324 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. February. 18/ 1916. coals are also reaching higher figures than have been quoted for many months. Smalls forthe manufacturing works are scarce. This week’s prices f.o.b. are:— Anthracite:— Best malting large ___ Secondary do. ....... Big Vein large......__ Red Vein do......... Machine-made cobbles... German nuts.......... French do............__ Paris do............. Machine-made beans ... Do. peas......... Culm ................ Duff................. Other sorts:— Large steam coal __.. Thr ough-and-thr ough... Small ............... Bituminous small coal... Current prices. 24/ -25/ 21/ -23/ 18/ -20/ 18/ -20/ 32/ -34/ 30/ -32/ 32/ -34/ 31/6-32/6 32/ -34/ 20/ -22/ 8/ - 8/6 3/6- 4/ L’st week’s I prices. ! 25/ -28/ 22/ -23/ j 20/ -22/ 19/ —21/ ! 34/ -36/ ! 32/6-34/6 i 34/6-35/ ! 33/ -35/ 32/ -34/ | ' 19/ -20/ I 6/9- 7/3 2/6- 3/6 Last year’s prices. 22/ -23/ 19/6-21/ 17/ -18/6 17/. -18/ 26/ -29/ 29/ -31/ 30/ -33/ 30/ -32/ 20/ -22/ 12/6-13/6 3/6- 4/ 3/ - 3/6 32/ -34/ 23/ -25/ 14/ -16/ 20/ -22/ i 30/ -32/ : 23/ -25/ I 13/ -15/ 18/ -20/ 20/ -21/6 15/6—16/6 8/6-10/ 12/ -14/ ___________________________________________ THE L0HD0H COAL TRADE. Thursday, February 17. The London coal trade for the past week has been unusually brisk, the colder weather having stimulated the delivery trade, and considerably strengthened the demand for the general public. Happily, the stocks at the various wharves and depots have accumulated during the past few weeks, so that the “ reserve ” was prepared to a certain extent for any extra pressure; and, as far as the labour for cartage, etc., is con- cerned, the orders have been executed promptly. Colliery orders, however, are still refused, except for contract quan- tities, and factors have been the principal sellers on the market. The depot trade has improved, so that stocks are gradually diminishing. Merchants are keenly desirous now to buy up any available quantities. The rough weather of the past week has caused considerable havoc amongst the craft on the River Thames. A large number of coal-laden barges have been swamped 'and sunk. Many of the ware- houses on the riverside also have suffered from inundations, and boats moored in the London docks have been capsized. The shortage of barges and craft has, therefore, become acute once more. Railway wagons also are scarce, and in many cases considerable delay both for empties and loaded wagons from and to London has been the subject of a great deal of comment. The pooling of all the wagons belonging to the Great Northern, Great Eastern, -and Great Central railway companies has become an accomplished fact, but the general opinion is still widely expressed that it would be an unwise policy for private owners to join in the arrangement. The Midland and the London -and North-Western are hold- ing aloof from the combination. In the seaborne market, only 18 contract cargoes were entered for Monday’s market as entering the River Thames, and 17 for Wednesday. There is a strong demand for seaborne qualities, but the high freights and the shortage of coal, together with the higher prices at the shipping ports, is creating an uneasy feeling in the market. The reports from the Tyne and Humber ports show that chartering has been moderate, and the licensing restrictions considerably interfere with business. The rates, however, are firm. Fixtures are recorded at 14s. to 14s. 6d. Hull to London. The Tyne reports point to a very firm tone. The Government still requisition coal on a large scale, and licences for neutral ports are 'seriously cur- tailed. This should increase the quantity available for home purposes, but the extra pressure for munitions works, and the large electric works, in addition to the gas and railway companies’ requirements, leave very little for the open market. Prices are at a premium, and lin many cases coal is unobtain- able. Best Blyth steams are 32s. 6d. per ton f.o.b., seconds 27s. Durham steams are also quoted at 32s. 6d. Wear gas 27s. Tyne gas 26s., seconds 25s. Bunker coals are quoted, best 27s., ordinary 25s. Foundry coke has been quoted as high as 42s. 6d. per ton f.o.b., but blastfurnace coke continues at 28s. The South Wales market is also working under excep- tional circumstances. The best Admiralty and all the best sorts of second-class steam coals are practically off the market, as there are none offering. Ordinaries command 35s. to 36s. per ton f.o.b., and only in a few cases can the coal be bought as low as 34s. Monmouthshire qualities are fetch- ing 33s. to 35s. per ton f.o.b. Bunker coals, best 19s. to 20s., seconds 17s. to 18s. Patent fuel ranges from 35s. fid. to 37s. 6d. per ton. _______________________________ Coal Freights to Italy. — In the House of Commons yesterday (Thursday), Mr. Peto moved an 'amendment at the end of the Address, expressing regret that the Govern- ment had not taken measures to utilise economically the available merchant tonnage of the country by placing it under the control of a central expert authority with full power to requisition and direct the movements of all vessels and fix -and limit remuneration for transport services of all kinds during the war.