616 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. March 31, 1916. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE BY-PRODUCTS TRADE. Tar Products.—The market is quiet, and prices are, for the most part, unchanged. The weakest item is tar, while on the west coast pitch is the turn easier. Nearest values arc :— Rise ( + ) or fall (-) on the week. Benzols, 90’s 1/01-1/1 — ,, 90’s North /10-1-/111 — ,, 50’s North 1/3—1/4 — Toluol 2/3 — Carbolic acid, crude (60 per cent.)... 3/4 — ,, crystals (40 per cent.) Solvent naphtha, south (90% at 190 degs.), as in quality and package... 1/4 — 2/3—2/4 — Solvent naphtha, north (90% at 190 degs.), as in quality and package... Crude naphtha, north (in bulk) Creosote (for ordinary qualities) 2/3—2/4 — /6^-/7 — . /2|-2j — Pitch (f.o.b. east coast) 15/—16/ — ,, (f.a.s. M7est coast) 14/—15/ .... ~/6 Tar (per ton ex Murks) 16/—20/ ... —/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.—While prices are low, and in some quarters reported to have declined still further; and though nitrate, of soda continues to advance in price, still there is only the feeblest demand from the farmers. There is every reason to expect £19 per ton when export restrictions are removed, as current values arc £17 to £17 10s. Closing prompt prices for home consumers arc :— Rise ( + ) or London (ordinary makes) .... Beckton (25 per cent.) ...... Liverpool .................. 'Hull ..................;____ Middlesbrough ............ Scotch ports .............. W ales .................... Nitrate of soda (ord.) per cwt. fall (-) on the week. £16/17/6—£17 ... — £16 — £16/15—£17 ... — £16/12/6 — £17 — £16/15 — £16/12/6 — 17/3 + /3 [Sulphate of ammonia, f.o.b. in bags, less 2| per cent, discount; 24 per cent, ammonia, good grey quality; allowance for refraction, nothing for excess.] _______ Trade Notes. Writing to the Eight Hon. F; D. Acland, M.P., Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. D. Milne Watson, chair- man of the Sulphate of Ammonia Association, stated that the question of the price at which sulphate of ammonia for agricultural purposes is to be sold in April and May had been considered by his committee, and it was unanimously decided to recommend all manufacturers of sulphate of ammonia not to ask higher prices for these months than £16 15s. to farmers and £6 5s. per ton to merchants, bags free, f.o.r. at works. The association trusted therefore that the Board of Agriculture Committee would see their way to remove the existing restrictions on export without further delay. He pointed out that even if licences were granted immediately, it would be many weeks before any quantity of sulphate could be moved from the works, owing to the diffi- culty of securing freight.—Replying to this letter, the Ferti- lisers Committee of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries said they were glad to learn that the Sulphate of Ammonia Association had decided to recommend all manufacturers of sulphate of ammonia not to ask higher prices during April and May than those stated. With a view to relieving the congestion in the storage accommodation of the various pro- ducers, all applications for licences to export to France had now been allowed, and it was proposed to re-commence the consideration of applications for export to any approved destination and consignee as from the 1st prox. The returns for the week show rather more activity in the exports of pitch and sulphate; we also continue sending supplies of benzol to France. Actual figures are : Pitch, 5,851 tons, £523. Tar, 1,789 gals., 1 ton, and £202. Benzol, 1,528 drums to Rouen. Sulphate of ammonia, 2,920 tons. ______________________________________________________ PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. ______________________________________________________ .HOUSE OF COMMONS.—March 29. Price of Coal (Limitation) Act. Sir. A. Markham lasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he had any information that the Price of Coal (Limitation) Act was in many cases not being carried out; would he introduce an amending Bill providing that the average price of each quality of coal sold in the 12 months preceding the war should be substituted in place of the corresponding price, such schedule of prices to be forwarded to the Board of Trade; and would he at the same time make it a criminal offence for anyone to sell coal at the pits above the scheduled prices other than for export purposes? Mr. Pretyman, in reply said the Board of Trade had received complaints from time to time that the Act was being infringed, but so far as they are aware no case in which its infringement was alleged had come before the courts. He doubted whether amending legislation on the lines suggested was desirable. The Act was on the whole being very fully observed. The complaints had been very few7 in number, and none of them had been carried to the courts. There did not