July 5, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

31

Notes from the Coal Fields.

[Local Correspondence.]
South Wales and Monmouthshire.

Official Statement as to the Comb-out of Miners—New
Washery on Tredegar Property—Death of Lord
Rhondda—Influenza Stops Colliery Work.

Major * Roberts, of the Welsh Regional Headquarters
Staff, states that, in fixing the quota of men to be taken
from each colliery, allowance was made for the reduction
of 25,000 that had been intimated, and that the number
from each colliery was based on a quota of only 75,000
for the whole kingdom. The idea that the quotas are
complete from each colliery was inaccurate. Men who
have not answered their calling-up notices are absentees,
and will be dealt with in fairness to those who have
already gone to the Colours. The local arrangement for
co-operation between employers, the Miners’ Federation,
and the National Service authorities has worked amic-
ably. It is not intended to take more than the quota
(Grade I. men only) from each pit. Major Roberts
expresses the hope that men who have not reported will
do so immediately, for whilst police court proceedings
are taken only as a last resource, no other course is open
to the National Service authorities.

In addressing the shareholders of the Tredegar Com-
pany Lord Aberconway, the chairman, stated that the
output of the collieries showed a decrease of rather more
than 3 per cent., and he laid stress upon the fact that
irregular strikes had taken place—the men in every case
having stopped work without notice, disregarding the
Disputes Committee specially set up by the Conciliation
Board for dealing with such matters. He was glad to
be able to state that they had had the support of the
majority of the trade union leaders ; but if large numbers
of men threw over their own leaders they brought anarchy
into the coal trade, and the result could only be disastrous
both to employers and workmen. In the new comb-out of
men the company’s quota would exceed 400. Lord Aber-
conway referred to the large stocks of small coal at Oak-
dale and Markham, and said that this would be dealt
with by means of a washery, and they had practically
secured the permission of the Coal Controller to erect one.
They had drafted a pension scheme for the official and
clerical staffs, feeling that men who devoted their lives
to the service, but in many cases got less pay than the
colliers, ought to be provided with a retiring pension, and
the scheme would provide substantial annuities to the
officials at 65 years of age, with option of retirement at
60 years.

The Bristol Channel Shipowners’ Association has passed
a resolution, and will send a letter of protest to the Board
of Trade against the dock charges having been increased
without prior consultation with the coal trade, shipping,
and other interests affected.

The retirement is announced of Mr. Roger Price, one
of the best known officials at the Bute Docks, Cardiff, and
for 40 years wharfinger and warehouse manager under that
proprietary. He has also been the commercial represen-
tative of the company on Cardiff Exchange as well as
on the Baltic in London and on the Liverpool and Bir-
mingham Exchanges. Mr. W. N. Thompson succeeds
Mr. Price, and is fully acquainted with the work, having
been for 30 years engaged under the company.

In a case at Merthyr County Court a collier claimed four
weeks compensation from Messrs. Crawshay, alleging that
he had had two accidents at the Gethin Pit. He did not
stop work after the first, but did after the second. The
judge stated that he did not believe the statements as
to the second accident. He thought the story was invented,
no notice having been given at the first accident. The
plaintiff ought to be penalised for telling “ an absolute
lie.” By agreement, compensation will be granted; but
the plaintiff will have to pay =£5 towards the costs of the
respondents as well as his own costs.

Several workmen employed at the Varteg Deep Black
Vein Colliery, Varteg, Mon., were summoned by their
employers at the Pontypool Police Court on Saturday for
committing breaches of the Coal Mines Regulations in a
portion of the colliery which has recently been changed
from a naked light into a safety lamp district. Joseph
Williams, for having a pipe and tobacco in his possession
in the mine, was fined 40s., and like penalties were imposed
upon Alfred Pearce and Rees Denning for the possession
of cigarettes. Carrying matches cost William Eason,
Ivor Parry, and William Lloyd 40s. each, and John Crewe,
who had one match in the lining of his jacket, was ordered
to pay 20s. costs. For having a broken pipe in his jacket
Arthur Young was fined 40s.

The old Parliamentary Division of North Monmouth is
now called the Pontypool Division, and its area has been
narrowed to the industrial area of the Eastern Valleys
from Blaenavon to Llantarnam. The number of voters on
the new register is approximately 30,400, as against 18,000
on the old register. At the next General Election Labour
will contest the seat for the first time, and has adopted
Mr. Tom Griffiths, steel smelters’ organiser, Neath, as
prospective candidate. Amongst the officers of the new
Pontypool Division Liberal Association are Mr. C. H.
Bodman (Deep Black Vein Collieries, Varteg) and Mr.
Benjamin Nicholas, J.P. (managing director of the Tir-
pentwys Deep Black Vein Colliery Company), who are
president and treasurer respectively.

