THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. June 15, 1917. 1134 THE AMERICAN COAL TRADE. A continuation of the extraordinarily heavy con- sumption of bituminous coal, supplemented by car shortages and interruptions to transportation, together with an increasing scarcity of labour and incipient strikes, not to mention persistent rumours that the Government will requisition considerable tonnages, have combined to force prices up to maximum levels. The advances have been of a spectacular nature. The spot coal available in Boston is confined to very small scattering lots, and prices are strong at 7-25 to 7*50 dols. f.o.b. vessel (says the Coal Age of May 19). Coal is short at all tide-water loading piers, and prices correspondingly high. Clear fields is quoted 5*75 to 6*50 dols. f.o.b. mines, and Cambridge and Somerset 6 to 6-75 dols. Pocahontas and New River are quoted 7*25 to 7-50 dols. f.o.b. Norfolk or Newport News, Virginia, for spot coal, and 12 to 13 dols. at Providence and Boston for inland delivery. Philadelphia reports state that much of the con- tinued upward movement is due to the unrest in several of the mining fields, especially in Central Penn- sylvania, where the 20 per cent, agreement has been rejected by the miners. The prices per gross ton, f.o.b. cars at mines are as follow:—Georges Creek Big Vein, 6*50 to 7 dols.; South Fork Miller Vein, 6-50 to 7 dols. ; Clearfield (ordinary), 6-25 to 6*75 dols. ; Somer- set (ordinary), 6*25 to 6*75 dols.; West Virginia, Free- port, 6-25 to 6-50 dols. ; Fairmont gas, lump, 6-25 to 6-50 dols. ; Fairmont gas, mine-run, 6*25 to 6*50 dols.; Fairmont gas, slack, 6*25 to 6*50 dols.; Fairmont lump, ordinary, 6 to 5*25 dols. ; Fairmont mine-run, 6 to 5-25 dols. ; Fairmont slack, 6 to 5-25 dols. At Hampton Roads, bunker steamers are unusually numerous, and their demands are so heavy that in some cases the current market price is being charged for coal over and above their normal requirements. Prices for prompt delivery for Pocahontas and New River, for shipment coastwise or foreign, are 7-50 to 8*50 dols. per gross ton. Bunker coal, 8 to 9 dols. per gross ton, plus 15c. per ton trimming. Local delivery, 7 to 7*50 dols. per net ton on track. Anthracite is still quoted at 9 dols. per net ton delivered, less 50c. per ton for cash. There is little business reported on this basis, as consumers seemingly prefer waiting for better prices. Baltimore shipments have fallen off heavily, yet bituminous prices have advanced to record levels. Great delays are occurring on the railways. Anthracite prices are slightly lower, though supplies are still inadequate. The prices current in Philadelphia per gross ton f.o.b. cars at mines for line shipment are as follow: Broken, 4-90 dols.; egg, 4*05 dols.; stove, 4-30 dols.; nut, 4-40 dols. ; pea, 3 dols.; buck, 2*80 dols. ; rice, 2-30 dols.; boiler, 2-10 dols.; barley, 1*80 dols. Tonnage is scarce. Coal freights are quoted 85 to 100 dols. West Coast of Italy, and 80 to 100 dols. to Marseilles. Spot coke is stronger, and sellers are not disposed to quote for contracts. Quotations average 8 dols. for spot furnace, and 9’50 to 10-50 dols. spot foundry. MIHIMG INDUSTRY MB MILITARY SERVICE. When Mr. Field, an explosives merchant, applied to the Newcastle military tribunal for exemption from service on the ground that he was already engaged on work of con- siderable national importance, Mr. H. S. Mundahl, barrister, said, on his behalf, that Mr. Field was an expert in explo- sives and supplied a special kind of blasting material and apparatus to a large number of collieries on the north-east coast. Appellant’s business was highly essential to the coal trade in the district, especially as he was an expert in the production of explosives for safeguarding the lives of men employed in gaseous pits. Appellant was the lessee of a small colliery near Amble, and, since he was last before the tribunal, had discovered the presence of valuable iron- stone. He had communicated his discovery to the Ministry of Munitions, and had had the ore analysed. Mr. Mundahl produced a sample of the ore, together with particulars of the analysis. He described the quality of the sample produced as being sensibly higher in its richness than Cleveland ironstone, and eminently suited for mixing with the latter. Forty-five per cent, was iron. The stone was exposed, the ways were laid, and in some ten days'’ time the appellant would be able to deliver ] 00 tons a day, which, in view of the difficulties of obtaining the Spanish product, was highly important. In reply to the chairman, applicant