134 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. January 21, 1916. EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF IRON AND STEEL IN 1915. The total value of the exports of iron and steel, and the manufactures thereof (not including iron ore, scrap iron and steel) from the United Kingdom during 1915 was £40,421,958, as compared with £41,667,830 in 1914, and £54,291,768 in 1913. Imports of similar articles were valued at £10,839,071, as compared with £10,877,249 in 1914, and £15,231,633 in 1913. The following tables show the values of the exports and imports of the various classes of manufactures included in the above in 1915 (£1,020,187); mining, £571,000 (£819,486); textile, £3,388,795 (£5,766,502). The following shows the destination of the exports of mining machinery :— 1914. 1915. To— £ £ Countries in Europe 142,716 ... 56,528 United States of America 854 ... 833 Countries in South America 60,708 ... 20,764 British South Africa .. 284,337 ... 255,204 „ East Indies 85,255 ... 58,329 Australia 41,214 ... 26,018 New Zealand 13,807 ... 11,065 Other countries 190,595 ... 142,259 Total 819,486 ... 571,000 and 1914 :— Exports and Imports of Iron and Steel Goods. Exports (f.o.b.). Value. __________________________ 1914. Iron— £ Pig and puddled iron......... 2,934,662 ... ............. ............. Castings of iron ................. 47,368 ... Forgings of iron .................. 5,796 ... Wrought in bars, rods, &c..... 777,739 ... Cast iron and manufactures thereof (unenumerated) ... 943,732 ... Wrought iron and manufac- tures thereof (unenumerated) 1,232,412 ... Iron or steel— Kail road ..................... 4,161,502 ... Wire ........................ 904,638 ... Wire manufactures........... 1,160,984 ... Ship, &c., plates (|in and over) 811,274 ... Black plates (under | in.)_____ 597,556 ... Blackplates ................. 591,273 ... Galvanised sheets ........... 7,226,962 ... ............... Armour plates .................... 91,893 ... Tinned plates and sheets..... 5,999,085 ... Hoops and strips............. 384,925 ... Anchors, grapnels, cables and chains ..................... 539,293 ... Tubes and pipes and fittings, wrought ................... 2,174,818 ... Pipes and fittings, cast....... 1,326,759 Nails and rivets ............. 304,797 ... Screws....................... 235,191 ... Bolts and nuts............... 459,160 ... Bedsteads and parts thereof ... 504,254 ... Kail way wheels and axles..... 883,760 ... ....................... Tyres and axles ..................... 493,698 ... Steel— Ingots ........................... 9,389 ... Blooms, billets and slabs..... 57,968 ... Sheet bars and tin-plate bars... — Castings in the rough _______ 27,757 ... Forgings in the rough ....... 7,396 ... In bars, angles, rods and shapes or sections ................. 2,581 355 ... * Girders, beams, joistsandpillars 937,869 ... Manufactures of steel or of iron and steel (unenumerared)... 3,252,565 ... Imports (c.if.). Iron— Pig and puddled iron ......... 997,257 ... ..................... ..................... Castings ......................... 91,734 ... Forgings ......................... 19,859 ... Wrought in bars, angles, rods and sections ............... 925,221 ... Iron or steel— Hoops and strips ............. 449,807 ... Tubes and pipes and fittings, wrought ................... 418,357 ... Pipes and fittings, cast_________ 92,427 ... Ship, &c., plates and sheets (|in. and over)................... 683,527 ... Ship, &c., plates and sheets (under | in.)............................ 149,356 ... Wire ....................... 445,888 ... Wire rods..................... 528,806 .. Wire nails ................. 478,724 Nails (other than wire nails), screws and rivets .......... 108,095 ... Bolts and nuts ............... 136,689 ... Kails............................................. 149,523 ... Kailway wheels and axles..... 18,676 ... Tyres and axles__.................. 37,183 ... Manufactures of iron or steel (unenumerated) ........... 872/61 ... Steel— Ingots ....................... 142,207 ... Blooms, billets and slabs..... 1,461,923 ... Sheet bars and tin-plate bars ... 1,263,263 ... Castings in the rough__............ 88,856 ... Forgings in the rough ....... 181,092 ... Bars, angles and shapes, other 712,611 ... than girders, joists, &c...... Girders, beams, joists and pillars 421,707 ... 