30

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

July 5, 1918.

Ireland, 4Jd. a week) for a woman. (The rate payable
in Great Britain is reduced by l|d. a week where the
voluntary contributor is not entitled to medical
benefit because his total income from all sources has
been found to exceed £160 a year. It does not, how-
ever, follow that this would necessarily be the case
on the rate of his remuneration being raised to over
£160 a year.)

COAL MINING DEVELOPMENTS
IN SPAIN.

Many colliery companies in the Asturias have taken
advantage of the present era of large profits to pre-
pare their properties for future development; and
in cases where the upper seams have become almost
exhausted in the course of years, means are being
adopted for working the lower measures.

The Saus Mine.—The adit of this mine starts from
the outcrop of the Voz seam, which follows exactly
the direction and inclination of the synclinal axis
formed in the Saus concessions by the middle and lower
beds of the Asturias basin. This synclinal fold of
the seams was the reason for driving the incline in-
stead of putting down a shaft, since the latter would
have entailed driving larger and more costly cross
galleries to reach the seams, because the situation of
the pit itself would have been dictated by the topo-
graphical conditions and the already existing surface
plant.

The adit is cut over a thick bed of sandy rock
forming the wall of the Voz coal. It is 240 metres
long, with a dip of 30 degs., and reaches a vertical
depth of 120 m. The heading is 3 m. wide and
2-7 m. high without the lining, which is of brick
and cement, forming vertical walls 1-20 m. high
and a semi-circular arch of 1-50 m. radius, the
minimum thicknesses being 0-50 m. for the walls and
0-36 m. for the arch. A double haulage track has
been laid with a rail gauge of 0-50 m. and a clearance
of 0*60 m. between the tracks, the rails weighing
20 kilos, per running metre.

The lower end of the inclined plane is continued as
a level gallery forming the pump room, where a centri-
fugal pump is installed, being coupled direct to a
three-phase electric motor of 40 horse-power, which
is run at 430 revolutions per minute.

At a distance of 10 m. from the mouth of the main
gallery is an auxiliary gallery having the same dip,
30 degs., and similarly lined, the section being 2 m.
by 2 m. It is 30 m. long, and reaches a vertical depth
of 15 m.

Communicating with the*auxiliary gallery is a re-
versible fan, at present working as exhaust, driven
by a belt from a three-phase motor, which at 500
revolutions per minute discharges 12 cu. m. of air per
second.

The central electrical station supplying power for
all the machinery of the Saus mines comprises two
* Garbe boilers (each with a heating surface of 60 square
metres) generating steam at 11 atmospheres for a
vertical engine of 150 horse-power, which drives a
three-phase alternator developing 125 kw. at 425 revo-
lutions per minute. This installation, however, is
really a reserve, for the company obtains all the re-
quired current from the. Compania Popular de Gas
y Electricidad de Gijon, which delivers current at
25,000 volts, stepped down to 225 volts.

The Rosellon (Siero) mine is situated in the Roselion
coal beds, which cover about 400 hectares. The cir-
cular shaft, 3| m. in diameter, is lined with concrete
tubbing from local cement and trias conglomerate
from a neighbouring quarry. The thickness of the
tubbing varies from 1J m. in the first 15 m. of the shaft
(in old waste) to 50 cm. in clean rock.

There are three shafts, the main one serving for
ventilation, winding and pumping. There is an
auxiliary ventilation and winding shaft, and a third
serves as upcast air shaft.

The main shaft is circular, 5 m. diameter, and lined
entirely with concrete. The ladder compartment is
separated from that for winding by lattice work, and
accommodates the compressed air and pump pipes as
well as the high tension cable, which carries a 5,000
volts current. The cages are of the single deck type
for two tubs. The large sectional area of the shaft and
its relatively shallow depth render multiple deck cages
unnecessary.

The auxiliary shaft is 3-80 metres inside diameter.
It is tubbed like the other, and is furnished with
the same Briart guides, besides a ladder compart-
ment. The cages here are single deckers, but for
only one tub.

