the tubs save the noise they made, and he had to trust to
his hearing entirely. Answering Mr. Mottram, H.M.
inspector of mines, a deputy admitted that if there was a
rope on to the door the lad could still stay in the manhole in
perfect safety, and open and shut the door from that place.
He had not seen this system himself, but he thought it could
be worked. Mr. Bostock, representing the Yorkshire Miners’
Association, remarked that such a rope could be used. He
had used one himself many years ago under like circum-
stances, and it was a feasible thing to suggest. In returning
a verdict of “Accidental death,’’ the jury suggested that some
means of indicating the approach of the tubs was desirable.

Mr. A. R. Chaytor presided at the monthly meeting of the
Yorkshire branch of the Association of Mining Electrical
Engineers, held on Saturday at Sheffield. The meeting con-
sidered a paper by Mr. Andrew Gibson, of Glasgow, on
“ Bearings for Electrical Machinery,” in which it was
pointed out that bearings give most anxiety when running a
plant for the first time. After giving general practical advice,
based upon experience, Mr. Gibson dealt with anti-friction
metals, lining bearings, jigs, plummer blocks, lubricating
oils, and ball bearings. The last-named, the author said,
fulfilled perhaps better than any other type the principal aim
of bearings, which was to reduce friction to a minimum; but
he pointed out several disadvantages. Properly installed,
they required very little attention and very little oil, but it
was essential that they should not be allowed to run dry. The
class of machinery on which a bearing was used governed its
life. The author recommended the making of gauges for
important bearings from full power, because they enabled the
amount of wear to be accurately measured, noted, and kept
for future use. Illustrations were given of a bearing suitable
for light duty, and of an improved type of bearing for cases
where the shaft and bearing box could not align with one
another.

At the annual meeting of the Yorkshire Geological Society
at Leeds on the 25th ult., Prof. Gilligan read a paper on
“ The Junction of the Upper Carboniferous and Permian at
Ashfield Brickworks, Conisboro’.” He said that on a visit
of the society to the brickpit in September, a very fine expo-
sure of the junction was seen. The carboniferous rocks were
typically red in colour, and they represented the highest beds
of the coal measures in Yorkshire. They consisted of a series
of sandstones and shales with the red colour of the sandstone
which was found in the coal measures of Staffordshire and
Nottingham. Apart from the colour, fossils indicated that
these beds were true upper coal measures. They were suc-
ceeded by beds of permian ed°fed with a thick band of con-
glomerates, in which the grains were beautifully rounded,
showing that they were acted upon by wind at the close.of
the carboniferous period. Thev contained material which
was not, as was often stated, derived from the underlying
coal measures, but must have travelled some distance from
a coarse grit rock. The thickness of the bed varied from
15 in. to 5 ft. 6 in., showing that the conglomerates were
deposited in a hollow existing in the upper coal measures. The
petrology of the beds was most interesting, the conglomerates
containing pebbles of igneous rocks that were not known to
exist anywhere in Yorkshire, thus showing that they must
have travelled from distant sources.

Lancashire and Cheshire.

Inspection of the Coal Field's Ambulance Gift—Influenza
Epidemic—Skelmersdale Mines Rescue Station Opened
—Wigan Coroner and Accident Prevention.

Mr. Arthur Yeadon, mine surveyor, of Burnley, has
received a commission in the Royal Engineers.

Surface improvements are to be effected at the Hulton
Colliery Company’s pits in the Atherton and Westhoughton
districts, and at the Westhoughton Coal and Cannel Com-
pany’s collieries in the last-named locality.

Twenty-eight coal merchants and retail coal dealers at
Southport are signatories to an agreement that the retail
prices of coal in the borough shall not be increased by more
than Is. 8d. per ton over the present price.

A scheme for providing electric power for the pumping of
sewage which has been submitted to the Leigh Rural
District Council by the Pilkington Colliery Company of the
Astley Green collieries, is now under consideration.

