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THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

June 8, 1917.

COAL CONTROLLER AND GAS
INDUSTRY.

The annual general meeting of the Institution of Gas
Engineers was held at the Institution of Civil Engi-
neers on Tuesday.

Mr. A. E. Broadberry (Tottenham), in his presi-
dential address, said coal would continue to be a great
source of anxiety. Increased quantities of gas had
been required from inferior coals, with the inevitable
result that the quality had suffered. The successful
feature of the industry might be materially affected if
they attempted to obtain too much yield per
ton. He had received a letter from the Controller of
Mines, who emphasised the urgent necessity of restrict-
ing the quantity of coal used for gas making, and sug-
gested the substitution of water gas for coal gas to the
greatest extent consistent with the requirements of the
Ministry of Munitions, and the adaptability of the
mixed coal and water gas for the industries using gas
for special fuel and for lighting- purposes. 111 am
advised (continued the letter) that owing to the limited
supply of gas oil, a number of works provided with
water gas plants may have discontinued their use.
But, if certain precautions are taken, 10 to 25 per cent,
of uncarburetted gas and a higher percentage of
slightly carburetted gas can be added to the coal gas.
The saving in coal, and transport of the same, to be
effected by this practice, if consistently carried out,
will be substantial, and the relief to the railways in
proportion. The urgent necessity for relieving the
railways is of the utmost importance.” The course
laid down (Mr. Broadberry continued) should enable
most works to send out a gas which would be nearly all
combustible, and would probably be found to be the
best practice permanently in the true interest of the
industry. Grave difficulties were ahead in regard to
the supply of gas oil, and he had been asked to assist
the Ministry of Munitions on an Advisory Committee.

Lord Moulton, Director-General of Explosives
Supply, was elected president of the institution. He
said that when he was first asked to take charge of
the manufacture and provision of explosives, it took
him but a few days to realise his absolute dependence
on the great gas industry. The response to his appeal
to their leaders was so splendid that although he had
been a consistent and untiring tyrant, he had. never
had a difficulty or any friction whatever with them.
“Gradually,” he concluded, “we have seen ourselves
creeping up to an equality with the supplies which our
enemies have been piling up year after year in antici-
pation of the war which they intended to bring upon
us, until now I think our anxiety in this Department
—which at first was probably the keenest anxiety of
all—has passed away, through your assistance.”

Mr. Guy Calthrop, the Coal Controller, gave some
account of the operations and plans of the Coal Mines
Department. The object of instituting a control of
coal mines, he said, was not to interfere with industry,
but, as far as possible, to get all to work together in
the interest of the nation in the present crisis. They
would all appreciate that conditions arising out of the
war had necessitated the disturbance of old theories
and old practices. Two of the greatest problems he
had to deal with were these: —

(1)	To secure a reasonable supply of coal for London
and the counties of Great Britain which were most
remote from the coal fields during the next winter.

(2)	To help, so far as he could, the railway companies
in their present difficulties with regard to transport.

He did not want to exaggerate the importance of the
question of the transport of coal, but out of the
600,000 men who were in the railway industry in times
of peace 160,000 had joined the Forces in one direc-
tion or another, and anyone with experience of substi-
tuted labour would agree that the energy exerted by
the newcomers was nothing like the same as that of a
man who had been working for them all along;. In
addition to the number of men who had gone to the
Forces, he thought by this time they all realised that
the war was largely a war of transport, and a great
number of engines and a larger number of wagons had
had to be sent to the various fronts in order to deal
with the situation there. A scheme had now been
drawn up to secure that coal should be consumed as
near as possible to the point of its output. The scheme
as far as they had gone dealt with upwards of 40
million tons of coal per annum, and if they could carry
it through they would materially assist the railway
companies in the coming winter. Supposing the war
were over to-morrow, the transport difficulties of
England would not be over at the same time. They
would continue through the winter. Our losses in
ships were common knowledge, and the transport of
coal by ship from Northumberland or Durham to the
South of England could not be anything like what it
was before the war. He recognised the impcrtant
part the gas industry had taken in the supply of explo-
sives and the help given in the conduct of the war. It
was obvious that they would merely be making trouble
if they interfered with the production of these high
explosives, and they had arranged with the Ministry
of Munitions to maintain what was necessary in the
way of that output. He would ask the gas engineers,
however, to consider whether they could not help not
only in regard to the class of coal they had hitherto
used, but by economy in the use of coal of all kinds.
It was possible, perhaps, that the action of the Coal
Controller, resented though it might be in certain
quarters, might teach them something that would be of
benefit to the gas industry. He was quite sure that
when he appealed to them for assistance he would not
appeal in vain.