The annual conference of South Wales miners, which
opened at Cardiff on Tuesday, dealt at first with internal
matters, a'very lengthy discussion arising as to the estab-
lishment of an audit department. The work of such a
department would be to co-operate with the districts and
the lodges, there being duplicate books kept, and one sug-
gestion was that a chief auditor at <£300 per annum, with
three clerks at lower salaries, should be appointed. Another
scheme was that the districts should audit the accounts
of the lodges, and send a financial statement to tha central
office every half-year. A number of amendments were
submitted, and there appeared to be a general desire to
establish an effective system.

During Wednesday the miners’ conference dealt with
the special duties of the political organisers in view of
the contest of at least seven of the local Parliamentary
seats. Another matter brought up before the conference
was the presence of police at meetings of the miners, and
a suggestion was made that the industrial power of the
organisation should be used in order to prevent any
restraint upon the liberty of public meeting.—Votes were
passed in favour of Friday being pay-day all over the
district, the men to receive their money during working
hours; that men on light employment should have a uni-
form working day of six hours; that in compensation cases
payment should be made from the first day of injury ;
that there should be an annual week’s holiday with full
pay ; that it should be compulsory to keep a motor ambu-
lance at each colliery; and that all miners should be

entitled to a pension after 35 years’ service. The proposal
to establish an audit department was rejected, both schemes
being disapproved; and the conference decided that the
rule should be amended so that the former method of
auditing might be revived. The conference passed a reso-
lution endorsing the war aims of the Labour Party, and
urging the Government to adopt them as a basis of peace.
The safety apparatus invented for the charging of holes
and preventing accidents through misfire was submitted
by Mr. Harries, a blind man, and a resolution was passed
urging the executive council to press upon the Government
the advisability of making its use compulsory. By a
large majority the proposal to abolish Sunday labour was
rejected.

The balance sheet of the Federation for the year 1917
shows an income of <£121,262, with a total expenditure of
<£87,593. The fund in hand at the commencement of the
year was <£179,406, and at the end of the year this had
increased to £224,808. There had been other items of
income, such as £7,211 interest on investments. Strike,
lock-out, and out-of-work pay entailed an expenditure of
£21,418; whilst the large amount of £41,862 had been
paid to members idle through depression of trade. The
Federation has over 50,000 invested in War Loans and
War Bonds, in addition to its deposits in bank.

It is probable that a long-threatened action against the
South Wales Miners’ Federation will shortly come into
the court. This is promoted by members who allege that
the increase in contributions has not been properly
authorised. Previously a shilling per month was the
amount; but this has been doubled, and one of the points
alleged against the new procedure is that even when the
proposal was to raise the contribution to only Is. 6d. per
month it was rejected by the individual ballot of the
members.

By a fire which took place on Monday evening the
Welsh National School of Medicine’s new building in
course of erection, at a cost of nearly £100,000, was
damaged to the extent of £7,000. The building is the
gift of Sir W. J. Thomas, colliery proprietor, formerly of
Ynyshir, and director of the Bed was Colliery Company.

The Local Government Board has been approached by
the South Wales Miners’ Federation with regard to the
shortage of houses and the difficulty under which work is
being carried on. In addition to Mr. J. Winstone, acting
president, the deputation included Mr. T. Richards, M.P.,
with Mr. A. Onions, treasurer, and Mr. George Barker.
Emphasis was laid upon the fact that thousands of addi-
tional houses were even now required to meet the needs
of the working population in the colliery areas; and it
is notorious that these difficulties will be greatly intensi-
fied when the war is over and men return from the front.
At that time also colliery developments, now postponed,
will be in full operation, and calling for a still greater
number of workmen.

The increase in the American tin plate trade is
signalised by the fact that imports of tin itself are at
three times the pre-war rate; but so heavy is the demand
that the War Industries Board has decided to restrict
exports of tinplate to foreign countries, permitting it only
when intended to manufacture cans for food products.
This state of things, reported in South Wales, minimises
the uneasiness which has been felt as to America capturing
old British markets for tinplate.

Mr. Pardoe Thomas, of the West Wales Colliery Com-
pany, also largely interested in shipping, has been elected
chairman of the Newport Harbour Board.

The Miners’ Permanent Fund has appealed to the Federa-
tion for financial assistance in meeting pbligations to
dependants on the fund. Investments have very consider-
ably depreciated since the war; and consequently the fund
finds difficulty in meeting its liabilities to 386 widows,
11 children, and 38 injured workmen. A similar appeal is
being made to the Coal Owners’ Association. The miners’
executive have decided that the districts of the Federation
should be consulted on this matter.