appear to be any justification for re-opening the question or for asking for further legislation. Sir A. Markham asked if Mr. Pretyman was aware that both buyers and consumers were saying that they would not observe the Act, and were making bargains irrespective of the Act altogether? Having regard to that fact, which he could assure his bon. friend was correct, would he take steps to see that the Act of Parliament was enforced? Mr. Pretyman said the Board were perfectly prepared to consider any actual facts laid before them. Mr. Pringle urged that going into court had proved >a futile remedy for the purposes of this Act. No merchant would go into court without he was refused all supplies. Bunker Goals in Argentina. Mr. Houston asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he was aware that the stocks of coal at Dakar had been requisitioned; whether the Argentine Government had prohibited the export of coal from Argentina, and would only allow steamers to obtain sufficient bunker coal to reach the next port from River Plate; whether there was a sufficient stock of coal at that port to bunker steamers for Dakar, St. Vincent, or the islands; and, if not, would he state how merchant steamers were to obtain bunkers to reach a home port? Mr. Pretyman said he was informed that the stocks of coal at Dakar were requisitioned, but that the authorities were now using colliers of their own to supply their needs. He understood that the Argentine authorities were limiting blinker supplies to the amount necessary to reach the next port from the River Plate; also that, subject to tonnage being available, there should be enough coal going to the River Plate ports to meet reasonable demands. Coal (Freights and Vessels). In reply to a question by Mr. Houston, Mr. Pretyman said he was informed that no rate .as high as 77s. 6d. had been paid for coal from the Bristol Channel to Buenos Ayres, and that the highest rate last -week was 76s. The market rate on Tuesday from Cardiff to Buenos Ayres was 62s. 61. The numbers of steamers which loaded coal to French ports during the three months ending January 31, 1916, from Cardiff, Barry, and Penarth were British, 70; French, 175; Norwegian, 267 ; other Allied and neutral, 92; from Newport, British, 63; French, 39; Norwegian, 96; others, 23; from Swansea, British, 96; French, 92; Norwegian, 257; others, 11. ____________________________ MINING INDUSTRY AND MILITARY SERVICE. It was stated at the Nottinghamshire military tribunal, in the case of Sutton Colliery, belonging to the Blackwell Company, that 16 per cent, fewer men were employed than before the war, 30 per cent, having enlisted. The output was down 23 per cent. Five men had been taken on from other trades, but three were married. The five men were not exempted. The general manager of Teversal Colliery stated that absenteeism had decreased from 15-8 per cent, to 12, but the war bonus, which was given with a view, of making the men attend more regularly, had had diametrically the opposite effect. At the Prudhoe District tribunal, Mr. Sidney Bates, agent to the Mickley Coal Company Limited, applied for con- ditional exemption for a number of young men employed at the West Wylam coke ovens, on the ground that it was absolutely impossible to replace the men, and that they were engaged on work of national importance. The Advisory Committee had decided that the men’is places could be filled, and recommended various short terms of exemption. Mr. Bates, however, declared that the Committee and the military authorities had had no experience of the clasis of work which was being done. He did not keep men who could possibly be spared, but these men were producing nahthalene, benzol, and sulphate. The chairman observed that, in attending the colliery court, he was sur- prised at the generosity of Mr. Bates in releasing so many men. Conditional exemption was granted. At Auckland rural tribunal, a carting contractor who had 45 horses, and supplied coal to colliery workmen’s houses, applied for exemption for two employees. Granting exemp- tion for one month for one man, and three months for the other, the chairman remarked that the colliery must contrive to get the coal there “ somehow.” Another case at the same tribunal was that in which the owner of ,a small land- sale colliery sought conditional exemption for a man -who drove a steam wagon, and took out half the coal of the drift. Application rejected.