The 30 motor ambulances intended for service at the
front—the initial half of the joint gift of a convoy to the
Red Cross Society by the Lancashire and Cheshire Coal
Owners’ Association and the Lancashire and Cheshire
Miners’ Federation—are now ready, and will be inspected
next week at the Miners’ Hall, Bolton, by Lord Derby.
If well enough, the King will also inspect the cars at
Buckingham Palace. The second 30 cars will be ready early
in the new year.

Considerable inconvenience is being experienced at the
Manchester Corporation Electricity Works owing to coal
contractors failing to deliver coal according to contract.
More coal is now required in consequence of the increased
output of current needed at local engineering works. It has
been decided to seek the assistance of the Ministry of

Munitions and the Board of Trade in the matter of obtain-
ing more adequate coal supplies.

Large numbers of the miners employed by Lord Ellesmere,
Clifton and Kersley Coal Company Limited, Messrs. A.
Knowles, New Moss Colliery Company, Tyldesley Coal
Company Limited, Hulton Colliery Company Limited, and
other leading colliery firms in Manchester and Bolton areas,
are at present on the sick list suffering from influenza and
other kindred wintry ailments. As a result, the output at
some coal pits is reduced. The severe weather is also
handicapping coal owners in the matter of getting wagons
returned by railway companies.

The action of three haulage hands who left their work
at the Arley mine, Trafford pit (Messrs. Crompton and
Shawcross) without giving notice, led to prosecutions at the
Wigan County Police Court last week. The three lads were
given a day wage, and on November 23, when work was
very busy, they refused to continue at work, their reason
being that the tubs were rather hard to push. They refused
to go on, and other hands had to be put on the work, and
as they were fresh to it the result was that the output of
coal decreased during the day by about 120 tons. The tubs
were free-running tubs with automatic greasers, and the
low temperature had made the grease thick, but the tubs
would have run smoothly after a time. Each defendant was
fined 10s.

Following upon the recent opening of a rescue station at
Denton, near Manchester, the Lancashire and Cheshire Coal
Owners’ Association opened another station, or gallery, on
Monday, at Skelmersdale, South-West Lancashire, thus
completing an important scheme for providing rescue stations
in the Lancashire and Cheshire coal fields. Mr. Henry
Ackerley, of Wigan, chairman of the White Moss Colliery
Company, who presided, in a short address said there were
now 88 firms connected with the association, which bad
done valuable work in the way of providing these stations
for the training of men in rescue work. Mr. Arthur
Nicholson, Chief Inspector of Mines for Lancashire, said
that there were 54 coal mines within 10 miles of four rescue
stations. The benefit derived from these stations could not
be over eistimated.

An inquest was held last week at the Wigan Borough
Court respecting the death of James Lavin, haulage hand,
who died from injuries received in the No. 2 Crow pit of
the Garswood Coal and Iron Company Limited.—Walter
Billinge, a haulage hand, stated that he and Wm. Woods
were removing two tubs of dirt from the motor haulage
road to the drawing road. The tubs had been held just
above the landing by a chain fastened to the foot of a prop.
One tub had been removed. Witness put a skotch in the
wheels of the second one, but on releasing the chain it
began to move forward. Witness held the tub for a second
or so, and then the skotch fell out; it overcame him and
ran down the brows. It caught Lavin, -after going some
40 yds., and carried him forw-ard about 20 yds. Witness
thought the haulage rope caught and plucked the tub for-
ward.—The Coroner, summing up, said the accident had
been caused through a “ warrick ” not having been erected.
It did se.em unfortunate that when rules were made for
the protection of workmen, they came to be infringed in that
way. There was not the slightest doubt the work in
question was very dangerous, and if one relied upon a
skotch to hold a tub, a skotch which, as they had heard,
sometimes came out, there was nothing left but for the
tub to get the better of a man who, when wearing clogs,
could not hold it on a landing, and the result was it ran
away. The company provided iron bars or props, which
were there and not used. Workmen were either too
indifferent or were too lazy to put them up—he did not know
which excuse ought to be made, but he would say, too
■indifferent.—The jury returned a verdict of “ Accidental
death. ”

North Wales.

Absenteeism Caused by Drink.