The head frame of the main shaft is of metal, and
is 25 m. high to the axis of the pulleys, so as to allow,
when the volume of work requires, of the installation
of hoppers where the through and through coal may
be stored till conveyed to the washing plant. The
pulleys are 3-5 m. in diameter. The total height of
the head frame is 30 m., and the weight 36 tons.
The head frame and gear, pulleys, cages, guides, etc.,
were all made and installed by the staff of the Duro-
Felguera Company’s workshops.

The Duro-Felguera Company has two plants for
generating electric current, 1,200 v. and 2,500 v. re-
spectively, working in parallel and producing three-
phase current of 5,000 v. 50 periods. The plant and
equipment provide for an extraction of 116 tons of
coal per hour from the two pits.

The 250 horse-power motor of the converter group
is driven by a 5,000 v. current. The starting dynamo
generates a current of 400 v., and the brushes con-
nect direct to the winding motor. A safety brake is
provided.

For ventilation a belt-driven fan (1-15 m. diameter)
is provided, driven by a 75 horse-power motor running
at 725 revolutions per minute. The air intakes are
reversible, so that the ventilation may be reversed
as required. The fan measures 1-15 m. across.

In regard to unwatering, it is impossible to deter-
mine in advance the quantity of water that will have
to be removed. During the sinking of the pits this

did not exceed 50 cu. m. per day, but obviously as
the work proceeds the quantity will increase. The
plans include two Sulzer pumps capable of raising
70 cu. m. of water per hour from the fourth level
to the surface. They are coupled direct to asyn-
chronous motors of 5,000 v. The conductor cable,
insulated in lead, makes contact with the tubbing
every 5 m. by means of a metallic seal, thus obviating
any danger. It is carried down the pit at a distance
of over a pietre from the cages, and is fitted with
lightning conductors and resistances where it reaches
the pumping chamber. The delivery piping of the
pumps is 175 mm. in diameter.

Coming to the auxiliary services, the compressed
aid for underground work is supplied by two Ingersoll-
Rand single-cylinder compressors, each capable of
compressing 9,000 litres of air per minute up to 7 kilo-
grammes per square centimetre. They are belt-driven
by two A.E.G. asynchronous motors of 75 h.p. and
730 revolutions per minute.

In view of the number of the seams, the degree of
development of the mine, and the power of the wind-
ing engines, the production is calculated at 100 tons
per hour.

A further important installation is that of the
Soton pit, which in practically all respects is similar
to that of the Nalona as to depth and diameter of
the two shafts, distribution of levels, disposition of
guides, ladders, etc., all being exactly as already
described. The engine of No. 2 pit is equal in capacity
to that of No. 1, though differently arranged, and
is run at the same speed. It is a Siemens-Schuckert
motor with drums 2-50 m. diameter, giving a winding
speed of 8 m. per second. The engine house is a
handsome edifice measuring 43 m. by 23 m., and will
house the winding machine of Nos. 1 and 2 pits, the
converter set and two compound Ingersoll-Rand com-
pressor sets. The head frames of these two shafts
are 35 m. high to the pulley shafts, with two banks,
one on the ground level for the men, timber and other
materials, and the other, 18 m. above, for the co^l
tubs, etc.

The upper bank will have a metal flooring, sup-
ported on metal columns, where the classification of
the screened coal will take place. The smalls will be
stored in a large hopper, of 1,000 tons capacity, on
the way to the washing plant.

SOME RECENT DECISIONS UNDER THE
WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION ACT.

[ Specially Contributed . ]

Union Officials’ Earnings.

An important decision was given by his Honour Judge
Denman Benson, at the Sheffield County Court, on Thurs-
day, July 4, in connection with a claim made by Samuel
Wilde, a Rotherham collier and trade union official, who
sought compensation for injury received whilst working in
one of Messrs. John Brown and Company’s mines.