said the mine was situated between Wark worth and Newton-on-the-Moor. He believed that the lode had some connection with the ironstone stretching to Redesdale, which his father worked 40 years ago. The sample he produced was not from a “ pocket/’ but from a considerable bed of rich ironstone. It was from a depth of 9 ft. in the bed, which was about 54 ft. thick. Mr. Mundahl put in letters from the Priority Department of the Ministry of Munitions, advising the release of certain men from the Army for the purpose of working the ore. It would be ludicrous, he said, if the tribunal took the applicant for the Army while men were being released for the very work he had in hand. The tribunal adjourned the case for a month, so that the military representative might make enquiries regarding the extent and output of the mine. At the Eccles tribunal, last week, a representative of Lord Ellesmere appealed for two Class A men. One, it was stated, had taken the place of Mr. Adams, as manager of the Eccles and Patricroft district, including local yards of the railway station depot. He is 36 years of age. The second man was described as the manager’s assistant, and is 27 years of age. It was stated on behalf of the appellants that their local colliery depots had lost a third of the staff, and had been arranged and re-arranged until they could re-arrange no longer. The application of the younger man was dismissed, and the manager was given exemption until August 31. At last week’s meeting of the Doncaster rural tribunal the chairman (Mr. W. H. Chambers, managing director of the Denaby and Cadeby Colliery Company) undertook to provide three men for the Army in place of a colliery surface contractor, not exempted by the miners’tribunal, if the man was exempted by the rural tribunal. The military repre- sentative characterised it as a fair offer, and the case was adjourned for a month to give opportunity of its being carried out. A shunter and locomotive driver at Ros sington Main Colliery, near Doncaster, who was formerly exempted as he had been employed in munition works, made a personal appeal on domestic grounds. He is an “A” man. The Advisory Committee did not assent, and the chairman explained that the man had been dealt with by the mining tribunal and had been weeded out. The appeal was dismissed. At the Tynemouth appeal tribunal, Mr. G N. Straughan, coal merchant, of "Whitley, who joined the forces 11 months ago, appealed for Wm. Harrison, 33, and classed A, his manager, whom he had left in charge of his business, which was extensive and had a large capital at stake. It was stated that Mr. Straughan had contracts with four different collieries. The Whitley tribunal had withdrawn Harrison’s certificate on the ground that the business was not indispensable or of a nature to justify either man being kept out of the Army. The appeal was dismissed, and leave to appeal to the central tribunal refused. Only a fortnight was allowed in which to wind up the business. The Middlesbrough tribunal proposes to consider the cases of all army-eligible coal dealers in the borough, in order to secure equality of treatment. At Gwaun-cae-gurwen Mr. James (the miners’ agent) addressed a meeting and explained the process of combing out men from the mines. He described the changes that have been made since war broke out in relation to reserved occupations, and directed special attention to the fact that the system now being pursued had been adopted after con- sultation between the representatives of the Miners’ Federation and the Home Office. The South Wales delegates were outvoted at a national conference of the federation, but as South Wales had since resolved to fall in with the scheme, it was only fair that those who had been the latest to enter the mine should be the first to enter the Army. Already 287,000 miners had gone voluntarily into military service, and 117,000 men had entered the mines since the outbreak of war; and since May 12 the Army authorities had decided that all Class A men who had entered the pits during the war should be called up. Mr. James then went into detail as to what should be done by the men called up, especially in cases where grounds of appeal existed, and he said that the Federation executive had been vigilant and had done all that was possible to safeguard the rights of the miners. A number of colliery surface workers appealed at the Rhondda tribunal on Monday, and the chairman remarked that it seemed hard that men who had left underground work in order to oblige the employers should, by so doing, render themselves liable to military