June 15, 1917

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

1135

Provision of Scholarships or Bursaries.

The best and most efficient method of obtaining this
higher training will be by the institution of a number
of scholarships or bursaries in the various mining
counties of a value of not less than about £50 per
annum, to be tenable for a fixed period—say, a mini-
mum of three years. A scholarship of this value would
enable a young man to give up his daily work in the
mines for six months each year, and to take a full
mining engineering course, with the necessary science
classes. The other six months of the year would be
devoted to regular practical work in the mines. By
this method the student would not be taken away from
the most important part of his training. This method
is already largely adopted in the engineering and ship-
building works in the Clyde area ; but the students in
these works who can take advantage of this system
are the sons of parents who can afford the money to
enable them to go to the university or technical
college for the six months in each year, and are not
dependent on scholarships.

It is not the sons of the w’ell-to-do only who should
receive this advantage, but the sons of every parent,
no matter how poor, if they have the ability and mental
equipment to fit them for such a training. For, after
all, it is the great class of young lads who work
daily in the mines (the sons of working miners and
colliery officials) to whom we have to look for a con-
tinuous supply of managers for our mines. No one
should be debarred for want of the necessary means
from obtaining the best training possible to enable
him to become an efficient manager. Many a potential
genius has lived and died in obscurity through lack of
help and opportunity to take advantage of the train-
ing that he ought to have had. Prof. A. L. Mellanby,
D.Sc., of Glasgow, in a suggestive article on “Train-
ing Men,” stated that—

Under our present systems the college day classes are as a
rule attended only by the well-to-do. Now brains are not
the prerogative of the wealth, and from the national point
of view it is obvious that if we are to make the best of our
position, the highest education should be open to the most
intelligent, and not confined to students whose main recom-
mendation is that they can afford it. To effect this, we
must look to a system of scholarships much more generous
and carefully considered than any scheme we have at
present.

Prof. Mellanby had mainly the engineering indus-
tries in view, but his remarks apply equally to the
mining industry.

Selecting Students for Scholarships.

It would be a pertinent question to ask how the
youths from the mines who are to enjoy the benefits
of these scholarships are to be selected. While there
may be some difficulties here, they would not be so
great or so many as would appear at a first glance.
The writer does not propose that everyone, irrespec-
tive of his qualifications or ability, who applies for
such a scholarship would be given one. The proper
selection would require very careful and impartial con-
sideration. It is not necessary that boys should be
kept at school till 16 or 17 years of age to fit them
for such scholarships. It is for the boys who enter
the pits at 14 that these scholarships are most urgently
needed and most deserved. The writer is no believer
in the present cry for the raising of the compulsory
school age from 14 to 16 years of age. There must
always be “ hewers of wood and drawers of water,” and
for these it is of no use spending time or money on a
higher training. It is a mere waste of time and money
to keep most boys at school until they are 16 years old.
They very frequently learn little, or have no interest
in learning further, after they reach 14 years of age,
and the sooner they are put to some work after that
age, the better for themselves and the country. And
for the man who is likely to become a colliery manager
it is essential that he should begin his life-work early
in the pits. Between the ages of 14 and 18 or 20, the
knowledge and experience gained in practical mining
is invaluable, and can never be gained by any young
man, how’ever highly trained, who takes his practical
mining work after 20.

In every mining district there is always a fairly large
number of boys who work in the mines during the day,
and attend classes in the evening during the winter
months. Many of them attend the mining courses
and other science classes held at various centres, and
it is from this class of student that the selection for
scholarships must be made. The selection could be
made by examination — although it is a question
whether examinations have not been grossly overdone,
and have become too much of a fetish in the educa-
tional world—or the selection of the lads with the best
ability and mental equipment might be made partly
by examination and partly from the proficiency and
ability that they have shown during, say, four years
in the classes. Any teacher with discernment will be
quite able to select the lads who would be likely to
benefit from the higher training at a university or
technical college. A greater difficulty than the selec-
tion of lads for scholarships would be to see that the
money spent yielded the proper results.

There are failures in every profession, and mining is
no exception to the rule, so that some who might be
awarded scholarships might not exhibit the qualities
of which they had given promise in the evening classes.
Great care and close enquiry would require to be made
as to the progress a holder of a scholarship was making,
and if at the end of the first or second session he
should be unable to proceed further with advantage,
then the scholarship should cease, and the holder made
to return to his daily work, and evening classes if he
wished.

Work at the r^ine During the Term of the Scholarship.

During the three or four years that the higher train-
ing lasts, the six months’ work per year at the mines
is most essential. It should be work, too, of as varied
a character as possible, according to the age of the
student. For the first year he might be engaged at
oncost work, say, as a roadsman or a repairer; the

second year he might be put to work on pumps, shafts,
coal cutters, and any other special work that may be
in progress; the third year might be devoted to his
assisting an under-manager or manager, in order to
obtain an insight into the routine work of manage-
ment, to bring him into more direct contact with as
large a number of the workmen as possible, and also
to obtain a general idea of costs, and how they are
recorded. If he is to attend college a fourth session,
then his last period of six months might be spent half
in the mining engineering or surveyors’ departments,
and half in the electrical or mechanical engineering
shops. When a holder of a scholarship is employed by
a company having a number of collieries, it would be
of the utmost advantage if he could be enabled to be
employed at a different colliery each year, so as to give
him as wide an experience as possible.