His Honour, in giving judgment, said the applicant had
worked for the respondents as a collier for some years. On
December 31, 1917, he met with an accident, which
incapacited him for some three weeks. Liability to pay
compensation was not disputed by the respondents. On
the respondent’s books the average weekly earnings for
the 12 months preceding the accident worked out at
.£1 9s. lOd. per week. Fifty per cent, of this, together
with the war addition of 3s. 9d. per week, amounted
to 18s. 8d., and for this sum respondents admitted liability.
The applicant claimed more, and these proceedings were the
result. The applicant’s claim to a larger weekly average
of earnings was based upon two facts—(1) payments made
to him as a delegate to the council of the Yorkshire
Miners’ Association, with the knowledge and consent of
the respondents ; (2) payments made to him by his fellow-
workmen in the respondents’ colliery as their inspector
appointed under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, Section 16. If
either or both these payments were brought into the
account, his average weekly earnings for the past 12 months
would be considerably increased. The facts were as
follows: —(1) For several years the applicant had been a
member of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association—a trade
union registered under the Trade Union Acts, 1871 and
1876, and having many branches. The particular branch
controlling the area in which respondents’ colliery
where the applicant worked, was situate, was the Rother-
ham No. 2 branch and to this branch the applicant
belonged. By the rules of the association each branch
elected to the council of the association one delegate who
must be employed in or about a mine, and whose election
was for three months certain; meetings of the council
must be held once in every four weeks, and might be
specially summoned oftener; meetings of the executive
committee were also to be held once in every four weeks
and might be specially summoned oftener. At these meetings
no delegate was allowed to be neutral; he must express his
views by his vote, and, at any rate as regarded
Rotherham No 2 branch, those views must be the
views of his branch, who gave him a mandate to
that effect, and allowed him no discretion. Each delegate
was paid by his branch his travelling expenses, and if
his attendance involved loss of a day’s wage he was paid
a delegate’s day’s wage, based upon what he would have
earned at his colliery. For the last three years the
applicant had been duly elected by the Rotherham No. 2
branch as their delegate to the council and on the executive
committee; his election as such was duly notified to the
respondents, his employers, and no objection had ever been
taken by them to his election, or to his absence from work
when his duty as delegate took him away to the meetings
of the council or the executive committee. During the 12
months preceding the accident, he had, as delegate, attended
23 council meetirgs and five executive committee
meetings. By each attendance he had lost a day’s wage
at the colliery, and for that he had been paid a delegate’s
day’s wage in addition to his travelling expenses. Apart
from his travelling expenses, the sum so paid him during
the 12 months amounted to £22 Is.

(2.) Under the Coal Mines Act, 1911, section 16, the
workmen in the respondents’ colliery, where the applicant
was employed, at various times as occasion arose, appointed
him their inspector for the purposes therein mentioned ;
he was also appointed by the men when disputes as to
working places arose, in the same way and paid in the same
manner, and during the 12 months preceding the accident
he was paid for his services in respect thereof a sum of

£11 14s. 9d., based upon what he bad lost in wages by his
absence from work on inspection.

g ^For the applicant it was contended that each of these
payments must be taken into account in estimating his
average weekly earnings on two grounds : (1) That they
were made to him under concurrent contracts of service in
accordance with Schedule 1, Part 2 (b); (2) that they were
earnings received by him from or by reason of his
employment not necessarily for the employer himself, but
known and sanctioned by him as so likely to be received as
to constitute an implied term of the contract of service
with him on the principle of Helps v. Great Western
Railway Company. In answer to the first ground the
respondents contended that neither contract was a contract
of service, but only a contract for service, that there was
no relationship of master and servant at all, that it was a
case of one partner acting for the partnership and receiving
compensation for doing so.

On the facts as stated, his Honour held that there was
no partnership between the branch or the workmen and the
applicant, that the relationship of master and servant
was established in the case of his definite appointment as
delegate to the association and also, but somewhat more
doubtfully, in the case of his statutory appointment as
inspector. His Honour, therefore, found as a fact that
each contract was a contract of service and concurrent with
the contract of service under the respondents, and that in
pursuance thereof these payments were made. On that
ground, therefore, the applicant was entitled to succeed,
and also on his second ground.