Mr. Thomas Glover, of the Norwich Gas Works,
who is assisting the Coal Controller, invited all gas
engineers and managers to call upon him at 8, Rich-
mond-terrace, Whitehall, to have their own particular
position explained under the new scheme. He parti-
cularly wished to see engineers from West Lancashire
who were using Lancashire coal. He also understood
that some Midland engineers were anxious about the

South Wales coal. He would be pleased to discuss that
with them, but he was afraid they would have to put
up with a little North Derbyshire and South York-
shire, but he did not think that would be a great hard-
ship. The Coal Controller did not claim to know much
about blue water gas, but he had been impressed by
some figures that had been placed before him. If the
plants now standing idle or only used to the extent of
2, 3, and 5 per cent, throughout the year were put
into regular use, and the gas, whether it was blue or
slightly carburetted or carburetted to a greater extent,
was added regularly to the coal gas, quite a decent
percentage could be used if the coal gas was kept
moderately pure.

Mr. S. Meunier, of Stockport Gas Works, wished to
know if the policy of the Coal Controller was to restrict
the use of coal by the gas industry. The industry only
used 16,000,000 tons out of 238,000,000 tons available
for use in .the United Kingdom, and the risk to the
output of materials for explosives seemed to him too
great for the small saving in transport that would be
made. Much larger economies would be effected if
some action were taken with regard to the large quan-
tities of coal used in the Lancashire district, for
instance, for steam raising purposes from which no
return was received as in the case of coal which was
carbonised; and were other industries to be dealt with
in the same way as the Controller was proposing to
deal with the gas industry ? The use of blue water gas
was a matter of difference of opinion, and might not
bring about the result anticipated.

Mr. Calthrop said he would be very stupid if he only
dealt with the consumption of 16,000,000 tons out of
238,000,000 tons. All industries would be dealt with
on the same lines.

INDIAN AND COLONIAL NOTES.

Africa.

Ermelo Coal Field Development. — Taken altogether,
satisfactory progress continues to be made in the
development of the Ermelo coal field. The principal
drawback this field suffers from is the heavier rate charged
for railage when compared with that from the Witbank
district. Probably ere long, however, and especially when
Breyten is linked up through Swaziland by rail with
Delagoa Bay, the bulk of the coal produced in the Ermelo
district will be disposed of for bunker and export pur-
poses. At present, quite four-fifths of the round coal pro-
duced in the district is supplied to the railway, more par-
ticularly for consumption in the Cape, whilst outside that
consumed locally, the bulk of the balance finds its way to
Cape Town. The majority of the producing collieries are
still in the development stage. It therefore is to be anti-
cipated that for some time to come the output of coal in
the Ermelo district should continue to increase. Breyten
seems likely to become the chief coal producing centre of
the Ermelo district. More than one-half of the total coal
output of the Ermelo district is produced by the Breyten
collieries, whose requisition from the railway alone is
nearly 1,000 tons per day, not to mention the require-
ments of the gold mines controlled by the Consolidated
Gold Fields group. The seam of coal at these collieries is
worked entirely by adits, and so much energy has been
shown in opening up the coal field, that within a few
months when railway connection was obtained, the daily
output exceeded 1,000 tons per day. The coal seam, as
is generally the case in the Ermelo district, varies in
thickness, but averages a little over 4 ft. Dykes, faults,
and other troubles add to the difficulties of working. The
coal at Breyten is practically all worked by means of the
Siskol machine, and although the seam is thin, the
average production per head is satisfactory, and will com-
pare favourably with collieries working under similar con-
ditions. One striking feature of the Breyten equipment
is its suitability to the varying underground conditions,
and the efficient manner in which the coal is hauled over
such a long distance to the screening plant.

Australia.

The Bowen Coal Field.—The Queensland Government
is apparently quite satisfied of the value and importance
of the northern coal field in the Bowen district. In his
latest monthly report to the Minister of Mines, Mr. B.
Dunstan, Government Geologist, said the operations in
this field and the analysis of the coal cores from the last
boreholes sunk by the Government had shown that the
upper 7 ft. 6 in. portion of the Bowen seam in the area
prospected by the Department’s plant, contained, on an
average, about 13 per cent, of ash, while the lower por-
tions, with a thickness varying from 3 ft. 6 in. to 7 ft.,
had an ash content averaging between 15 and 23 per
cent. The 13 per cent, result was very satisfactory for
Queensland coal, although not so low as the best of the
Newcastle and Illawarra coals of New South Wales. The
test of the coal cores obtained from the bore had shown
that the coal in the Government area formed a hard,
porous coke, and as it had previously been shown that a
large area of country was available, as a result of the
boring operations, the next feature to be considered would
be the. fixing of a site for State mining operations. These
conclusions had been arrived at after a lot of trouble in
investigating various aspects of the work, and, as far as
the Government was concerned, they might be considered
to be final. They also showed that the policy of the drills,
under the Department’s supervision had been entirely
successful, and offered a strong contrast to the work of
private companies. Previously, the estimate made by
himself had shown that in the area prospected by the
Government bores, which was over a mile square,
22,000,000 tons of coal would be available, so that nothing
more remained to be done so far as geological survey was
concerned but to undertake the development of opening
up the field by a State colliery. . With regard to coking
qualities of the coal, it was possible that the proportion
of ash would be between 17 and 20 per cent., but with
coal washing appliances this percentage might be reduced
to 14 or 15 per cent., and if those results could be
achieved, there would be no question about the success of
the Bowen field, both as coal mining country and country
from which to expect large supplies of coke.

