May 10, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

949

FOR SALE.

One Cole, Marchent & Morley Cross-
COMPOUND VERTICAL CORLISS STEAM ENGINE and
engine type Westinghouse d.c. GENERATOR, complete with Condenser,
Air Pumps, Grease Extractor, Steam and Exhaust Pipes, and, if required,
electric cables, switches, circuit breaker and rheostat. Capacity 1,000 kilo-
watts at 85 r.p.m., with steam at 160/180 lb. pressure; generator shunt and
compound wound 460/550 volts. In excellent condition. Can be seen
running, and prospective purchasers can jvitness steam consumption tests.
The engine can be used for rope-driving by removing the generator armature
and substituting a rope pulley. Apply—

ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT, Town Hall, Bradford.

Wanted, immediately, Air Compressor,
with engine; capacity 500/1,000 cubic feet free air per minute.—
Box 7056, Colliery Guardian Office, 30 & 31, Furnival-street, Holborn,
London, E.C. 4.

Wanted, powerful Briquetting Machine
of the very heaviest class, capable of exerting a total pressure of
not less than 200 tons. State price, and where can be inspected.—Address,
‘MACHINE,” WM. PORTEOUS & CO., Advertising Agents, Glasgow.
For Sale, good Second-hand Colliery
SCREEN, 16 ft. by 6£ ft., 45 bars, 2J in. by | in. by 1 in., 10 ft. long,
1 in. apart. Also 2 BOILER TUBES, 30 ft. long, 2 ft. 3 in. dia., I in. plates;
free of Galloways ; lapwelded.

THOS. JENKINS & SON, Briton Ferry, Glam.

Wanted, pair 18 in. Engines, with or

without 2 drums.

SET, 350-kw. a.c., 550 v., 3-phase, 50 periods.

„ ’ 100-kw. a.c., 100 steam 550, 3-phase, 50 periods, or d.c. 100-kw.
WYNNE JONES, North Dock, Swansea.

TT'or immediate Sale and Delivery, two
_1J 15-ton SELF-PROPELLING STEAM DERRICK CRANES; in first-
class condition.

JOSEPH PUGSLEY &, SONS LTD., Lawrence-hill, Bristol.

J. W. BAIRD AND COMPANY,

PITWOOD IMPORTERS,

WEST HARTLEPOOL.

YEARLY CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO WITH COLLIERIES.

OSBECK & COMPANY LIMITED,
PIT-TIMBER MERCHANTS,
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.

SUPPLY ALL KINDS OF COLLIERY TIMBER.

Telegrams—“ Osbecks, Newcastle-on-Tyne.”

*** For other Miscellaneous Advertisements see Last
White Page.

AND

Journal of the Coal and Iron Trades.

Joint Editors—

J. V. ELSDEN, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.G.S.

HUBERT GREENWELL, F.S.S., Assoc.M.I.M.E.

{At present on Active Service}.

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1918.

The London coal market continues exceedingly
busy, but supplies have been unusually short. Steam
coals are difficult to obtain. Gras coke is plentiful.

The market on the Tyne and Wear is firm, and a
growing scarcity of supplies is reported. Durham
coals are in good demand. The outlook for household
coal appears to be unsatisfactory in Lancashire, and
the diversion of such fuel to manufacturing purposes
has given rise to uneasiness in Yorkshire. Gas fuel
and slack are included in the keen demand.
“Free” coals are almost unobtainable in Cardiff,
owing to the Admiralty requisitions, and colliery
salesmen are so well stemmed that they are not
accepting fresh orders for loading this week. The
demand in Scotland is maintained, but the output
has declined.

Anthracite is still quiet, and all sorts are obtain-
able in Swansea and Llanelly for prompt shipment.
Anthracite large is freely offered.

Freight fixtures are few. The business on the
north-east coast is for Scandinavia; in South Wales
it is for French Atlantic ports. Ardrossan and
Glasgow to Barcelona has been fixed at 440s.

The possible continuance of the Coal Conciliation
Board will be discussed at a conference next month.
One of the proposals to be put forward on behalf of
the men is “that the existing war bonus of 18 per
cent., calculated upon present rates, be merged into
present wages, and be a basis of future agreement.”
It is also proposed that “there shall be no maximum
in aiiy future agreement.”

A scheme relating to the allocation of labour
through bureaux in the coal fields will be submitted
to a conference of the Miners’ Federation of Great
Britain.

A new calling-up notice applies to all colliery
employees (only the clerical staff excepted) between
the ages of 18 years and 8 months and 32 years. It
is not proposed at present to call up for service or
even for medical examination men of the new military
age who are registered as being engaged, or were
engaged on April 18, 1918, in coal mining or port
transport.