It was, in fact, quite impossible to ascertain fairly the
average weekly earnings of the applicant without taking
these payments into account. Assuming, as the respondents
contended, that they were merely paid as compensation for
loss of wages-that implied that he had not been taken
away for the work so paid, for he would have received the
same amount from the respondents for his day’s wages,
and his average weekly earnings would have been increased
on their books by the same amount. His Honour said in
conclusion, “I find, as a fact, that it was thoroughly well
known to the respondents, when they entered into
their contract with the applicant, that it was quite
possible that he might receive these payments
by virtue of his employment under them, that if
he did so, even casually, it was in connection with their
trade or business, and that it became an implied term of
their contract with him that he should be at liberty to
accept the positions of delegates to the association and
inspector under the Coal Mines Act, and that payments for
so acting would be reckoned in his average weekly earnings.
I therefore make an award in favour of the applicant that
the average weekly earnings in the 12 months preceding
his accident amounted to £2 2s. lOd.; that he must be paid
compensation at the rate of 20s. per week with 5s. per
week war addition for the period of three weeks during
which he was incapacitated, after giving credit for the
sums received.”

Mr. Dale (instructed by Messrs. Raley and Sons, solicitors,
Barnsley) who appeared for the applicant, applied for costs,
which were granted.

Mr. Ellison (instructed by Messrs. Parker Rhodes and
Co., solicitors, Rotherham) asked for a stay of execution,
which was also granted.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—June 27.

Timber.

Sir J. Ainsworth asked the Minister of Munitions
whether he was aware that timber was being sent out of
the Cumberland and Furness mining districts into other
areas; and whether he would take steps to see that this
was prevented in such cases, and that such proceedings
should be confined for the future to the statutory areas
prescribed for each district.

Sir A. Stanley, in a written reply, stated that a certain
quantity of mining timber was being sent out of the
Cumberland pitwood area, partly in completion of old
contracts, and partly by mutual arrangements between
the Pitwood Associations. The timber in the Cumberland
area suitable for use in mines in that area was sufficient
for a number of years. An Order was now in preparation
under which no pitwood would be allowed to pass from
one area to another except under special permit from
the Timber Controller.

July 1.
Education Bill.

Clause 14 (prohibition against employment of children
in factories, workshops, mines and quarries) was ordered
to stand part of the Bill.

July 2.

Steel Exports to France.

Mr. Thomas Williams asked the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs whether, in connection with the supply to
France of tin plates and steel, the system of having only
one buyer, the Comite des Forges, for all British exports
from this country to France would be reconsidered, in
view of the dissatisfaction expressed amongst manufac-
turers and merchants regarding the monopoly at present
enjoyed by the Comite and whether he was aware that
British merchants were able to supply tin plates and steel
at much lower prices than the Comite des Forges were
charging the French consumer.

The Minister of Blockade (Lord R. Cecil) referred
the hon. member to the reply given on June 13.

Coal Supplies.

Mr. Hay Morgan asked the President of the Board of
Trade whether his attention had been drawn to the dearth
of Coal in Cornwall, and to the fact that, in consequence
of that shortage, many merchants were closing down their
businesses; and whether he would enable his zone repre-
sentative to remedy this state of affairs and say what
supplies might be expected during the coming weeks in
preparation for winter needs.

Mr. Wardle, in reply, said that the Controller of Coal
Mines had received representations on the subject of coal
for the south-western counties. The cause of the shortage
was the “ comb-out ” of miners and the recent strike in
South Wales. A rationing scheme was to be introduced
shortly, and while the amount of coal available for con-
sumption would necessarily be reduced, it was hoped that
the arrangements would ensure a reasonable supply
throughout the country. The Controller would be glad to
look into any specific case of difficulty if precise particulars
could be furnished.