A general labour conference, held at Merthyr, has decided
to invite Mr. James Winstone, acting president of the
Federation, to become their Parliamentary candidate. The
miners’ executive has approved, and instructions have been
given that Mr. Winstone’s name shall be forwarded to
the central organisation.

It has been decided by a conference of trade unionists
at Pontypridd that that new constituency shall be con-
tested in the Labour interest, and a deputation of miners,
railwaymen, and other organisations, has waited upon the
South Wales Federation executive inviting suggestion as
to the name of a candidate. The executive has postponed
consideration of the question till a future meeting.

The shield given by Mr. Peter Haig Thomas, chairman
of D. Davis and Sons, was competed for by ambulance
teams composed of employees of the Cambrian Combine
on Monday. The Cambrian Company also offered a silver
cup. The Tylorstown team won the first prize, and the
Naval Colliery the second.

By the death of Lord Rhondda, which occurred on Wed-
nesday morning, a considerable change in regard to colliery
companies in South Wales is heralded, for although, upon
accepting office under the Government his lordship sur-
rendered the directorships which he held, he was, of course,
still largely interested and closely connected with the
working of no fewer than 30 to 40 undertakings. In addi-
tion to being head of the Cambrian Combine, he was a
director of D. Davis and Sons, also Gwauncaegurwen, and
had interests in North’s and a number of others among the
larger colliery concerns. His firm have coaling stations
in the Mediterranean and in South America. He was the
owner of steamships chiefly engaged in carrying coal, and
had very large French connections. His death has created
a vacancy in the directorate of the Taff Vale Railway and
the Port Talbot Railway and Docks. His lordship was
in his 63rd year, and the cause of death was heart failure
following pleurisy. As Food Controller he won general
encomium, and as soon as his death was announced the
King forwarded a message of condolence to Lady Rhondda.
The South Wales Miners’ Federation, which was in ses-
sion during Wednesday, also sent a telegram of sympathy
with the family, declaring that the death of Lord Rhondda
“is a great national loss.”

The case in which a butcher at Ystalyfera brought an
action against the Pwllbach Colliery Company for alleged
damages to his business by dust from the coal washing
and screening machinery came before the Chancery Divi-
sion on Wednesday. Mr. Justice Eve described plaintiff’s
claim (for £2,500) as in many respects extravagant and
fantastic, and awarded £200.

Mr. G. Reginald Moxey has retired from the coal export
firm of London and Cardiff, and will be succeeded by
Mr. W. Strutt, but will retain his directorship of the Taff
Vale Railway Company, the Glenavon Collieries, etc.

The serious outbreak of influenza in the colliery district
has interfered with the working of the mines. In one
section of the Rhondda alone 1,000 to 1,200 cases have been
reported, and the output has been so seriously reduced that

only Government requirements could be met during several
days. The schools have been closed, and the epidemic is
evidently spreading.

On Tuesday official notification was given at the col-
lieries as to the increased war-wage which was sanctioned
last week on the application of the M.F.G.B., and the
employers are further notified that by an agreement be-
tween the Government and the Federation joint commit-
tees should be established at all the pits, their special
duty being to take any necessary measures for increasing
the output and decreasing voluntary absenteeism.

Northumberland and Durham.

The further advance in the price of coal and increases
in the cost of labour, etc., have prompted the directors of
the Hexham Gas Company to raise the price of gas to
Is. 2d. per 1,000 cu. ft., and to revise the meter rents on
the basis of Is. per quarter for the smallest size.

The council of the Durham Miners’ Association on Satur-
day defeated, by 401 votes to 328, the proposal that a
conscientious objector, formerly a clerk with the associa-
tion, who has been discharged by the military authorities
on medical grounds, should be allowed to resume his duties
at the miners’ offices. A pacifist motion from Delight
Colliery was defeated. A motion that any of the associa-
tion’s Parliamentary candidates elected to Parliament
should become ex-officio agents of the association was ruled
out of order, as was also a further proposal that, in the
event of being defeated at any subsequent election, the
working salaries of these candidates should be determined
by the council meeting.

Mr. John T. Manderson, who for the past five years has
been manager of the North Seaton Colliery of the Cowpen
Coal Company Limited, has received an important appoint-
ment in connection with the Horden Collieries Limited, in
Durham county.

Despite having been previously caught and warned
against a repetition of the offence, James McLawrence, 27,
putter, repeated a token fraud in the North Seam of the
Duke Pit, Ashington. His excuse before the Morpeth
magistrates was that he had lost money by other people
changing tokens in the pit. Fined £2.