The above is only a mere outline of the course to be
pursued, the details of which would require to be filled
in to fit each individual case.

Method of Providing Scholarships.

There are several ways in which the money for such
scholarships may be provided, such as by (1) the
Education Department; (2) the county councils; and
(3) the colliery owners either in a private or in a
collective capacity. With regard to the first body,
the writer does not think that it is the policy of the
Education Department either in Scotland or in
England to institute scholarships, but the Department
is quite willing, he believes, to give reasonable assist-
ance in the payment of such scholarships when a proper
scheme has been instituted. The county councils in
the mining districts are the proper authorities to look
to for the provision of scholarships; but hitherto they
have done very little in this direction. So far as the
writer is aware, with one exception, none of the county
councils in Scotland has instituted any definite scheme
for the provision of mining scholarships. The County
Council of Ayrshire gives two scholarships each year, to
enable mining students in the county to take the day
classes at Glasgow Royal Technical College. The
scholarships are of the value of £50 per annum, and
are tenable for three years, so that at the end of the
third year there may be six scholarships held by
students. If the other county councils in the mining
areas were to give scholarships in the ratio to the coal
production in their districts, taking Ayrshire as the
unit, then the needs for the higher training would be
greatly helped.

The objection might be advanced that the various
county councils could not raise sufficient money to pro-
vide these scholarships; but if carefully and properly
administered the burden may not be so great as it
appears. It would at least be worth while to make a
trial with a limited number of scholarships to begin
with. Coming now to the third method of raising the
money, namely, by the colliery owners either in their
private or collective capacity: to the private owner
with sufficient money to spare there can be no invest-
ment that would give him greater satisfaction and
pleasure than the provision of £1,000 for a scholarship
of, say, £45 to £50 per year, which would help some
lad of ability to receive a higher training, and enable
him to ascend the ladder of promotion. But more
could be done by the colliery owners in a collective
capacity either by giving a lump sum to be invested,
the income from which would provide scholarships for
mining students, or by agreeing to a voluntary assess-
ment being levied on their output to provide the neces-
sary money. A very small assessment would meet the
requirements. Taking the year 1913, the total output
in Scotland was between 47 and 48 million tons, and
an assessment of 0-01d. per ton on that output would
yield approximately £2,700 per annum, and this sum
would allow of scholarships being awarded to suitable
men. The colliery owners in South Wales have
assessed themselves within recent years to build, equip,
and pay for all the expenditure necessary to carry on
a mining college, and also, the writer believes, to aid
suitable men to attend the classes. There is no reason
why the mineral landlords should not be asked to pro-
vide a portion of the money for the provision of such
scholarships, for they benefit very largely from the coal
trade, and it would be to their interests to have men
equipped in such a way that the maximum quantity of
mineral is taken out of each leasehold.

There is another body which the writer does not hesi-
tate to say should assist in the provision of these
scholarships, namely, the large and wealthy miners’
unions. A large proportion of the colliery managers
have risen from the ranks of working miners, and are
the sons of miners, who no doubt are members of the
unions and contribute to their funds. There is, there-
fore, every reason why the unions should devote some
of their income to this purpose, as it would be men of
their own class that they would be benefiting. The
money thus given would be at least as well spent as on
many of the other uses to which the union funds are
put. It is pleasant to recall that at least one miners’
leader recognised the advantages of higher education.
The late Alexander Macdonald, M.P., the well-known
leader, left by his will sufficient money to invest to
yield an annual sum of £20 per annum, which is avail-
able as a bursary for miners or the sons of miners who
desire to attend Glasgow University. The writer, for
one, holds the memory of Mr. Macdonald in grateful
remembrance, as it enabled him to receive an advan-
tage which he never otherwise could have obtained.

Objections to Scholarships.

The writer is quite well aware that there are certain
objections which can be raised to the proposals that
he has outlined. Probably the first objection will be
that the present facilities are quite ample for the
needs of every ambitious lad who desires to become an
efficient colliery manager. But are the existing facili-
ties sufficient to produce the very best type of
manager ? and it is nothing but the very best and most
efficiently equipped that is wanted. The writer unhesi-
tatingly affirms that the present local facilities are
not sufficient nor capable of giving the higher train-

ing which is here outlined, nor even are they capable
of giving the ordinary training now necessary. That
the training is insufficient is, he thinks, demonstrated
by the small percentage of passes at the colliery
managers’ examinations since tlie standard was raised.
This would be at least a fair inference to draw from
the results of the examinations. This lack of proper
training is no fault of the teachers, but largely the
fault of the system; for it is almost impossible for a
teacher to give the necessary training to students who
may only be able to attend for one or two nights per
week. Moreover, with the exception of a very few of
the larger schools, none of them are properly equipped
to give the necessary training in mining.

