December 17, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN 1253 the Barnsley seam will be tapped at less depth than originally estimated. The Hatfield Main Colliery was mentioned at last week’s meeting of the Thorne Rural District Council, when plans for a number of pit sinkers’ huts were presented. The contractor wrote that the huts would be constructed in every shape and form to the War Office regulations for tem- porary buildings, and as the matter was an urgent one, and indirectly for war purposes, the Council were asked to sanc- tion the plans at the earliest possible moment. The surveyor stated it was proposed to erect the huts on piles, with air space between the floors, which would not stop the damp from coming up. The medical officer also pointed out that the huts were expected to be up at least two years. Under these circumstances the Council decided there must be a foundation either of concrete cr brick, subject to which the plans were approved. Notwithstanding the splendid way in which the Yorkshire miners had already enlisted, a very large number in the Doncaster district have been attested under Lord Derby’s enlistment scheme. The trustees of the Cadeby Colliery Disaster Relief Fund recently had reported to them that there are now on the books 107 children in receipt of 2s. 6d. per week, and 32 widows in receipt of 5s. per week. As the widows re-marry and the children attain the maximum age, so the liabilities of the trustees steadily decrease. It was reported that in the ordinary course of events, the last child will disappear from the record of the fund in the year 1927. Mr. J. Griddle, who recently ceased to be manager of the Brodsworth Colliery for a more important appointment in the mining world, was last week the recipient of a purse con- taining £50 as a testimonial from the officials and workmen of the colliery. At Doncaster District Council meeting last Saturday, the clerk reported the receipt of a letter from the County Council, giving preliminiary information in regard to the large mining district of Conisboro’, which is now applying for urban powers. The County Council wrote that an enquiry would shortly be held into the matter. It was pointed out that if Conisboro’, the County Council, and the Local Government Board, could be got to consent, the matter might stand over till the close of the war. It was resolved to ask the Conisboro’ Council to agree to this. At last week’s annual meeting of the Sheffield and District branch of the Coal Trade Benevolent Association, the receipts for the year were stated to have been £347 12s. 2d., or £60 more than last year. It was decided not to hold the usual smoking concert, but an appeal for donations in lieu of this realised £80 3s. Mr. H. A. Longbotham was re-elected president. The miners of Maltby Colliery were last week addressed by Lieut. W. K. Smith, an Australian M.P., also by Mr. A. H. Marshall, M.P. for Wakefield, who urged the men to put in full time in the production of coal. Mr. Thompson, agent of the colliery, who presided, stated that from Maltby Colliery 400 men had been sent to the front, which was equal to a deficiency in output of 1,600 tons of coal per week. Similar losses, he pointed out, were going on in almost every large colliery, and these losses in output also meant less coke, benzol, and toluol. There was a great deal of time lost by men, but it was not entirely due to neglect; it was largely due, he thought, to the lack of realisation that this was a great war. Lancashire and Cheshire. The Coal Trade and Proposed Wagon Pooling Scheme—■ Subsidence Case—Colliery Surveys in South Lancashire. It is believed in the coal trade that it is proposed by the Government to take over and place under their own control the private railway wagons and trucks of coal owners and merchants during the war. At the Manchester Coal Exchange on Tuesday, a meeting of members of the Exchange was held to discuss the matter. There were present representatives of colliery proprietors, coal merchants and shippers from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and North and South Wales. The following resolution was passed unanimously :—“ That tills meeting will regard with grave concern iany proposals to pool private owners’ railway wagons, and desires to place on record its conviction that any attempt to interfere with the statutory rights of traders to supply and control their own rolling .stock will render it impossible for them to secure and maintain an adequate supply of coal during the present crisis, and be likely seriously to inconvenience collieries and consumers, and generally to dislocate trade.” It was resolved that copies of the resolution be forwarded to the President of the Board of Trade and Sir Richard Redmayne, Chief Inspector of Coal Mines. At the Chancery Court in Liverpool, on Tuesday, the trial was begun of an action in which John Henry Andrew, the owner of two plots of land with 21 houses erected theron in Providence-street and Peel-lane, Little Hui ton, seeks to recover damages from the Earl of Ellesmere in respect of subsidence and injury to buildings caused by workings in the Cannel mine. Mr. Rutherford, for the plaintiff, explained that the mine was formerly worked by the Bridgewater Trustees, but in 1907 a lease was granted to Messrs. Roscoe. In 1901 and 1910 damage was noticed, and the expense of repairs was borne by the third Earl of Ellesmere. The present action related to damage which had become apparent subsequently. As originally constituted, it was brought against the present Earl of Ellesmere as the executor of his father, and also against Messrs. Roscoe and Sons, but terms had been arranged with the latter, under which they were to pay £150. He was advised by his mining engineers that any damage caused by the Roscoe workings would not become apparent until January 1913. When it was ascertained that the previous workings were by the Bridgewater Trustees, it was proposed to make them parties, but the defendant had agreed to take the responsi- bility of answering for what they had done.