At the meeting of the ’Loyal Statistical Society,
9, Adelphi Terrace, Strand, London, on May 14,
Dr. J. C. Stamp will read a paper on “ The Effect of
Trade Fluctuations upon Profits.”

Papers on “ Instantaneous Outburst of Coal and
Gas at Bedford Collieries,* Leigh,” by Mr. F. N.
Siddall, and “Stone Dusting in Mines,” by Mr. A.
Kushton, will be read at a meeting of the Man-
chester Geological and Mining Society, 5, John
Dalton-street, on May 14, commencing at 4 p.m.

The Report of Lord Balfour of
The Coal Burleigh’s Committee, to which
Trade after attention was drawn last week,
the War, incorporates certain reports of Depart-
mental Committees appointed by the
Board of Trade, amongst which is one on the coal
trade, in which certain important considerations are
raised in regard to the future of the export trade.

It is pointed out that our coal exports in 1913
(excluding coke and manufactured fuel) amounted
to 73’4 million tons, representing fully three-quarters
of the total weight of our exports of all kinds;
while the quantities of coal, coke and manufactured
fuel shipped abroad in the same year amounted to
about one-fourth of the total output of the United
Kingdom ; and if we include bunker coal shipped in
foreign-going vessels this proportion rises to about
one-third. In regard to value, these coal shipments
represented nearly £54,000,000, or about one-tenth
of the value of our whole export trade. It is clear
that a volume of business of this magnitude must be
regarded as an essential and even a vital component
of our foreign trade. It was also a branch of
British trade which had maintained an unchallenged
supremacy.

The war has disturbed this trade in almost every
direction. At the moment we have lost touch with
important distant markets such as South America,
while even in Europe trade has been considerably
curtailed. Sweden and Denmark have been
driven largely to the use of German coal. In the
former case there is reason to believe that it will not
be an easy matter to recover our former position, since
there are indications that Germany is aiming at laying
the foundation of a permanent predominance in that
country. That, however, is a matter which the future
alone can decide. In the case of Denmark the future
position of German coal is less secure, and the
recovery of that market should be less difficult. The
intervention of America in the coal market of Europe
has been less marked than was anticipated, although
Italy has received substantial quantities from that
source. The penetration of United States coal into
South America, also, has been relatively inconsider-
able. The truth may be that the United States
have found that the tonnage scarcity and the diver-
sion of energy into other channels, owing to intense
preparation for the war, have combined to place
difficulties in the way of pushing the coal export
trade into new channels.

The position being what it is, the Board of Trade
Committee recommend that our policy after the war
should be not only to restore our former markets but
also to extend them if that is feasible. With this
object in view they suggest that as soon as possible
after the termination of the war all existing restric-
tions upon the export of coal should be swept away.
This would obviously be the first step towards a
resumption of the normal course of trade.

The position of German coal after the war,
however, is not so clear. Possibly that country will
be anxious not only to maintain, but also to increase
her coal exports, if only as a means of strengthening
the rate of exchange in foreign countries. Coal
for this purpose serves as well as gold, and it might
be possible, by a large increase in coal exports, to
recover far more quickly than in any other way from
the financial condition to which the war will have
reduced her. Before the war Germany imported
coal from the United Kingdom, the amount in 1913
being more than nine million tons. What should be
our attitude after peace is restored ? The Committee
have come to the conclusion that it would not be
desirable to refuse British coal to Germany, the
alleged reason being that it would be unfair towards
certain exporting districts which in the past have relied
upon that market. Neither do they think that it
would be practicable for certain of our Allies—such,
for example, as France and Belgium—to become
independent of German coal. We must confess to a
want of appreciation of the force of these arguments.
Whether it would be politic to leave Germany’s
coal trade severely alone, both on our own
behalf and that of our Allies, is a question which
can scarcely be determined until we know what kind
of peace will be established. But that British
exporters would suffer from the transfer • of
Germany’s pre-war imports to our Allies is difficult
to imagine. As regards foreign coaling stations, the
position is equally obscure. Under certain circum-
stances, it would be impossible to refuse the distribu-
tion of bunkering coal to foreign ships, but it would
certainly be advisable to keep the business in our
own hands as far as possible. It is not necessary to
permit the resumption of the practice, which was
springing up before the war, of bunkering foreign
ships with British coal through German firms.

