February 22, 1918. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN 383 Prices and Wages. The results of recent ascertainments of the selling prices of coal and iron districts are given below :— Prices according to last audit. Inc. ( + ) or dec. (—) of last audit on Product and ' p • d Avei \ r~ rage ing Previous ce audit, ton. \ A year ago. dlstrict- coveredby sel1 last audit. Coal* 1917. P s. d. s. d. s. d. Durham Oct.-Dec. ... 18 2 ...+ 2 If... 4- 2 4t Northumberland.. Sept.-Nov.... 17 Pig Iron. 1 ...+ 1 3i... - 0 61 Cleveland Oct.-Dec. ... 97 Manufactured Iron. 9!. • • + 1 lit... + 8 9 North of England! Nov.-Dec....274 5f...- 0 10i.'.. + 8 10| Midlands! Nov.-Dec....310 0I...+ 2 10 ... + 16 4i West of Scotland § Nov.-Dec....293 1|... 4- 2 5|... * Average of all classes of coal at pit’s mouth. + 14 4i t Bails, plates, bars and angles. jBars, angles, tees, sheets, plates, hoops, strips, &c. § Rounds, squares, flats, tees, angles, and rods. No changes in miners’ wages were made in connection with the ascertainment of the average selling price of Durham and Northumberland coal for the above periods. The ascertained selling price of Cleveland pig iron for the quarter ended December 1917 gave an increase of per cent, in the wages of blastfurnace men under the sliding scale, but the application of this increase was suspended pending a settlement of questions arising with regard to the bonus of 12J per cent, and further advances in wages in connection with the grant of subsidies to meet the extra cost of coal and coke. Tin-plate.—The number of tin-plate mills working at the end of January showed a decrease of 19 compared with the previous month, and of 34 on a year ago. Some of the works were closed down owing to the interruption of the supply of steel bars due to the dispute affecting bricklayers at steel works. The number of mills making steel and galvanised sheets working at the end of January showed a decrease of 5* compared with both a month ago and a year ago. Many of the mills worked short time owing to the shortage of supplies of steel bars. Tubes.—Employment was very good at Birmingham, and good at Wednesbury and in South Wales and Monmouthshire. Wire.—Employment continued good. Shortages of material and labour were reported. Disputes.—In January four new disputes occurred in the coal mining industry. These directly and indirectly affected 6,908 workpeople. At Burnley, a two days stoppage occurred owing to the alleged unequal distribu- tion of food, and a 10 days’ stoppage near Newport related to the unloading of rubbish. At Chesterfield, after a dispute lasting 11 days, a bonus of 12J per cent, was granted to men on time work at blastfurnaces, coke ovens, foundries, etc. Northamptonshire ironstone miners and quarrymen were granted an additional war bonus of Is. per shift to men 18 years and over, and 6d. to boys under 18. For men employed at shift work at blastfurnaces in Great Britain the rate of pay was increased to time and a-qnarter for all men working on 12 hour or 8 hour shifts in respect of shifts between 6 p.m. (for 12 hour shifts) or 2 p.m. (for 8 hour shifts) on Saturdays, and 6 a.m. on Monday. North Stafford- shire blastfurnace men received an increase of 15 per cent, under sliding scale, and South Wales and Mon- mouthshire blastfurnacemen an increase of 1J per cent, under the sliding scale. Accidents.—At mines of all kinds 256 underground workers and 9 surface workers (total, 265) were killed, an increase of 146 on January 1917. PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—February 14. Arigna Coal Mines. Mr. Scanlan asked for information regarding the pro- posed development of the Arigna coal mines. Mr.. Duke replied that provisional sanction had been given for the construction of a short line of light railway which would connect the Arigna mines with the Cavan and Leitrim Railway. There was at present a difficulty in obtaining rails, and he would like to know of any con- tractor who could carry out the work. He saw no possi- bility during the war of a railway from Arigna to Collooney February 18. Output of Mines. Mr. Wardle, in answer to Mr. D. White, stated that the net output of mines and quarries, as mentioned in the final report of the Census of Production (1907), was obtained by deducting the cost of materials, also royalties, from the value of the gross output. Information for any later year was not available. French Miners’ Wages.