—The .agent for ,a large colliery company in the district secured two months’ postponement for his chauffeur, on the ground that, without the man, he would be unable to do liis woik of supervising five important by-product works. The man was previously a hewer, but had taken the place of a chauffeur who had enlisted. Messrs. James Joicey and Company Limited applied to the Chester-le-Street tribunal last week for exemption for several coke workers at Handon Hold Colliery. Air. Norman Humble, manager, said that he had allowed 10 men to go, and could not get labour. It was suggested that the weighman could be replaced by a female, and Mr. Humble consequently with- drew his application on behalf of that man. One application failed, another young man was ordered to join when he attained the age of 19, and the rest -were exempted for three months. At the same tribunal, Mr. T. F. Brass, applying for exemption for a number of coke workers and a clerk employed by the Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Company Limited, said that at the colliery, every single man had had to go, but, unfortunately, lit was impossible to get men for the coke yard to take the places of these men. They were willing to go, but could not be done without. With regard to the clerk, of nine men, seven had enlisted. Eight women had been engaged in their places, but this man could not be replaced. The tribunal granted six months’ exemption for the married men and three months’ for the single employees. The Edmondsley Coal Company also asked for exemption for coke workers. Two of the younger men were ordered to join up when 19 years of age, another man was postponed for two months, and the remainder secured conditional exemption. The suggestion of the miners’ officials of Northumberland and Durham that old men should be employed at the pit head, rather than that female labour should be engaged, would not appear to be the solution of the problem' of the present acute shortage of workmen. Both the Northumber- land and Durham miners’ associations have asked for returns of old men available for pit head work for the period of the war. The figures for Durham County are decidedly disappointing. Out of 198 lodges, only 51 returned lists, and from these it is found that only 184 men are Mulling to take on light Murk. It is interesting to note that women are now employed in comparatively heavy work discharging timber laden ships at Bly th Harbour, and the question is being asked, “ If women can be employed in such work, Mffiy not at the pit head, wdiere the Murk M7ould certainly be no heavier? Last week’s Bentley tribunal produced a novel applica- tion for exemption for an attested single man employed at the Bentley Colliery by some 350 of the miners to repair and overhaul their cycles. It w7as shoMm that the cycle repairer saved from 30 to 40 shifts per wreek, and so helped to get more coal than he would underground, although a skilled miner. Formerly miners were kept from the pit because of the breakdoMm of their machines, but since the cycle repairer was installed this bad been obviated. The tribunal granted postponement till April 30. The applications for exemption of workmen at the collieries belonging to Messrs. Andrew7 Knowles and Sons Limited, were dealt with by the colliery recruiting court sitting at Manchester on the 23rd inst. In the course of the hearing, it was stated that out of a total of 3,600 employees wdien war broke out, nearly 1,100—30 per cent.—had 'joined the Forces. The War Office are asking for a large number of miners to undertake tunnelling work at the front; and a military representative informed the Monmouthshire tribunal on Friday that he had been sent down specially from the War Office to appeal for recruits. Miners had come forward most nobly all over the kingdom, and he did not think the country fully recognised the sacrifice that miners Mure making, inasmuch as it was a harvest time for them at home at present. The War Office, however, felt sure that they had only to make the position clear to the men and their leaders in order that the difficulty experienced might be overcome. A number of miners already at the front had been taken from their regiments and placed on tunnelling work; consequently the ranks of the trained soldiers had been seriously depleted; and wffiat the War Office desired was to get more men direct from the mines for this tunnelling work, so that the soldier- miner might be released and allowed to return to his regiment. ______________________________ MINING AND OTHER NOTES. We arc informed that Mr. Handel Booth, M.P., has taken over the sole management of Messrs. W. B. Haigh, Gruban and Company Limited, engineers and machine tool makers, of Oldham. Mr. J. Gruban has placed his resignation in the hands of the directors, and ceased all connection with the company. The monthly meeting of the Notts and Derbyshire branch of the Association of Alining Electrical Engineers will be held to-morrow (Saturday), at the University College, Notting- ham, at 3.30 p.m. prompt., wdien the paper on “ Bearings of Electrical Machinery,” by Mr. Andrew Gibson, will be discussed. Mr. Afarshall Nicholson, colliery proprietor, director .of the Ohl Silkstone Collieries Limited, and of the New Moss Company, near Manchester, left £139,139, of which £128,641 is net personalty. In the course of an address on “ The Industrial