An application to the various local councils has been made
by Mr. J. W. Williams, president of the Lancashire,
Cheshire, and North Wales Enginemen and Boilermen’s
Federation; Mr. Joseph Griffiths, agent and organiser of the
North Wales Clerks’ and Weighmen’s Association; Mr.
Thomas Evans, president of the North Wales Surfacemen’s
Association; and Mr. Fred Williams, secretary of Rhos
Independent Labour Party, to support a resolution appeal-
ing to the Licensing Justices to abolish the credit system in
public-houses, which, it is contended, is responsible for 40 per
cent, of the absenteeism at the local collieries, and therefore
highly detrimental to the Government’s increased demand for
coal, which is so ssential to the Navy and country in the
present crisis. Every support is being given to the resolu-
tion by the bodies to which it has been submitted.

Notts and Derbyshire.

Believed to have been caused by a workman entering a
storeroom with a naked light, an alarming fire broke out last
week at the Swanwick Collieries, which belong to Capt.
Palmer-Morewood, of Alfreton Park. The fire resulted in the
complete destruction of the building concerned; it was used
for the storing of lubricants, oil, and other machinery neces-
saries. The structure was situated some distance from the
headstocks and engine house, and consequently the fire did
not interfere with coal turning. A good supply of water was
at hand, and many helpers were available, including the
manager, Mr. Knighton, and the flames w*ere fortunately con-
fined to the stores, except that two laden trucks of coal stand-
ing near were ignited.

The Midlands.

Explosion at Mid Cannock—Colliery Stoppages—Monthly
Drainage Reports.

The district executive of the North Staffordshire miners’
executive have issued a circular to the several branches of
the Federation, recommending them the scheme for the
provision of ambulances for the front. The employers have
already expressed their willingness to co-operate in the
matter.

Seven men were injured as the result of an explosion a1-
the Mid-Cannock Colliery, on Tuesday. It appears that six
men were working in a head on the fault side of the deep
seam, and just prior to the explosion a fireman had joined
them. The cause of the explosion is unknown. The colliery
was reopened some two years ago by Messrs. Harrison
Limited, after having been shut down for a number of
years. Some 500 miners are employed at the pit.

The closing of the Fly and Haden Hill collieries, Old
Hill, where dismantling sales have been held this week,
was due to the stoppage of the South Staffordshire mines
drainage engine, which used to keep the water down in that
district. The Fly Colliery was the oldest in the district,
having been worked uninterruptedly for a hundred years.
It was originally in the possession of the Beets, an old
local family, and was left as a charity to the Rowley
Church. Owing to the thickness and richness of the coal
strata, there is still a further life in the colliery, variously
estimated at 20 to 25 years, the seam being from 10 to
12 yds. thick. The present proprietors intend to keep the
shafts in order, with a view to future developments. The
Haden Hill Colliery, which is also waterlogged, is stated
to contain 30 years’ supply of coal. The presence of fire and
water in this district, a greater part of which is outside
the operations of the Mines Drainage Commission, tends to
become an increasingly serious matter for the coal owners,
and some months ago it was suggested that the colliery
owners should combine to deal with these troubles. At
present, however, the proposal has not crystallised, and .it
is feared that unless something is done in the direction
indicated, the closing of the two collieries referred to will
only be the precursor of greater disasters for the district.

The monthly reports of the engineers to the South
Staffordshire Mines Drainage Commission were issued on
Saturday, the pumping showing a slight decrease on the
previous month, but still a heavy increase on November
las year. Mr. Edmund Howl, general manager, reports,
in respect to the Tipton district, that the rainfall during
the last four weeks had been 2-54 in. The pumping was
10,226,000 gals, per 24 hours, as compared with 10,736,100
gals, last month, and 8,364,500 gals, in the corresponding
period last year, or a decrease of 510,000 gals, compared
with last month, and an increase of nearly two million
gallons compared with a year ago. The Moat new engine,
with the assistance of the Gospel Oak Mond gas driven
plant, was dealing with the water at the Moat pond, the
old engine having worked a few turns only. The water at
the Bradley engine had averaged 200,000 gals. per.day less
than last month. At Deepfields, the new engine alone was
keeping the water down to bottom coal, working at less than
three-quarter full speed. At Herberts Park, the iron pump
rods, and bucket and clack had been withdrawn for periodica]
examination, and replaced. At Leabrook the water con-
tinued to sink, while there was practically no change at
Crown Meadow and Park Lane.----------With regard to the sur-