—Mr. Jenkins, for the defendant, stated that the latest workings by the Bridgewater Trustees were in 1901, and could not have had any material effect. There was no damage for which they were liable. A correspondent learns that surveys are being quietly made in the neighbourhoods of Glazebury and Culcheth agricultural districts of South Lancashire, with a view to locating coal seams in those areas. The nearest collieries arc those at Astley Green, worked by the Clifton and Kersley Coal Company (Pilkington Colliery Company). Although thousands of young miners had already joined the Army in the Manchester, Bolton, Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley districts, many hundreds of colliery workers were amongst those who attested in the ‘‘ big rush ” which took place last week end. Stringent instructions have been issued this week to engineers at various municipal electricity generating works in Central and South-East Lancashire to use their coal as sparingly as possible, owing to the threatened curtailment of supplies. Reference was made to the difficulty of obtaining supplies of coal in the course of a discussion at a meeting of the Dukinfield Town Council last week, upon a report as to a conference of local coal merchants on coal prices. According to the report the local merchants declared that they made contracts with the collieries for certain quantities of coal to be delivered, and in most cases only about one half of the quantity contracted for was being delivered. The colliery owners had informed the merchants that they could not deliver the full quantity owing to the shortage of men, but the merchants held the opinion that that was only 'an excuse, .and alleged that what the colliery owners were really doing was selling the remainder to outside merchants at a much higher price. The Corpora- tion sub-committee which had been dealing with the matter were unanimous in the opinion that the only way to keep the price of coal at a reasonable figure was to restrict the price at the pit, and as far as possible to make the colliery owners supply the whole quantity of coal contracted for. Councilor Cooke stated that a letter setting forth these views had been forwarded to the Local Government Board. The Rochdale Corporation Finance Committee have received a report from the town clerk to the effect that no complaints had been received of excessive prices being charged for coal in the town, and in view of this report the committee have decided that there is no need for municipal action in the direction of arranging a conference with local coal merchants. The Midlands. Drainage in the Old Hill District. Mr. J. E. Davenport lately overman at the Craven Colliery, has been appointed under-manager at the Coventry Colliery, at present in course of sinking. Four hundred miners have been rendered temporarily idle by a fire that broke out in the workings of the Sandyfields Colliery, near Dudley, belonging to Messrs. Parrish. It is hoped to restart this week-end. Considerable diversity of opinion has arisen on the question of the future of the Old Hill and district coal field, which, when the arbitrators’ award under the Mines Drainage Act was given a few weeks ago, was stated to have not more than another seven years’ existence. Leading colliery pro- prietors state that this estimate is altogether too low, while others contend that the establishment of a drainage board for the area would have the effect of extending the life of the district to at least 50 years. The operations of the South Staffordshire Mines Drainage Commission do not include the greater part of the Old Hill district, and an embryonic scheme for dealing with the water trouble 'was referred to in the Colliery Guardian some months ago. Nothing further has yet been decided upon, but the shafting and framework of the Fly and Haden collieries, which recently came under the hammer, have been allowed to remain, in view of possible developments. Many, if not all, the pits in the area, do their own pumping, but the stopping of Lord Dudley’s Salt- wells Collieries—which latterly did very little other than pumping, and which ceased at the time of the coal strike— has resulted in a great “ come ” of water to the lower parts of the district. It seems to be generally conceded that if the water, and, in some cases, the presence of fire, can be dealt with, the district has an optimistic future, but the difficulty centres in the necessity for combined action. The fatality that occurred at the Piercey Colliery, Albion, near West Bromwich, on September 6, when two men lost their lives during sinking operations, formed the subject of a coroner’s enquiry on Tuesday. Two men, John and Edward Williams, were engaged in the sinking of a new shaft