1915. £ 3,488,872 39,237 266 831,046 665,013 869,447 2,987,391 708,577 873,666 1,465,600 1,167,375 612,065 4,682,466 1,757 5,687,903 582,969 397,778 2,170,274 842,275 348,794 215,299 372,927 319,581 317,351 460,954 22,601 184,632 21,402 17,871 6,010 7,318,041 519,246 2,223,272 1,159,732 22,877 9,344 490,084 707,482 627,368 46,637 168,880 178,832 526,482 747,490 574,293 186,464 141,569 107,911 47 2,604 919,991 186,284 2,930,444 78,539 45,772 61,155 903,039 15,751 Exports and Imports of Machinery, &c. Exports (f.o.b.). 1914. £ Cutlery, hardware, implements (except machine tools), and instruments ................ 6,512,218 Electrical goods and apparatus (other than machinery and insulated wire) .............. 3,018,600 Machinery .................... 31,363,093 Ships..................................... 6,932,554 Imports (c.if). Cutlery, hardware, implements (except machine tools), and instruments ............................ 5,194,203 Electrical goods and apparatus (other than machinery and insulated wire) .............. 1,242,770 .......................... Machinery ____________________ 6,712,499 Ships............................ 31,930 1915. £ 5,066,119 3,180,809 19,192,153 1,687,055 4,930,504 1,696,23 1 8,847,844 157,256 The value of the exports of prime movers (except electrical) in 1915, was £6,058,934, as against £10,072,115 in 1914. Of these the following may be be enumerated : — Rail locomotives, £2,476,407 (£3,840,562); pumping, £463,759 (£468,549); winding, £13,726 (£25,080). Electrical machinery was exported to the value of £1,400,200, as compared with £2,136,737 in 1914. The value of machinery exported last year (eliminating prime movers and electrical machinery) was £11,733,019, as against £19,154,241 in 1914. This included the following, amongst other items :—Boilers, £891,371 (£1,444,192); machine tools, £781,786 Turning next to imports, we find that prime movers (electrical excepted) of the value of £904,675 were imported in 1915, as compared with £344,865 in 1914. Included were the following :—Rail locomotives, £1,683 (£41,914); pumping, £30,503 (£31,327); winding, nil (895). Electrical machinery of all kinds of the value of £1,521,549 was imported in 1915, as against £1,520,961 in 1914. The total value of machinery imported, other than prime movers and electrical machinery, was £6,421,620, as compared with £4,846,673 in 1914. Included were Boilers, £13,017 (£33,547); machine tools, £2,128,383 (£427,049); mining, £93,151 (£97,816); textile, £249,470 (£148,043). Exports and Imports of Pig Iron. Exports. To 1913. Tons. 1914. Tons. 1915. Tons. Sweden 94,971 ... 94,471 .. . 8',307 Germany 129,942 ... . 79,615 ... — Netherlands . *69,663 ... . 50,981 ... 25,812 Belgium . 88,943 .. . 37,307 ... —. France . 157,500 .. 90,190 .. ’. 145,028 Italy .... . 109,592 ... 93,544 ... . 119,960 Japan 97,150 .. 54,885 38,045 United States of America... 124,792 ... 90,680 ... 62,505 British East Indies . 14,996 .. 8,583 ... 10,726 Australia . . 36,147 .. . 31,909 .. 11,009 Canada 35,564 ... 12,852 ... 9,886 Other countries . 164,951 .. . 135,746 .. . 107,309 Basic 2,264 .. 6,318 .. 1,770 Forge and foundry . 700,881 .. . 489,997 .. . 339,037 Hannatite Spiegeleisen, f e r r o - 7 242,117 ... . 172,660 ... . 167,733 mangainese and? ferro-silicon j 178,919 ... , 111,788 .. . 103,077 Total .1,124,181 .. . 780,763 .. . 611,617 Imports. Basic— From Sweden United States of America Other countries 1,838 ... 5,920 ... 22,419 ... 721 ... 7,970 ... 55,663 ... 38,512 7,066 Total Forge and foundry— 30,177 ... 64,354 ... 45,578 Sweden 34,431 ... 43,185 ... 90,550 United States of America 12,196 ... 8,510 ... 13,300 Other countries 490 ... 159 ... 667 Total Haematite— 47,117 ... 51,854 ... 104,517 Sweden 66,144 ... 56,292 ... 6,618 United States of America 1,376 ... 308 ... 833 Other countries 39,960 ... 27,850 ... 23,146 Total Spiegeleisen, ferro-mangan- ese, and ferro-silicon— 107,480 ... 84,450 ... 30,597 Sweden 5,992 ... 5,472 ... 8,704 United States of America 2,647 ... 2,757 ... 2,503 Other countries 23,295 ... 14,479 ... 7,281 Total 31,934 ... 22,708 ... 18,488 Grand total 216,708 ... 223,366 ... 199,180 The following shows the imports of iron ore (including chrome ore, -etc.) :—■ Imports ok Iron Oke. 1915. Tons. .. 83,639 ... 61,329 Prom Manganiferous— Spain O her countries 1913. Tons. . 188,196 . 23,448 1914. Tons. ... 120,249 . ... 45,244 . Total . 211,644 ... 