face drainage works, Mr. S. B. Priest reports -that the
various pumps had been maintained in good order, and had
worked when necessary. The repair of Tippers Culvert, off
Willenhall Brook, had been completed. The Boggy Arm
course on downstream side of Gospel Oak-road was being
raised where sunk by mining. Clearing had been continued
on Elwell-street, Bunn’s-lane, and Oakham courses. Diver-
sion of Buckpool Culvert, jointly with Brierley Hill and
Kingswinford Councils 'was completed, and repairs to
Withy moor culvert at joint cost with Dudley Corporation
had been continued.-----Mr. W. B. Collis (engineer for the

Old Hill district) reports /that during the past month the
water in the northern portion of the Old Hill district had
still further fallen off. It was now7 only equal to about
four strokes per minute upon the Windmill End pumping
engine, and Buffery being idle. Some cleansing is con-
stantly being done in the Buffery level. The old piston of
the atmospheric engine at Windmill End had been
reconstructed.

Kent.

At the Snowdown Colliery the record output for a day was
established on Thursday of last week, when 4fi4 tons were
brought to bank from the Beresford seam. The colliery is
now raising nearly 3,000 tons weekly, and, at the same time,
the sinking to the deeper seams is going steadily down. At
the Tilmanstone Colliery last week the output was 1,465 tons.

In connection with the colliery light railways, it was decided
by the Dover Rural District Council at their last meeting,
to request the company to carry the railway by means of
bridges in the Alkham district over the roads at Wolverton
and Caple Lane, instead of by the proposed level crossings.
Great objection to the level crossings was expressed by the
members, who wished these roads dealt with in the "same
manner as the Chilton road, where the company themselves
suggested a bridge instead of the level crossing first included
in the scheme.

Scotland.

The Greenbank Colliery Operations—Underground Fire at
Bankhead Colliery.

The operations carried on at Greenbank, in Falkirk dis-
trict, in opening out a new field, has been very successful.
The coal tapped and now in course of being worked is of
good quality. The coal is of a fair thickness, while the area
is very considerable.

The fire which has been raging in Bankend Colliery, Coal-
burn, Lanarkshire, since Wednesday of last week, was finally
brought under control on Sunday afternoon. The fire, which
originated in the lower seam, communicated itself to the
upper seam, and thence'went up the pit shaft, setting fire
and causing considerable damage to the pit head structures.
Both the winding shaft and the ventilation shaft of the colliery
were sealed up in the attempt to smother the outbreak. When
the sealings on the pit mouths were broken on Saturday after-
noon, the fires below were still burning fiercely. The services
of the Lanark, Larkhall, and Bellshill fire brigades were
obtained for the purpose of extinguishing the fire in the
seams. Lines of hose were led down the pit shaft, and
manipulated by the mine rescue party from Coatbridge. On
Sunday afternoon it was considered that the fire had been
brought sufficientlv under control to allow preparations for
the restarting of the colliery to be made.

It is stated that no further- objection is to be raised by
the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain to the employment
of Belgians underground, provided they are practical miners,
understand English, and receive trade union rate of wages.

Grimsby Coal Exports. — During the week ended
November 26, the coal exported from Grimsby was a.s
follows:—Foreign—to Dieppe. 612; Esbjerg, 1.230; Gefle.
5,473; Gothenburg, 2,820; Odense, 762; Porto Vecchio.
3.784; Savona, 4,441; and Stockholm, 1,908 tons. Coast-
wise—to Dagenham, 530 tons, making a total of 21,030 ton-
foreign, and 530 coastwise, against 7.005 tons foreign and
555 coastwise, during the corresponding period of last year.