The Board of Trade has issued an Order prohibiting the
disposal of any canal barge, or plant used in connection
with such barges, without the consent of the Canal Control
Committee.

THE GERMAN COAL AND IRON
TRADES.

We give below further extracts from foreign
periodicals that have reached us, showing the course
of the coal and iron trades in Germany: —

Rhine Shipping.

The holidays interfered with rail- and waterborne
consignments of coal to the Ruhr harbours, but by
the end of the month there were signs of recovery.
The river continued in good condition for traffic, the
depth of water in the shallow reaches being sufficient
to enable fully-laden large craft to get as far as Strass-
burg. The demand for bottoms suffered no diminu-
tion, and freights for both up and down trips were
firm, with a growing disposition to book time charters.
For some little time there was a shortage of steamer
coal on the Upper and Middle Rhine, which caused
temporary stoppages; but these conditions have since
been improved.

The Coal Market in Bavaria.

With the exception of the mines of the Ober-
bay erische A.G. and the Royal Peissenburg mine, little
local coal is available for that portion of Bavaria on
the right of the Rhine; and even these mines are
unable, owing to the shortage of labour, to maintain
their output at its usual level. Consequently, the
supply of either domestic or industrial coal cannot be
satisfied. Moreover, the imports of Bohemian brown
coal, which formerly exceeded 200,000 wagons, have
fallen off considerably of late, so that the prospects
for the autumn supply are very unfavourable, the
usual stocks being entirely lacking. Saxony and Mid-
Germany are the chief source of the briquette supply,
and though the output has been greatly reduced by
labour shortage, the works are still able to meet pre-
sent needs. The coal production in Saxony has also
declined, and most of the output is required for the
war industries. The Saar district is a more reliable
source, especially for gas coals, the consumption of
which has increased in consequence of the more
extended use of gas for heating and cooking now that
coal is scarce. Gas coke, which was formerly abun-
dant, has entirely disappeared from the market, the
municipal gas works reserving their output for local
consumption. The peat industry, which would afford
an alternative fuel, has also had to be neglected
through scarcity of labour.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—June 5.

Coal Supplies .in London.

Mr. Gilbert asked the President of the Board of Trade
what action had been taken by the Coal Controller in
order to provide in London for next winter sufficient stocks
of coal for small consumers; and whether he intended to
call any conference of London local authorities to con-
sider the questions of storage and distribution.

Mr. Roberts replied that he was not at present in a
position to add anything to the reply he gave on May 25.

MINING INDUSTRY AND MILITARY SERVICE.

The difficulties which face the Ebbw Vale tribunal in
considering cases of men employed in the collieries and
works of the company were set forth to the authorities in
Cardiff by a deputation which visited the city for that
purpose; and Mr. George Morgan, who reported to the
tribunal the result of that interview, stated that the depu-
tation met the substitution officer and explained to him
the peculiar position at Ebbw Vale.

At Sunderland rural district tribunal the case of a
licensed victualler, 38 years of age, married, now working
as a pitman, was brought up for review by the military.
The chairman, Mr. F. W. Hylton, explained that the man
was an old pitman, but a public-house kept by his brother-
in-law falling vacant, he left the pit and took it. He
received conditional exemption last July, the condition
being that he found work of national importance. The
military representative pointed out that, between March 10
and April 28, the man lost 32 hours. The chairman
retorted that that was not much where a pitman was con-
cerned. The military representative concurred, but said
that the most important work was in the Army, and that
if the man lost time in the pit he should be in the Army.
The chairman said he knew the case very well. Most
underground men lost from 18 to 20 per cent, of time. Why
that should be he could not say, but in a warm pit on the
east coast they lost more time than in the west of Durham,
owing to the conditions under which they have to work.
If Lieut. Thompson would leave the matter to him he
would warn the respondent. The lieutenant replied that
respondent would be one of the men who would be called
up for having gone into the mine recently. Respondent
said that he had been a pitman for 23 years. He left the
pit in May 1913. Conditional exemption was renewed,
the chairman promising to warn the man to attend regu-
larly to his work.

. The Neath rural tribunal has had once again under con-
sideration the position of men employed in the tin-plate
trade; and the military representative stated that a com-
munication from the Director of Recruiting had been
received, which stated that the whole matter was under
consideration; and that, if necessary, further communica-
tion would be made to the tribunal on the subject. Similar
replies had come from the'Prime Minister and the War
Office. The tribunal, therefore, awaits further communi-
cation.

War Workers’ Committee and Coal Supplies—At a ameet-
ing of the War Workers’ Emergency Committee, held at
the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon, Mr. Robt.
Smillie (chairman) presiding, it was stated that, while
there was a shortage of coal, the men employed at many
collieries, more particularly those working for the export
trade, were on short time, and the output was being
seriously reduced. The committee decided to ask the Coal
Controller to receive a deputation to consider proposals
for the storage of coal and the supply of domestic con-
sumers.