Obviously, the main thing to look forward to after
the war will be the stimulation of production. The
first year or two of peace should show output records.
There will be little need to worry about the disposal
of the coal if only it is available. There should be a
rapid restoration of labour to the pits, and steps
should be taken by every possible means to remove
all restrictions affecting output. The Board of Trade
Committee also urges the importance of complete
co-operation between employers and workmen, and
likewise between coal owners, exporters and shippers.
There is also a demand for better loading facilities at
British ports, and it is suggested that an amend-

ment of the law relating to surface support would
be desirable. There should, moreover, be created a
statutory tribunal to enforce the granting of way-
leaves unreasonably withheld, and to facilitate the
erection of coke ovens and chemical works on lands
adjoining collieries. In the midst of these construc-
tive recommendations, however, a note has been added
to the report of Lord Balfour of Burleigh’s Com-
mittee by Mr. G. Scoby Smith upon the conservation
of coking coal. Mr. Smith strongly deprecates the
unrestricted export of our best coking coals. He
foresees a demand for an increased output of iron
and steel in Great Britain by about 50 per cent., and
he is concerned respecting the supply of coke to the
iron furnaces. He maintains that licences for the
export of coking coal of known quality should only
be granted after provision has been made for home
requirements. It would, of course, be a lamentable
thing if our blast furnaces could not be kept going
for want of fuel which was finding its way abroad;
and possibly enemy countries might endeavour
to achieve that very object by offering high c.i.f.
prices for the best Durham coking coals.

The general question of coal exports after the war
is also raised in the interim report on the treatment
of exports, etc., during the transitional period after
the war (Cd. 9034). It is there held that as it may take
some 12 months from the end of the war before the
output of 1913 can be generally reached, it may be
necessary to regulate the export of coal in order to
meet the requirements of ourselves and our Allies.
The opinion is also definitely expressed that compen-
satory outlets should be sought m France, Italy and
Belgium for a large portion of the coal formerly
exported to Germany, which view seems to be in
direct opposition to those expressed in the final
report, as referred to above.

As the Committee stage of the
Th© Education Bill advances interest
Education Bill increases in respect to the fate of
in Clause 10, which has aroused genuine
Committee, alarm throughout the staple indus-
tries of the country. We have
recently expressed in these columns the views of
colliery managers with reference to the effect of the
compulsory continuation classes upon the productive
efficiency of the pits*; but we are induced to return
to this subject in order to call attention to a resolu-
tion passed yesterday at the very influential gathering
held at the Savoy Hotel, London, under the auspices
of the Mining Association of Great Britain. This
meeting was by no means confined to the mining
interests, but included representatives of the textile
industries and of the numerous manufacturing firms
included in the Federation of British Industries. The
weight of authority which was thus brought together
is such that no responsible Minister of the Crown
could justly ignore its conclusions. More particularly
does this resolution merit attention inasmuch as the
whole meeting was in absolute agreement with the
spirit of Mr. Fisher’s Bill, and was unanimous in
support of the general principles which it is sought
to establish. Let us, therefore, at once dismiss any
notion that our captains of industry, of which this
meeting was mainly composed, are out of sympathy
with the great cause which the Minister of Education
has at heart.

But probably Mr. Fisher will be the first to
recognise that what may be termed the scholastic
view of education is not the only aspect of this
question. It is quite possible for an educational
visionary to place book learning in the very forefront
of the essentials of an ideal existence, and to ignore
the fact that hum ah nature craves also for such
bodily things as food and clothing. It is necessary,
in fact, to lay down the principle that mankind in
general has to attend to .vocational interests as well
as scholastic learning. These are not always in
harmony, and the reason is that the scholastic view
of education is often too narrow. There are those
who do not admit the existence of any moral grounds
for training our youth to become indifferent citizens.
That is certainly not Mr. Fisher’s intention, and we
hope that he will very carefully consider the state-,
ment issued recently by the Federation of British
Industries, drawing attention to the view that full
time secondary education to those children who can
profit by it is better than a general part-time
education for all.

The Mining Association of Great Britain, sup-
ported by the other great industries of the country,
as above noted, asks merely for a postponement of
the continuation class project until the country has
returned to its normal peace condition. This appeal
is made on the strongest possible ground—viz., that
of national interest. There can be no possibility
of escaping from the fact that the retention of
Clause 10 in the English Bill and Clause 17 in that
of Scotland would gravely prejudice the productive
capacity of the country. What it would mean to the
coal industry, the cotton-spinning industry and the
textile factories, to say nothing of the great engi-
neering trades, has possibly not yet been fully
appreciated by the Minister of Education. To with-
draw 25 per cent, of the labour of our mines and
factories from their daily work for one-third of the
week could scarcely fail to have a disastrous effect

*See Colliery Guardian, April 19, 1918, p. 801.