March 2, 1917. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 435 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ COAL PRICES IN SCOTLAND. The District Coal and Coke Supplies Committee for Scotland, acting on behalf of the Board of Trade, has made an agreement with representatives of the Scottish coal merchants prescribing maximum charges for all dealings in coal for home consumption. The Board of Trade has approved of this agreement, and its terms are to be regarded as applying henceforward to all retail sales of coal in Scotland. The terms of the agreement are as follow:— 1. The following conditions apply to all descriptions and qualities of coals and smalls:— 2. 'lhe remuneration or profit margin within the maximum shall be calculated after all delivery charges in respect of the coal supplied have been met, and such delivery charges shall include the cost per ton of office expenses in addition to charges for railway rates, cartage, depot expenses, loss in handling the coal, and any other legitimate charges incurred from the point at which the coal is received to the point at which it is delivered to the consumer, but in such office expenses there shall not be included any salary to individual owners of businesses nor to partners of firms nor to managing directors of limited companies 3. The maximum remuneration or profit margin agreed upon in respect of each class of trade herein set forth shall cover the whole cumulative profit of one or more parties who may be interested in the sale of the same coal as middlemen or merchants. 4. The following shall be the maximum remuneration or profit margin allowed in the several cases herein referred to, viz : — Landsale. (а) Merchants who actually sell and distribute to customers in lots of 10 cwt. or more by vehicles, maximum Is. 6d. per ton. (б) Merchants buying from collieries in bulk and selling to distributors of small quantities such as those who sell from lorries in the street, maximum Is. per ton. (c) Bag lorrymen selling in 1 cwt. lots from lorries in the streets, and small merchants whose annual turnover (based upon 1916 turnover) does not exceed 1,500 tons, maximum Is. 6d. per ton. Such lorrymen and small merchants shall be entitled to a wage for their own services where they are doing all or Table A. Division. Number of collieries where machines are at work. Number of machines. Worked by Mineral obtained. Number of conveyors at coal face. Electricity. Compressed air. Scotland 229 908 754 154 Tons. 8,897,850 109 Northern i 83 6"5 134 471 3,631,160 55 York and North Midland 125 753 380 373 7,328,154 109 Lancashire, North Wales and Ireland 87 447 36 411 2,156,381 88 South Wales 51 139 41, 95 563,739 105 Midland and Southern 63 237 101 136 1,932,840 8 Total in 1915 638 3,089 1,449 1,640 24,510,124 424 Total in 1914 652 3,093 1,415 1,678 24,274,517 408 Table B. Kind of machine. Number in use. Scotland Northern. York and North Midland. Lancashire, North Wales and Ireland. South Wales. Midland and Southern. Total. Driven by electricity : Disc 516 49 163 8 2 32 770 Bar 214 26 86 16 32 23 397 Chain ' 20 55 127 12 10 46 270 ’ Percussive 3 — 3 — — — 6 Rotary heading 1 4 1 — — — 6 Total 754 134 380 36 44 101 1,449 Driven by compressed air :— Disc 106 46 160 126 I 15 454 Bar 10 11 53 36 38 5 156 Chain 1 13 45 11 18 25 113 Percussive 36 390 114 238 37 87 902 Rotary heading 1 8 1 — 1 4 15 Total 154 471 373 411 95 136 1,640 Total in 1915 908 605 753 447 139 237 3,089 Total in 1914 913 702 725 399 131 223 3,093 part of the manual labour necessary for their trade. The wage to be the wage paid to foremen carters or depot foremen in the locality where such lorrymen and small merchants carry on their business. (d) Merchants acting as factors between the collieries and industrial works, and who do not actually handle the coal, maximum Is. per ton. (e) Merchants selling in wagon loads to smaller merchants at roadside stations, etc., maximum Is. per ton. Coastwise Shipments. (/) Merchants selling in cargoes to distributing merchants, maximum Is. per ton. (g) Merchants selling direct to consumers, maximum Is. 6d. per ton. Clause 5 contains a statement of the retail prices which may be charged in various districts. 6. In the event of any question arising within the agree- ment, or as to the implement thereof, between the Board of Trade and the middlemen or coal merchants, the latter agree to afford the Board of Trade every facility for investi- gation, and they will supply any information that may from time to time be required by the Board of Trade. It wi^l be understood that in the event of any such question arising, or in the event of any complaint being made by a consumer, the matter will, in the first instance, be referred by the Board of Trade to the Special Committee of the Coal Merchants’ Association of Scotland Limited, for enquiry and report, unless such a procedure appears to the Board to be undesirable in any particular case. 7. The Board of Trade may vary these conditions from time to time if they are satisfied, upon the representation of the Coal Merchants’ Association of Scotland Limited, that circumstances' have arisen to make such variation reasonable. For the District Coal and Coke Supplies Committee for Scotland (appointed by the Board of Trade). (Signed) Adam Nimmo, Chairman Robert Baird, Secretary. For the Coal Merchants’ Association of Scotland Limited. (Signed) J. Paterson Waldie, Chairman. David Strathie & Co., Secretaries Glasgow, January 31, 1917. The Board of Trade approve the above-written agree- ment. W. F. Marwood, Second Secretary. February 12, 1917. ______________________ COAL-CUTTING MACHINERY IN 1915. In Part II. of the General Report on Mines and Quarries in 1915, the Chief Inspector of Mines gives statistics with reference to the use of coal-cutting machines in the United Kingdom. It appears that in 1915 there were 638 collieries where coal-cut’ing machines were at work, as against 652 in the preceding year. The total number of machines employed was 3,089 (as against 3,093 in 1914), of which 1,449 were worked by electricity and 1,640 by compressed air ; the total quantity of mineral obtained in 1915 by the aid of these machines was 24,510,124 tons ; this is an increase of 235,607 tons compared with 1914. The Scotland Division (No. 1) and the York and North Midland Division (No. 3) take the lead as regards the number of machines employed, nearly 54 per cent of the total number of machines in use being employed in these two divisions. Table A shows the number of machines, and of collieries where used, motive power employed, and quantity of mineral obtained by their use in the various inspection divisions during the year 1915 :— Table B gives the number of mechanical coal-cutters in use in the various inspection divisions during the year 1915. The last table shows the quantity of mineral cut by machinery in the various inspection divisions during the year 1915:— Statute tons cut by [ Total Division. FJeetricity.'