—In response to an appeal from the workers, the Ministry of Labour has intervened with a proposed scale of bonuses as follows : 1*25 fr. to 1-50 fr. for male and female workers over 16 years of age; 0-75 fr. to 1 fr. for same under 16. This bonus is additional to the sums accorded in May, June, and July of last year, which are to be paid as usual. The allowance of 3 fr. per month for each child is to be continued. A meeting of colliery owners and miners’ delegates, held at St. Etienne on January 31, in the presence of the Prefect of the Loire, has agreed that the miners shall receive : (1) An increase of 1*50 fr. per ordinary day (eight hours under and 10 hours above ground); and (2) a bonus of 1*50 fr. per ordinary day, and also on every full day of overtime, calculated fortnightly. The wages of women are to be raised 1 fr., and a bonus of 1-50 fr. granted. For children under 18 years of age the rise in wages shall be 1 fr., with a bonus of 1 fr. The bounty accorded to fathers of families shall be fixed at 30c. per ordinary working day for each child under 13 years. The miner-delegates shall receive the same benefits as the underground workers, in accordance with the Act of 1890. MINNIE PIT EXPLOSION. REPORT ON RESCUE APPARATUS. At Kidsgrove (Staffordshire), on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Hugh W. Adams (coroner) resumed the inquest relative to the death of Hugh Doorbar (aged 36), of Rookery, Kidsgrove, who was the captain of Birchen- wood Colliery No. 1 rescue team, and who lost his life on January 14 in the course of rescue operations following the explosion on January 12 at the Minnie Pit of the Podmore Hall Colliery, Halmerend, belong- ing to the Midland Coal, Coke and Iron Company Limited. The Coroner explained that supplementary to the inquest would be the Home Office enquiry conducted by Mr. W. Walker, Deputy-Chief Inspector of Mines. The apparatus used by the deceased man had been examined by Dr. Henry Briggs, of the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, Director of the Government Research on Mine Rescue Apparatus; and Mr. Walker had forwarded to him a copy of Dr. Briggs’ report. At the Home Office enquiry Dr. Briggs would be called as a witness. The evidence was that at 4.15 a.m. on January 14 the Birchenwood Colliery (Kidsgrove) No. 1 rescue team, consisting of six men, Doorbar being the captain, descended the Minnie Pit, and proceeded to the Seven- feet Banbury district in fresh air. In Lockett’s Dip they noticed the air was 11 slightly affecting” them. They therefore coupled up their apparatus, which appeared to be in order. Advancing slowly, they went to the bottom of Bateman’s Dip, about 30 yds. away. Trying the atmosphere with the safety lamp, they found it burned dimly. They moved forward, and the lamp went out. Proceeding into a narrow heading leading into the return airway, they found the air was “churning.” A few yards further on they tried the atmosphere with some dust, and found it practi- cally stagnant. Deceased asked, “ Are you all right?” and the other members of the team replied in the affirmative. They had advanced six or seven strides, when, in the words of James Thomas Machin, the team leader, “We heard a report as if a detonator had exploded.” Deceased at once shouted, “ Oh, my apparatus !” His comrades went to him, and found him fighting for breath. They rendered all assist- ance they could, but in his struggles the deceased knocked off the nose-clip of one of his companions three times, the nose-clip of another twice, and the nose-clip of another once. Deceased also twice knocked off his own nose-clip. His comrades, having sent for assist- ance, secured him, and proceeded to carry him out, until two of them became exhausted, and had to be assisted to fresh air. Prior to this, Doorbar had com- pletely collapsed, and when his comrades were com- pelled to leave him, he was quite dead. They recovered the body the same evening. The witness Machin, in reply to questions, said the greatest failing in the apparatus was the nose-clip, which was easily knocked off. Dr. W. Megaw, of Audley, said death was due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The Coroner read Dr. Briggs’ report on the apparatus, as follows: — Dr. Briggs’ Report on Apparatus. Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, January 25, 1918. Report to the Acting Chief Inspector of Mines, Home Office, London, on the Proto apparatus worn by the late Hugh Doorbar, at Podmore Hall Colliery. Sir,—I beg to submit the following account of tests made with the Proto apparatus which was received from Mr. G. H. Greatbatch on the 21st inst. :— The apparatus was complete, except for the charge of caustic soda, which had been removed from the bag. I am informed that the charge consisted of 4 lb. of caustic sticks. Having regard to the short time the apparatus was in use, this weight of absorbent completely precludes the possi- bility of carbon dioxide having anything to do with the fatality. The absence of the caustic was, therefore, a matter of no importance. Owing to the oxygen having all escaped from the cylinders before Doorbar’s body was recovered, I have no direct evidence as to its purity. Mr. Greatbatch had the cylinders re-charged to a pressure of 1,0001b. per sq. in. after he took the apparatus off the man, and of this charge, about half remained in the cylinders when the apparatus was received by me. Analyses of two separate samples of the oxygen gave, respectively, 98-38 and 98-32 per cent., which are satisfactory figures. There is thus nothing to indicate that impure oxygen was being used at the rescue station. The first defect noticed in the apparatus was the faulty operation of the main oxygen valve. It was impossible to close it completely. Even when tightened by means of a tool, the valve passed 2 litres (122 cu. in.) of oxygen per hour at 40 atmospheres pressure, and with higher pressures the wastage was, naturally, considerably more. It was only by using a wrench or other tool that the valve could be made even comparatively tight, and the degree of force required in manipulating it may be judged from the fact that, towards the end of my tests, the spindle sheared across under the strain. When merely screwed up by the hand, unassisted by a tool, the valve discharged noiselessly but quite rapidly. If Doorbar was able to turn the wheel by hand—and that is a matter which, no doubt, will be cleared up at the inquest—the valve cannot have been shut, and oxygen must have been escaping through it since the cylinder was charged. Mr. Greatbatch states that the pressure on the cylinders when the man left the rescue station was 2,000 lb., but it would seem very questionable if that pressure existed when the apparatus was put into use. The results of the tests on the reducing valve, which are set forth below, indicate the importance of ascertaining whether Doorbar’s pressure gauge was read before he started inbye from the fresh air base, and, if so, what the reading was. The apparatus was tested for leakage by immersing it in water. Oxygen was found to leak from under the gland cap of the main valve, when the valve was open, to the extent of 0-42 litre (25-6 cu. in.) per minute. At all other points the apparatus was perfectly tight. This leak was due to the gland cap being slack. It may have been acci- dentally loosened subsequent to Doorbar’s collapse. In any case, the leakage at the gland cannot have been a con- tributory cause of the death. The reducing valve was very carefully tested and examined. It was found to be out of adjustment, and to act imperfectly. When the pressure in the cylinder was 120 atmospheres it supplied 1-56 litres (95-2 cu. in.) of oxygen per minute; but the rate of flow was not constant. It fell as the pressure fell, until at 35 atmospheres only 1-17 litres (71-4 cu. in.) per minute were delivered. The Proto apparatus, while in use, is intended to receive a constant oxygen supply of 2 litres (122 cu. in.) per minute. Any appreciable reduction on that standard supply involves the risk of the wearer suddenly collapsing from shortage of oxygen when walking or doing physical work. An oxygen feed of 1-56 litres per minute is inade- quate for a man of average weight, carrying an additional 35 lb. of apparatus, and attempting moderately heavy work; while an apparatus put into pse underground, and supplied with only 1-17 litres per minute, is in a high degree dangerous. Mr. J. Cooper, one of my assistants, a man weighing 165 lb., put on Doorbar’s apparatus, and walked with it round a smooth concreted court at about four miles per hour* Excepting that a charge of caustic soda was placed in the bag, the apparatus was just as received. The bag was first inflated by taking a breath through the nose and respiring into the apparatus—this, I am informed, being the practice in the district. The oxygen proportion in the air drawn into the lungs from the apparatus was ascer- tained by analysis. At first, before the respiratory centre fully responded to the exertion, the percentage rose well above that of fresh air (20-9 per cent.); but it soon began rapidly to sink, and at the end of only five minutes had fallen to 16-6 per cent. Had Mr. Cooper been allowed to continue, he would have begun to reel in his walk, and then have dropped unconscious from shortage