The Ashington Coal Company Limited and the Priest-
man Collieries Limited have each subscribed £500 in aid
of the effort to raise £15,000 in Newcastle and on Tyne-
side for the Huts and Hostels Fund of the Young Women’s
Christian Association. Mr. Frank Priestman, Mr. Thomas
Taylor, and Miss Stephenson (daughter of the late Sir
William Stephenson, chairman of the Throckley Coal Com-
pany Limited) have each given £250 towards the same fund.

Mr. John S. G. Pemberton, one of the coalowners’ repre-
sentatives on the River Wear Commission, has become
disqualified, owing to non-attendance, and has intimated
that his time is so fully occupied in other directions that
he does not desire re-election.

Messrs. U. A: Ritson and Sons Limited propose to pro-
vide an installation of pithead baths for the miners at
their Burnhope Colliery, and recently sent a deputation,
consisting of the colliery manager (Mr. Jos. Snaith) and
officials together with representatives of the underground
workers, to visit the Atherton collieries of Messrs. Fletcher,
Burrows and Company, near Tyldesley, Lancashire, who
were the first pioneers in this country to establish baths
for the men. The Burnhope baths will be the first pro-
vided in the county of Durham.

Lieut.-Col. Frank R. Simpson, agent of the Stella Coal
Company Limited, has been appointed voluntary recruiter
for the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps in the Ryton
district. Col. Simpson is the son of Dr. J. B. Simpson,
the well-known Northern mining engineer, and has been
mentioned in despatches from Salonica for gallant conduct
and distinguished services.

Wm. Scott and John J. Bell, two young miners who
acted very courageously in attempting to rescue John
Geddes, deputy, who was killed by a fall of stone at Burn-
hope Colliery on January 26, have each been presented
at the hands of Mr. Jos. Snaith, colliery manager, with
a gold-filled lever watch, gold curb albert and gold pendant,
subscribed for by their fellow-workmen. Mr. A. Heckels,
under-manager, presided.

An appeal has been issued to Durham citizens to raise
£100 in connection with the annual effort, to be made on
July 13 this year, in aid of the Durham Aged Mineworkers’
Homes Association.

Mr. J. C. Dawes, technical adviser to the National
Salvage Council, addressing a conference of representatives
of borough and urban district councils in Northumberland
and Durham, held in Newcastle on Tuesday, spoke of the
high calorific powers of cinders, and said that, in cinders,
they had 30 per cent, waste. A large quantity of very
useful material was collected in cinders and sent to the
destructors. He hoped that the time was not far distant
when the destructors themselves would be destroyed. It
was almost incredible that so much useful material in the
shape of cinders should be wasted. With the great
shortage of coal there was certainly something wrong in
so much waste. There was great advantage to be derived
in washing cinders, he added, thereby separating the
valuable combustible material from the mere ashes.

At Durham Assizes, Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and
Company Limited, colliery owners, were awarded £300
and costs from the North-Eastern Railway Company, in
respect of £300 which plaintiffs had paid to the dependants
of a man named Ince, a chargeman of platelayers, in their
service, who was knocked down and killed by an engine, the
property of the North-Eastern Railway, whilst on a
colliery siding.

The cokemen at Esh and Hamsteels recently applied to
the Lanchester Rural Food Control Committee for per-
mission to use three coupons weekly each for butcher meat,
and stated that the Brandon and Byshotties Committee
had already granted a similar request from 67 cokemen
in that area. It was stated at the committee meeting,
however, that the request could not be sanctioned without
the assent of the Food Commissioner.

Aid. John Cullen (Marsden), Aid. Robt. Richardson
(Ryhope), Coun. Peter Lee (Wheatley Hill), Coun. Thos.
Neville (Birtley), Coun. John Herriotts (Windlestone),
Mr. Wm. Whiteley (Durham), and Mr. Will Lawther
(Chopwell) have been chosen as the representatives of the
Durham Miners’ Association at the Trades' Union Con-
ference to be held at Derby. Messrs. Cullen, Richardson,
Lee, Whiteley, Neville, Jas. Robson and Jas. Gilliland
have been selected to represent the association at the
Labour Party Conference in London. Messrs. Lee, Cullen,
Neville, Richardson, Gilliland, J. E. Swan, and Edward
Stoker will be the association’s representatives at the
Miners’ Federation Conference at Southport.

The Rev. Fielding Smith, of West Pelton, has been
medically rejected for combatant service, and has decided
to spend part of his time as a member of the clerical
staff in the West Pelton Colliery offices.

The retirement of Mr. Wm. Straker from the list of
prospective Parliamentary candidates on behalf of the