-0^^8^1 machnry. Tons. Tons. Tons. Scotland ................ 7,690,752 ... 1,207,098 ... 8,897,850 Northern................ J,266,107 ... 2,365,053 ... 3 631,160 York and North Midland 3,76*,960 ... 3,561,194 ... 7,328,154 Lancashire, North Wales and Ireland.......... 306,204 ... 1,850,177 ... 2,156,381 South Wales ...................... 211,686 352,053 ... 563,739 Midland and Southern ... 1,136,563 ... 796,277 ... 1,932,840 Total in 1915 ....14,378,272 ...10,131,852 ...24,510,124 Total in 1914 ....14,208,562 ...10,065,955 ...24,274,517 ________________________________ The Staffordshire Iron and Steel Institute.—The fourth meeting of the session will be held at the institute, Wolver- hampton-street, Dudley, to-morrow (Saturday). Mr. J. W. Hall (past-president) will read a synopsis on his paper on “ The Life and Work of Joseph Hall.” TROUBLE SAVER ON ROPE HAULAGE. On a side-rope haulage trouble developed wherever a slight hollow in the road was reached through the strain of the rope pulling it out of the jiggers on the cars. When this happened where the cars were far apart it had the effect of leaving one particular car standing on the track. The following car was quite liable to push it off the track, causing a wreck. Sometimes five or six cars would get piled up together before the haulage men could find out where the trouble was. As a means of obviating this difficulty, the small appliance shown in the illustration was erected. The upper drawing shows a car approaching the appliance and the lower one the car passing and deflecting the arm. A strong post P has bolted to it a lever L, one arm of which projects behind the post, and the other in front of w Ca' ___________ ______ Device to Prevent Rope Rising. it and at least 6 in. beyond the line of the rope and 3 to 4 in. higher than its normal position. The front arm has fastened to it a piece of pipe Rp which serves as a roller when the rope is running up against the arm. Attached to the arm at the rear of the post is a chain 0, which passes over the wheel W, and is attached to a counterbalancing weight. In operation the arm projects over the running rope and prevents it from rising above the limit fixed. It does this without putting any perceptible stress on the working of the haulage. An approaching car pushes the arm aside, but the counterbalance exerting itself tends to draw the lever back, keeping the arm tight against the side of the car and above the rope. As soon as the car has passed, the arm springs out into its original position.—Coal Age. ____________________________________________________ LAW INTELLIGENCE. _________________________________________________ HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. KING’S BENCH DIVISION.—February 22. Before Mr. Justice Bailhache. A Black List Case. Forsberg and Mark v. Scott Brothers Limited.—The defen- dants carry on business in Newcastle and Hull, and a special case relative to the cancelling of a contract had been stated by the arbitrators. By a contract dated January 6, 1915, Scott Brothers agreed to sell to Forsberg and Mark, of Sweden, 10,000 tons of coal at 14s. 3d. per ton, f.o.b. Hull, Grimsby, or Immingham, for shipment January to June 1915, in about equal monthly quantities. A dispute arose as to the coal contracted to be shipped in April, the buyers claiming £644 damages for non-delivery of certain quanti- ties. The sellers said that they had to comply with the regulations as to the export of coal from the United Kingdom, and that they did not ship any coal from March 5 to the end of the month, because the buyers were on the black list during that time. In the latter part of March, the buyers asked the sellers to ship coal during April, and said the prohibition against them had been removed; but, in fact, it was not removed until April 15. The sellers then said that, as half of April had gone, they were not obliged to ship more than half the proper quantity for that month; but the buyers did not agree to this, and ordered 1,100 tons to go to their Gothenburg house. On April 23 the sellers ■went to the Customs House at Hull, but were told that the buyers were again on the black list, and that the shipment would not be allowed. The sellers then sold the 1,100 tons in question in Hull, at 24s. 6d. per ton. The buyers were again taken off the black list on April 24. The question submitted for the opinion of the court was, whether the sellers were justified in cancelling the contract so far as April was concerned, and were free from any obli- gation to ship such coal. If the sellers were not so justified, then the umpire ordered the sellers to pay to the buyers £'563 damages. In arriving at his decision, the umpire stated that he 'assumed that, if the sellers were liable to ship in April any part of the 1,100 tons, they were liable to ship in that month the whole of the 1,100 tons, and were not entitled to limit their liability to 833 tons, as they claimed. His lordship sent the case back to the umpire for further findings of fact. ________________________ Miners’ “ Comb-Out.”—Sir George Cave received a depu- tation from the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain at the Home Office this week with regard to the “ comb-out ” of miners for military service. It was alleged that men “ combed-out ” were being taken at 14 days’ notice for military service, instead of the two months allowed by the Act.