165,493 . ... 144,968 Other sorts— Spain . 4,525,843 . ..3,113,691 . ..4,064,370 Other countries . 2,704,762 ...2,125,564 . . 1,993,823 Total . 7,230,605 , ...5,539,255 . ...6,058,193 Total of iron ore . 7,412,249 ...5,704,748 . ...6,203,161 In addition, 113,263 tons of old iron and steel were imported (not including old rails), as against 110,097 tons in 1914. Exports of iron ore last year amounted to 1,669 tons, as against 13,529 tons in 1914, the value being £5,772 and £24,692 respectively. Of the total last year, 5 tons were manganiferous ore, as against 1,506 tons in 1914. The amount of old iron or steel exported (excepting rails) was 51,178 tons, valued at £191,298, as against 88,195 tons, valued at £273,504. __________________________________ Trading with the Enemy.—The Bill which the Government has introduced amending the law with respect to trading with the enemy, lays down that where it appears to the Board of Trade that the business carried on in the United Kingdom by any person, firm or company is, by reason of the enemy nationality or enemy association of the firm or members of the firm or company, or carried on wholly or mainly for the benefit of, or having the control of subjects of, any State at war with this country, the Board of Trade shall make an order either prohibiting the company from carrying on the business during the continuance of the present war, except for the purposes, if any, specified in the Order; or requiring the business to be wound up. The Board may appoint a controller to supervise the carrying out of the order or conduct the winding-up of the business. The distribution of any sums resulting from the winding-up or prohibiting the carrying on of the business shall be subject to the same rule as to preferential payments as are applicable to the distri- bution of the assets of a company wound up, and any balance shall be distributed among the persons interested in such manner as the Board of Trade may direct. Notes from the Coal Fields. [Local Correspondence.] South Wales and Monmouthshire. Freight Rates—Swansea Coal Dues Not to be Increased— Brighter Prospect at Llanelly—Unreliability of Voting at Miners’ Meetings. The condition of the coal trade in South Wale& is unpre- cedented, in that very high values for coal are coincident with record rates of freight; conditions which, of course, hamper business very greatly. At the moment, it is not the diffi- culty of obtaining tonnage, for there have been during the past few days quite a large number of vessels in dock. Never- theless, the demand is such that enormous rates have to be paid; whilst, at the same time, the call for supplies of coal is so great that prices have gone up by over 10s. in the month. As much as 76s. has been paid locally, and even higher rates quoted for the transport of coal to Genoa; 73s. 9d. for Alexandria; 82J fr. for Marseilles; and these are approximately 10 times the amounts paid within the past two or three years. Alexandria at 8s., Genoa at about the same rate may be mentioned; but, of course, it has to- be borne in mind that when these lower rates were paid the vessels had opportunities of securing return cargoes of grain from-the Black Sea, while, under present conditions, no- such return cargoes are obtainable, and the outward freight rate has to bear in some instances the cost of the double voyage, as well as heavier costs for wages and fuel. The financial difficulties of the Swansea Harbour Trust have now been removed, the Corporation Finance Committee having reported that a loan of £65,0'00 had been made to the Trust under the town guarantee, and a mortgage accepted in return. In these circumstances, the fear that the Trustees would have to increase the harbour dues on coal, tin-plate, and other shipments is removed. Llanelly as a coal port has always suffered from difficulties created by the great sandbanks outside. The intelligence is now conveyed that, through works which have been carried out during the past three or four years, a satisfactory end is in sight. It was reported to the Harbour Trust on Monday that the Garregfach scheme, by which the water of the River Loughor is deflected, has at last so acted on one of the banks as to almost open up communication with the deeper outer channel. Mr. John Rees, harbour superintendent, has reported that even at low tide some water is now coming through