of oxygen in two or three minutes more. Blowing air into a rescue apparatus in starting to use it, though a common practice, is one very much to be depre- cated. It introduces a volume of nitrogen which remains in the apparatus, which reduces the oxygen percentage in the inhaled air, and which, in the case (like the present) of an inadequate oxygen feed, prevents the bag from being emptied by the lungs, and thus of giving warning that the by-pass should be used to make up the deficiency. Instead of blowing nitrogen in, endeavour should be made, at the start, to clear that gas from the apparatus and lungs by swilling them out with oxygen. A Proto reducing valve in good order is capable of being adjusted to give any supply between 1 and 3 litres per minute. The reducing valve on Doorbar’s apparatus, however, would only give 1-75 litres with the adjusting screw fully screwed down. Thus, it became evident that the valve spring was too weak. It was strengthened by placing washers above it, and then the valve operated normally and efficiently, discharging a constant volume per minute at any cylinder pressure between 15 and 120 atmo- spheres. There was no fault or burst in the apparatus to suggest a reason for the noise alleged to have been heard by one man at the time of Doorbar’s collapse. Conclusions. The tests made with the apparatus lead one to the following conclusions:— (1) With the apparatus as received, inflated at the start with ordinary air, the wearer would run the gravest risk of sooner or later falling unconscious from oxygen want. If this were to occur in afterdamp, and if, in falling, the wearer should knock off his nose-clip, he would soon die from carbon monoxide poisoning. (2) The deficiency of the oxygen feed was due to the imperfect action of the reducing valve. The reducing valve was well designed, and in all respects suitable, but it was not rightly adjusted. (3) The rapidity of collapse was probably due to the combined influence of the faulty reducing valve and the leaky main valve of the oxygen cylinder. The latter allowed oxygen to escape, and, therefore, let down the pressure, and the former gave a smaller and smaller feed as the pressure sank. The main valve was,, as a .matter of fact, of a type not well adapted to dealing with gas under high pressure—a defect which the makers are now remedying by substituting a valve of more satisfactory design. The Coroner said he would report to the Deputy- Chief Inspector of Mines the evidence as to the nose- clip. The jury returned a verdict of “ Accidental death from carbon monoxide poisoning.” THE TIN-PLATE TRADE. Liverpool. There has been a big French order in the market for quick delivery, but outside this, business has been quiet. Prices keep firm, makers generally having as much on their books as they care about, and the present maximum price for cokes, now about 31s. 10£d. to 32s. f.o.t. at works net, is being adhered to, concessions only being made on odd parcels. Wasters in 28 x 20 full weights and lights are in demand, and scarce, but other sizes are not moving so well. Waste waste of all sorts are very scarce, and realise big figures. Terne-plates continue slow of sale; figures well below the official maximum are being ^quoted. A notice has been received in the London Coal Exchange to the effect that the Lord Mayor, accompanied by Mrs. Lloyd George, intends visiting the Market on Friday, March 1 (St. David’s Day), in connection with a special appeal for the Welsh Flag Day for providing necessary comforts for the Welsh regiments at the war. The Coal Areas of Canada.—Mr. White, consulting engi- neer of the Canadian Conservation Commission, contri- buted a paper to the Press, in which he urges the develop- ment of Canada’s coal resources, and gives the extent and position of the supplies. Nova Scotia has over 10^ billion tons of bituminous coal, New Brunswick 161 million tons. Ontario has a small quantity of lignite. The Western Pro- vinces have many billion tons of lignite, and Alberta has, in addition to lignite, 845 million tons of semi-anthracite, 218 billion tons of bituminous, and nearly 1,000 billion tons of sub-bituminous. British Columbia has nearly 80 billion tons of bituminous coal. In addition to lignite and sub-bituminous coal, there are reserves in Canada of 313 billion tons of bituminous, and 845,900,000 tons of semi-anthracite coal, although a small part of this, lying in remote and frigid regions, may not be available. The peat bogs of Canada are estimated to produce 28 billion tons, equal in fuel properties to 16 billion tons of good coal.