—Mr. Balfour, replying, said it was not true that the present Government 'scheme threw an unfair burden on our Allies. He asked how it was proposed to deal with neutrals. The high -freights from Cardiff to Genoa were in most cases charged by Italian ships. In face of what was happening, it was a most unpatriotic thing to suggest that this country was exploiting our Allies, whereas we were doing everything at great sacrifice to diminish the cost of tonnage to Allies and neutrals. We were even depriving ourselves of imported articles in order to free tonnage.—The ship owners’ case was set forth by Mr. Houston, who pointed out that of 50 vessels chartered for Italy recently, only one was British. What about the charges of the scandalous behaviour of the British ship owner? It was monstrous that such statements should be made.—The President of the Board of Trade said it was unfair that the impression should have been given in Italy that the British ship owner was sucking the blood of the Italian coal consumer by the high freight charged from 'South Wales. During six months ending August 1915, only 54 British vessels carried coal from Cardiff to Italy, as com- pared with 209 foreign vessels. It was absurd to say that these 54 -British vessels fixed the freight. The foreign vessels got a- higher rate of freight per ton than the British. The figures for the three months ending January 31 were : 18 British, 39 Italian, 35 Greek, 23 other nationalities. In every case the foreigners got a higher rate of freight. Fie was bringing these facts to the knowledge of the Italian Government. THE BY-PRODUCTS TRADE. Tar Products.—The market is quiet, with very little doing. There are considerable exports of benzol and toluol to France, which appear to have been made at current quotations. Nearest values are :— Rise ( + ) or fall (-) on the week. Benzols, 90’s ; 1/01-1/1 ... — ,, 90’s North /Hi—1/ ... — ,, 50’s ,, 1/4 Toluol 2/3 — Carbolic acid, crude (60 per cent.)... 3/5 — ,, crystals (40 per cent.) Solvent naphtha, south (90% at 190 1/4 — degs.), as in quality and package... Solvent naphtha, north (90% at 190 degs.), as in quality and package... Crude naphtha, north (in bulk) 2/3—2/4 ... — 2/3—2/4 ... — /6i—/7 ... —• Creosote (for ordinary qualities) /2|-/2i ... — Pitch (f.o.b. east coast) 15/6—16/6 ... — ,, (f.a.s. west coast) Tar (per ton ex works) 15/—16/ ... — 18/6—22/6 ... — [Benzols, toluol, creosote, solvent naphtha, carbolic acids, usually casks included unless otherwise stated, free on rails at maker's works or usual United Kingdom ports, net. Pitch f.o.b. net.] Sulphate of Ammonia.—The reduction in prices for homo consumption does not seem to make much difference to the market. Of course, forward business is out of the question as things are. Strange to say, nitrate of soda is firmer. Closing prompt prices for home consumers are :— Rise ( + ) or fall (-) on the week. London (ordinary makes) Beckton (25 per cent.) .. Liverpool , £17/10 ... — £16/12/6 ... — £17/7/6 ... — £17/5 ... — £17/5 ... — £16/15 ... — £17/15 ... — 6/9 ... +/1| Hull Middlesbrough Scotch ports : W ales Nitrate of Soda (ord.) per cwt. [Sulphate of ammonia, f.o.b. in bags, less 2J per cent, discount; 24 per cent, ammonia, good grey quality; allowance for refraction, nothing for excess.] ______ Trade Notes. The stoppage of licences does not apply to existing con- tracts, so that the exports are not exactly a blank, as the week’s returns ‘ show. There does not seem to be much quickening of the home demand as yet, and if the needs of farmers are as real as the persistence of the pleadings of Parliamentarians, there should be no need of special propaganda by the Sulphate of Ammonia Association. The returns for the week are :—Pitch, 8,081 tons, £124. Tar, £31. Toluol, .£100 to Bordeaux. Benzol, 246 tons, and £9,923 to Rouen. Sulphate of ammonia, 2,011 tons. __________________________ Imports and Exports of Mining Machinery.—The imports off mining machinery during January amounted to 170 tons, as against 140 tons in January 1915; whilst the exported totalled 1,915 tons and 1,610 tons respectively. The value of the mining machinery imports in January aggregated £9,417, as compared with £9,193 year ago, these figures being exclu- sive of prime movers or electrical machinery. According to destination, the exports were valued as under :— January. 