service. The miners’ representative (Mr. J. Hughes) remarked that it was in consequence very difficult to get men from the pit for the surface. Single men amongst the applicants who were supporting their parents were, in the majority of cases, granted exemption subject to appeal to the county tribunal. PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—June 11. Coal and Canals. Sir A. Stanley (President of the Board of Trade), reply- ing to Col. Yate, said he could not give figures showing the additional amount of coal and other minerals which is being carried over the canals, but all canal boats for which crews could be obtained were working at the present time, and it was hoped that the steps taken by the Canal Control Committee, in conjunction with the Controller of Mines, would further increase the amount of coal carried on the canals. imperial Mineral Resources Committee. Mr. Byrne asked the Prime Minister whether he was aware that there was no representative of Ireland on the Inter-Departmental Committee appointed to prepare a scheme for an Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau for the development of the mineral resources and metal require- ments of the Empire. Dr. Addison replied that the Committee was concerned solely with certain administrative machinery, and it was no part of the Committee’s duty to advise upon the develop- ment of the mineral resources. An Irish representative was included in the Departmental Committee of the Ministry of Munitions, which advised regarding the development of home supplies. Assistance was given by a large number of men from different parts of the United Kingdom. June 12. State Control of Coal. Mr. Cory asked the President of the Board of Trade what progress was being made in regard to the financial arrangements for the State control of the coal industry. Sir A. Stanley said he hoped to be in a position to make an announcement on the subject at an early date. June 13. Coal for Winter. Mr. Gilbert asked what steps the Coal Controller pro- posed to take in order to accumulate sufficient stocks in London to supply the needs of small buyers next winter. Sir A. Stanley replied that special arrangements had been made to divert to London considerable additional sup- plies of house coal for stocking purposes. June 14. Coal Prices. In reply to Mr. King, Air. G. Roberts stated that retail prices for coal in London are fixed under a voluntary arrangement between the London merchants and the Board of Trade. At the end of May the price of best Derby brights was 33s. a ton, and other classes of coal in pro- portion. Figures for the retail price of coal in Berlin and Vienna at the end of May are not yet available. In February the retail price in Berlin was 40-72 mk. a ton for inland household, and 30-54 mk. for briquettes. On May 1 the Rhenish Westphalian Syndicate raised prices by 2 mk. a ton for coal and 3 mk. for briquettes. A further increase retail prices may be expected on August 1, as a 20 per cent, ad valorem coal tax comes into operation on that date. In Vienna, the price of coal in sacks at the shoot was in February 62-2 kr. per ton and 68-2 kr. delivered at the consumer’s door. On May 14, the Upper Silesian mines increased their price by 2 to 3 kr. per ton. THE HIGHER TRAIHIHG OF COLLIERY MMAGERS.* By G. L. Kerr, Large numbers of young lads and men who work in the mines attend evening continuation and mining classes. All who do attend these classes may have the laudable ambition to become managers or under- managers of a colliery, but a very large proportion can never become either a manager or an under-manager, if for no other reason than that there are never suffi- cient places to absorb them all. A considerable per- centage of these students, too, are probably not fitted either mentally or temperamentally to become managers or under-managers, and they are possibly not fitted, and may not expect, to fill a higher position than that of an oversman or fireman. It is only the more ambitious and better mentally equipped lad or young man that should be encouraged and enabled to obtain the most complete education and training. Since the beginning of the present European war we have all heard and read a great deal of the necessity for better trained and technically educated men, if we are to hold our own in the industrial world in the future, and the mining industry will be one of the industries that will require such men. Many commissions and committees have been appointed by the Government and societies to consider industrial problems, and how better results can be obtained in