Another criticism which might be made is that, in
order to obtain the most efficient manager, he must
spend the whole of his time in the pit, so as to be
continually amongst and in contact with the class of
men which he will have to handle when he begins to
manage a mine. The proper handling of men is doubt-
less a most important part of successful management,
and it is necessary to have some training in it. Impor-
tant as this is, the writer thinks that too much stress
is laid on this so-called handling of men, and he is not
sure that being continuously employed beside or in
contact with the same set or type of men is the best
training for the handling of them. A lad of natural
ability may be employed in an isolated mining dis-
trict, and having to continually work and play with
the same set, this must of necessity give him a narrow
outlook on life. It will not make a man less fitted to
handle men if he spends three or four sessions at a
university or technical college. It would pay not only
to provide scholarships, but also to allow the holders
sufficient money to join the various societies to be
found at colleges and to take all the advantages of
social intercourse presented, in order to get into touch
with as many types of men as possible, and thus gain
a wider outlook and an insight into human nature.

There is nothing like coming into contact with
students at a college for knocking the conceit out of a
man, rubbing the sharp angles off his character, and,
in a homely phrase, sharpening his wits. A man going
through this experience, if he is made of the right
stuff, will be much better able to handle men properly
when the opportunity comes for him to do so.

A further criticism may be made that this higher
training may be all very well for the men who are to
occupy the higher positions in mining, such as general
managers or agents, but it is not necessary for the ordi-
nary colliery manager. But who is to know at this
early stage of a man’s life whether he has all the neces-
sary qualifications to become a general manager or an
agent, a handler of managers ? If the training is
necessary for anyone, it is essential for the manager
who has the daily responsibility on his head of working
the colliery efficiently, economically, and safely.

Finally, the remark has been made that there are
plenty of men with certificates who have never been
or are never likely to be managers, as they are not
fitted for the post; otherwise they would have already
obtained such a position. There are two answers to
that argument. The first is that hitherto there have
been more certificates than places, and the second is
that if these men do possess a certificate and are not
fitted to hold a manager’s position, then it only proves
what the writer has set out to show—that a higher
training for colliery managers is necessary and ought
to be provided, so that there would be as few of these
“ stickit ” managers as possible in future.

National Federation of Colliery Under-Managers.—A
National Federation of Colliery Under-Managers of Great
Britain has been formed at a meeting of delegates in Man-
chester representing over 1,000 members of colliery under-
managers’ associations, and the newly-constituted body has
decided to make application to Mr. Guy Calthrop, the Con-
troller of Coal Mines, for representation on the advisory
committees about to be set up, on the ground that the
experience of under-managers must prove a valuable asset
to the advisory committees, and tend to the highest effici-
ency being obtained in the working of the committees.

Prices of Sulphate of Ammonia.—The Food Production
Department has arranged that sulphate of ammonia shah
be sold during the next 12 months at not more than the
under-mentioned prices, for 24-L per cent, quality in makers’
single bags delivered to consumers’ station in any part of
the United Kingdom, in quantities of not less than two
tons on net cash terms. For orders placed for delivery
from (a) June 1, 1917, till September 30, 1917, at
£15 7s. 6d. per ton; (b) October 1, 1917, till December 31,

1917,	at £15 15s. per ton; (c) January 1, 1918, till May 1,

1918,	at £15 7s. 6d. per ion. The prices to purchasers who
take delivery at the makers’ works for conveyance other-
wise than by rail is to be 10s. per ton less than the prices
quoted above. The low price for the summer months has
been fixed with a view to encouraging the early purchase
and storage of sulphate of ammonia by merchants and
users.

North of England M ini ng Institute.—The proceedings at
last Saturday’s meeting of the North of England Institute
of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, held in the Wood
Memorial Flail, Newcastle, were only formal. Mr. F.
Coulson presided, supported by Prof. Henry Louis. The
only other member present was Mr. A. Cordner, the assis-
tant secretary. Members had been notified that the busi-
ness would be purely routine, there being no new papers to
read or discuss. The following gentlemen were admitted
into the institute:—Members: Mr. J. H. Allison, colliery
manager, Littleburn Colliery, near Durham City; Mr. A.
Lennox, mechanical engineer, 13, Park-view, Wallsend-on-
Tyne; Mr. E. W. Milburn, colliery manager, 3, Haven-
view, Newbiggin-by-the Sea, Northumberland; Mr. H. P.
Orr, mining and mechanical engineer, Real del Monte
Mining Company, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico; Mr. Hooper
Rutherford, colliery manager, Llanerch, Rhymney, Cardiff ;
and Mr. W. Hall Welch, colliery manager, Talbot House,
Birtley, co. Durham. Associate member: Mr. Robt.
Bleloch, c/o Royal Colonial Institute, Northumberland-
avenue, London, W.C. 2. Associates: Mr. FI. Sheel, mine
surveyor, 11, St. Cuthbert’s-terrace, Dean Bank, Ferry
Hill; and Mr. J. W. Wile, colliery under-manager, Rising
Sun Colliery, Wallsend. No other business was transacted.