1915. 1916? To— - £ £ Countries in Europe......... 3,638 ... 7,233 United States of America ... — ... 296 Countries in S. America ... 1,574 ... 1,977 British South Africa ....... 20,771 ... 22,608 ,, East Indies......... 5,336 ... 9,536 Australia.................. 3,514 ... 4,763 New Zealand .............. 1,024 ... 828 Other countries............ 13,386 ... 15,120 Total................. 49,243 ... 62,361 The following shows the values of prime movers exported other than electrical during January :—Rail locomotives, £145,190, as compared with £324,893 in January last year; pumping, £68,790 (£28,641); winding, £1,228 (£17). Gas Company and its Coal Supply.—Discussing the ques- tion of the high cost of coal at the half-yearly meeting of the South Metropolitan Gas Company on the 9th inst., Dr. Charles Carpenter remarked that for many years the company were accustomed to buy coals delivered into their works at‘practically the same price as that which they had been asked to pay for its freightage alone to London during the past half-year. Some one, he said, must be making huge profits, but it was certainly not the gas companies. Parlia- ment had now placed a limitation on the price to be charged for coal. That it was liberal might be judged from the fact that it was practically double that ruling 10 years ago. An even more serious matter had been that of shortage arising mainly from the large number of miners who 'had enlisted. But as long as the Coal Export Committee had kept their hands upon the export, the industries of this country should not run short. The handling of the freight question had been very disturbing, for the Government continued to ask for the use of interned vessels between three and four times what was paid in pre-war times. One was tempted to ask why it did not endeavour to control carrying freight by sea as well as by land, since shipping was no less necessary to existence than railways. There was a joint board of control for the latter, and he could not see why the same principle could not be applied to our mercantile marine. The com- pany had been paying heavily for coal, but had not been able to reimburse themselves from residuals. — Prof. H. Armstrong congratulated the chairman and his colleagues on the great scientific advance which had been made by the company in recent times, and which, he believed, distin- guished it from every other company of the kind. He was one of those who had always deprecated the removal of all the sulphate from the coal—a proceeding which adversely affected the quality of the gas. A mode of sulphate puri- fication had been introduced by the company which must, he Held, be adopted throughout the country at no very distant (Jate. TRADE AMD THE WAR. By a new Order in Council, carbon electrodes for electric furnaces and petroleum coke are place on. the list of goods the export of which is prohibited to -all destinations. H.M. Trade Commissioner in Australia reports that a Melbourne importer of mining material and machinery wishes to act as agent for United Kingdom manufacturers of rock breakers, rock drills, steel drills, packings, belting, air com- pressors, and modern mining machinery and ‘ specialities generally. The name and address of the enquirer may be obtained from the Commercial Intelligeice Branch of the Board of Trade. The statement has been made that the Government has decided to grant facilities to shipbuilders to enable them to finish half a million tons of mercantile shipping which is now nearing the launching and fitting-out stages. The step, it is understood, is being taken with a view to relieving the markets as soon as possible from the effects of the high freights now prevailing. The Director of the War Trade Department calls attention to the fact that where a licence is granted for the export of prohibited or restricted goods, the licence does not relieve the owner of the goods or the consignor or other person to whom the licence is granted from any responsibility to which he may be liable for any breach of law or regulations, e.g., the law relating to trading with the enemy. Applications for licences will not in future be considered unless they bear the signature of the applicant, or, in the case of a firm, the signature of a partner, or, in the case of a company, the signature of a director or the secretary. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society last week, Mr. J. D. Sutherland, of the Board of Agriculture, said the question of afforestation should not be unduly pressed at the present time. Small holdings and afforestation cost a large sum. He thought the various methods by which later on the position might be made more secure should be considered. In that connection he suggested that attention should be paid to the grading of home timber. In regard to the scarcity of pitwood, if 30 years ago 100,000 acres had been planted annually at a cost of half a million a year, to-day we should not have required one stick of pitwood from abroad. The whole of the capital outlay of 30 years would probably have been repaid within the next three years. At the annual meeting of the South-Eastern and London, Chatham and Dover railway companies, on Tuesday, Mr. Cosmo O. Bonsor, presiding, referred to the enormous increase in heavy traffic which was taking place on their system. War had converted their line from a passenger line to a heavy one. The closing of seaborne traffic to the ports of Kent and in the river had added considerably to their difficulties. Among the recent Orders in Council it is ordered that, from and after March 1, 1916, no British steamship registered in the United Kingdom exceeding 500 tons gross tonnage, except steamships engaged in the coasting trade of the United Kingdom, shall proceed on any voyage, unless a licence to do so has been granted to or in fawour of the owner or charterer of such steamship by the Licensing Committee appointed by the President of the Board of Trade. Many suggestions for remedying the serious shipping posi- tion of to-day have recently been put forward by Chambers of Commerce. Sir Norman Hill, in his annual report to the Liverpool Ship Owners’ Association, discusses the suitability of these, and finds them in the main unsatisfactory. From the shipping point of view, the vice of all these proposals, it says, is that they do not, and cannot, increase the total ocean- carrying power available; but there are other proposals which have been before the Government for the last 12 months, which, if adopted, would have increased that carrying power. It was in January 1915 that the President of the Board of Trade first took counsel with the ship owners, and the pro- posals they then submitted were as follows :—First, an effec- tive co-ordination of the military and civil demands on the shipping, ports and railways; second, the immediate adoption of a system of common user of the railway trucks, so as to facilitate the flow of traffic through the ports; third, the prohibition of the use of the quays and ’dock sheds for other than transit purposes ; fourth, the maintenance of a sufficient supply of labour in the ports. None of these four points have yet been effectively dealt with, and this neglect had lessened substantially the carrying power of ships. _______________________________ Lecture on Coal.-— The fifth of a series of lectures on “Coal,” by Dr. Marie Stopes, was delivered on Tuesday, February 15, at University College. A recent Russian paper by Prof. Zalessky was first dealt with, as it describes a new type of coal. This is particularly interesting, as it appears to be composed almost entirely of Fucaceous algae, and is the only example known to the lecturer of a coal which really does seem to be formed of marine plants. This most inter- esting Russian coal, unfortunately, has not yet been found in situ, Zalessky’s description being based on hand speci- mens. A remarkable feature of the coal is its low ash contents (a little over 3*4 per cent.) in comparison with the ash contents (about 16 per cent.) of the family of plants from which the coal was formed. Attention was drawn to this point, as it is suggestive in connection with the problems raised by the ash contents of anthracites. The consideration of this coal, which is formed by marine plants, led to- the general consideration of the theories of the accumulation of coal. The early antagonism of the “ in situ " and the “ drift ” theories was shown to be due to an incomplete knowledge of the extremely variable conditions under which coals have been formed in the different geological epochs in different countries. The details of “ floor,” “ seam,” and “ roof ” were described, and the significance of streaks or lenses of coal in intermediate beds was lillustrated. For example, the Wealden lignites, seen so well at Bexhill, where numerous large tree trunks, are almost coalified, fail to form a seam owing to the heavy admixture of coarse detrital matter with the plants. Specimens were shown illustrating the sudden change of character in the deposits forming the seam and the roof. Attention was drawn to the interesting work of. Prof. Grand ’Eury, who made extended observations on the French coal fields, and recorded forest floors, with many trunks in situ. Gothan’s work on the Mesozoic coals was also quoted in illustration of the prevalence of under-clays and roots in places, in connection with coals. (The next lecture will be on Tuesday, 22nd, free to those interested in mining, etc.)