the future; but whether they accomplish much or little, the fact remains that we must have more highly-trained and completely-equipped managers for our collieries. Mining problems are year by year becoming more diffi- cult, and it will require men with a new and larger outlook to deal with them. The writer will enumerate a few of the problems that have to be faced: —(1) The difficulties presented of working much thinner seams, and seams lying at much greater depths; (2) the difficulties of continually increasing costs; (3) higher wages and reduced output; (4) the vast increase in mining legislation, with all its harassing difficulties and worry; and (5) the labour problem, which is probably the most difficult of all to handle properly. In order to meet and tackle success- fully all these problems, it is necessary to have the best highly-trained and mentally-equipped men as colliery managers. As regards the second and third of these problems, namely, increasing costs, high wages, and reduced out- puts, in 1887 the output of coal per annum per person employed in the mines of Great Britain was 312 tons; in Canada, 341 tons; in America, 400 tons; and in Australia, 333 tons. In the year 1911, the output per person employed had fallen to 262 tons in Great Britain (a decrease of 23-08 per cent.), while in Canada it had risen to 395 tons per person (an increase of 11*58 per cent.); in America to 613 tons per person (an increase of 53*25 per cent.); and in Australia to 485 tons per person (an increase of 14-56 per cent.).f In 1887, the average value of coal per ton at the pit’s mouth was in Great Britain, 4s. 9Jd. ; in Australia, 9s. 2d. ; and in America, 6s. 6|d. In 1911, the average value per ton in Great Britain was 8s. 1-Jd. ; in Australia, 7s. 5Jd. ; and in America, 5s. lOfd. Since 1911, the value has risen considerably in Great Britain, and it has also risen slightly in Australia and America, but not nearly to the same extent as in this country. We have, therefore, gone to the wrong side in two ways, one of which is a corol- lary of the other, namely, our output per person employed has been much reduced, and the cost of coal at the pit has been considerably increased. Both of these factors may be good or bad, according to the view of the producer and the consumer. Taking another industry which is closely allied to coal mining—the iron and steel trades—in 1865, Great Britain produced 4,896,000 tons of iron and 225,000 tons of steel, while Germany in the same year pro- duced 975,000 tons of iron and 100,000 tons of steel. In 1913, Great Britain produced approximately 10J million tons of iron and 7| million tons of steel, while for the same year Germany produced 19J million tons of iron and nearly 19 million tons of steel. Thus, in 48 years our output of iron has been increased by about 2| times and of steel about 44 times, while Germany increased her output of iron by about 20 times and her steel by about 190 times. Why should this be so in Great Britain, the home of the iron and steel indus- tries? Mr. Wallace Thorneycroft, in his presidential address to the Institution of Mining Engineers in Glasgow last year, stated that in the 10 years 1904- 1914 the increased cost of manufacturing steel plates, due to increased cost of fuel, amounted to 14s. 6d. per ton, and this is one of the vital facts which accounts for part at least of our practical stagnation in the iron and steel industry. A plentiful and cheap supply of fuel is the very life-spring of almost all our important industries, and we must obtain it if we are to retain our position in the industrial world. How are we to attain this? Only by the most efficient and highly- trained colliery managers that it is possible to obtain, in conjunction with highly-trained commercial men and far-seeing employers. The question may be asked: Are colliery managers at present not sufficiently trained and technically educated? There may be a percentage of the present- day managers sufficiently trained technically and prac- tically, but the writer ventures the opinion that a very large number are not, although the fault cannot be laid to themselves. How many of us, looking back on past experiences, do not wish that we had had a more thorough scientific or technical training? This con- sideration brings the writer to the real object of his paper, namely, how are our future colliery managers to obtain this higher training? * From a paper read before the Mining Institute of Scotland. t The output per person is based on the total number of persons employed in and about the mines in the respective countries.