from the new channel to the navigable channel. The members of the Trust will to-morrow (Saturday) pay a visit of inspection. Llanelly’s position in regard to the anthracite coal field, and particularly the development of the important Gwendraeth Valley is so favourable, that, in the event of a permanent deeper channel being provided, a good portion of trade which now has to bear the cost of railway carriage to Swansea, will be carried out at the more western port. The Tylorstown Colliery Explosion Trust Fund accounts to December last show that £33 6s. was paid to widows, and £15 12s. to dependants, there’being six widows and three dependent relatives on the fund. The Park Slip Explosion Relief Fund committee, at its annual meeting on Tuesday, had before it the report of a sub-committee appointed to deal with the question of realising some of the investments. It was recommended that action in this respect should be postponed on account of the present low level of values; and the recommendation was adopted. With regard to the voting of the Cardiff conference against the Military Service Bill, enquiry shows how few men actually took part in the election of delegates to the con- ference at which the vote was passed. It is notorious that lodge meetings are very sparsely attended, and also that a bare majority in a small meeting will carry a decision which is reckoned the vote of the wdiole number of employees at a pit. • It not infrequently happens that two or three dozen persons at a meeting passing a resolution by a narrow majority will have that resolution recorded as representing the minds of hundreds, or it may be, thousands, of men. One of the peculiarities of the Rhymney Valley is the landslides which take place from time to time, occasionally interfering with the traffic upon one of the local railways ; and another difficulty arises from the washing down of debris from the colliery tips to the thoroughfare. The Rhymney Council last week decided to draw the attention of the Rhymney Iron Company to what they described as the impassable condition of the main road near the gas works at Pontlottyn, due to the washing down of the debris; and it was stated at the meeting that after a recent storm more than 400 miners failed to reach the Tynewydd and Abertysswg collieries in consequence of the state of the road. An extraordinary stoppage took place at the Powell Duffryn pits, New Tredegar, on Wednesday, between 2,000 and 3,000 men being idle. One of the firemen, during the night, had his lamp extinguished, and in trying to make a short cut lost his way. He therefore sat down, and waited until he should be discovered. When the men went to the pit on Wednesday morning -and learned that the man was missing, they imagined that he must have been killed, and, therefore, did not start work. As* a matter of fact, upon the workings being examined, he was found quite safe. The successor to Mr. J. A. Findlay, as superintendent of the London and North-Western Railway for the South Wales district, is Mr. A. T. Cotton, who has been for a number of years superintending the work of the London and North- Western Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway with the Belfast-Fleetwood steamers at Belfast. The owner of Aberpergwm estate, who is also owner of the colliery, applied before the’ Neath justices for an order of ejectment against a collier who had enlisted. It was stated in. court that the applicant (Mr. Godfrey Williams) had agreed at the outbreak of war that if any of his employees enlisted he would allow the families to remain in the houses rent free, if they would pay rates and the cost of electric lighting. The defendant left the colliery on November 3, and went to work in another colliery, and it was from there that he had enlisted. He was given notice to quit; but the notice was ignored, it being claimed that he was entitled to the privilege which applicant granted his own employees. The ^bwiDunt of rent was £29, whilst nine guineas were due for rates, and only £2 4s. out of that amount had been paid. The wife received 27s. 6d. as separation allowance, and had a son who was earning 24s. a week at a colliery.—It was stated on defendant’s behalf that he had worked only a day at the other colliery -and considered that the family were entitled to the benefits of Mr. Williams’ scheme.—An eject- ment order was granted.