Outlook and its Relation to the Gas Industry,” on Wdenesday, at the annual meeting of the Society of British Gas Industries, Mr. H. M. Thornton, J.P., the chairman of the council, mentioned the great demand for gas that the unprecedented circumstances of the past months had occasioned, and prophesied that the economy and efficiency of gas would undoubtedly establish it as the industrial fuel of the future. Fie said benzol, toluol, and dyes were being produced from and through the manufacture of gas. Gas engines and gas furnaces had been applied in the manufacture of many kinds of war munitions. No method of utilising coal was known other than that wdiich obtained in the gas works, in which there w7as so little Muste and such profitable recovery of the constituents of the raw material. One of the most important commercial considerations for the coming years would be the supply of cheap gas. This, Mr. Thornton pointed out, was a product of more than the mere cost of raw materials; one of the determining factors w7as the cost of capital. When one realised that only 15 million tons of coal were used in the gas works of the United Kingdom, as compared with the 100 million tons consumed, and their valuable residuals utterly lost, in factories and for domestic purposes, the room for possible development appeared to be unlimited. ___________________________ THE TIN-PLATE TRADE. Liverpool. The market continues very firm, and the tendency is towards still higher prices. Second-hand parcels are rapidly being disposed of, and makers are not anxious to book ahead, owing to their inability to obtain satisfactory supplies of raw materials; 30s. 6d. has been paid for I C 14 x 20, but it is doubtful if there are now any sellers under 31s. Follow- ing are about current quotations :—Coke tins, I C 14 x 20 (112 sh. 1081b.), 31s. to 31s. 6d. per box; I C 28 x 20 (112 sh. 216 1b.), 61s. 9d. to 62s. 6d.; I C 28 x 20 (56 sh. 1081b.), 31s. 9d. to 32s. 6d.; I C 14 x 18f (124 sh. 1101b.), 31s. 6d. to 32s.; IC 20 x 10 (225 sh. 1561b.), 45s. to 45s. 6d. I G squares and odd sizes, 31s. 6d. to 32s. basis. . Charcoals are firm, at 33s. basis and upwards, according to tinning. Terne plates are nominally 58s. basis for 28 X 20. Coke wasters are in considerable demand, and very scarce. To-day’s prices are .about as follow :—C W 14 ■X 20, 29s. 3d. to 29s. 6d. per box; C W 28 x 20, 58s. 6d. to 59s. 6d.; C W 14 x 18|, 29s. to 29s. 3d.; C AV 20 x 10, 40s. 6d. to 41s. 6d. All f.o.b. Wales, less 4 per cent. ______________________________ Fuel Economy.—The Board of Trade desire to draw public attention to the special need for the greatest economy in the use of fuel at the present time. The demand of the war industries is constantly increasing. At the same time coal provides one-tenth of the total value of our exports, and the maintenance of export trade w7as never of more import- ance. Last year out of a total output of coal amounting to 253 million tons, 43^ million tons were exported, of M-hich 23 million w7ere shipped to Allies, and 17 million to neutrals ; but the quantity exported was falling off in the latter part of the year, and January and February 1916 showed a decline of one million tons. Any saving of fuel that can be effected at the present time is of real and immediate value for the prosecution of the w7a.r. It should be remembered that inland prices have been artificially kept relatively low by legislation and voluntary arrangements, and there is therefore a special obligation on individuals to co-operate M7ith the Government and reduce in every possible way their consumption of coal, whether in the form of fuel, light or transport services. A reduction of 10 per cent, in household consumption would enable us to export some 3 million tons more in the year. To effect this reduction would entail a considerably larger proportionate reduction in the case of MTell-to-do households whose consumption is relatively large. The national advantage of such an economy is not to be measured only by the direct saving of money; regard must also be paid to the indirect advantages arising from the fact that at the present time coal in Europe is to a considerable extent a British monopoly. Broadly speaking, these advan- tages are :—(1) Increased power to help our Allies; (2) increased power to strangle German trade and injure the German economic position by means of arrangements M7ith neutral ship owners and neutral merchants based on the supply of coal; (3) an improvement in the foreign exchanges, and hence a reduction in the cost of all goods purchased abroad. British coal power is an asset that mus t be jealously preserved, and economy in fuel should be regarded as a necessary part of the national effort. The particular attention of all domestic consumers of coal is directed to the valuable hints on saving coal issued by the National AVar Saving Committee, 18, Abingdon-street, Westminster, S.W.