294 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN August 9, 1918. PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—August 1. Coal Supplies (Ireland). Mr. Shortt, in answer to Mr. O’Dowd and others, said he was informed that places in the West of Ireland were being supplied with coal from the ports of Dublin, Dun- dalk, and Belfast, and were getting full share of the avail- able supply. It had bt_a decided to construct a railway connecting the coal fields with the Cavan and Leitrim Light Railway at Arigna Station. The connection between the Great Southern and Western Railway and the Wolf hill Colliery was nearing completion. The construction of a railway connecting the Castlecomer Colliery with the same railway had been taken in hand. The Arigna line would be connected as an extension of the Cavan and Leitrim Light Railway. The linking up with the Kilkenny-Castle- comer Railway was under consideration. The matter of sending English coal to the West of Ireland would also be considered. Mr. O’Dowd asked whether the Chief Secretary was aware that a Treasury expert reported in 1903 that the Arigna coal region contained coal deposits amounting to 4,650,000 tons, besides valuable iron deposits, and whether a railway from Arigna to Collooney, a distance of 19 miles, was necessary for the proper development of the region. Mr. Shortt said that such a railway at present was not considered possible. The present extension would be com- pleted, he hoped, by Christmas. Coal for Agricultural Needs. Sir R. Winfrey informed Col. Whelan, relative to coal shortage in the Isle of Sheppey, that he was well aware of the difficulties in obtaining sufficient supplies of coal for agricultural needs, and had made strong representations to the Coal Controller in the matter. August 5. Petroleum and Royalties. On the order for the second reading of the Petroleum Production Bill, Mr. G. Currie asked for an assurance that licences to search and bore for petroleum would not be used in such a way as to introduce any system of royalties. Sir L. Worthington Evans, replying, gave an assurance that the Bill did not raise the question of royalties indi- rectly. All controversial questions raised in last year’s Bill had been avoided. The main object of the Bill was to protect the oil pools of the country, if there were any. The Bill was read a second time, passed through Com- mittee with only a slight alteration, and was read a third time. Coal in Saffron Walden. Sir A. Stanley informed Sir R. Cooper that steps would be taken under the new Order to ascertain what stock of coal and coke was held by Carl Englemann, of Saffron Walden, in mid-July. Shipments to Ireland. Sir A. Stanley, in answer to Mr. Field, said that the returns of coal shipped to Ireland in the six months ended June 30 showed that that country received its proportion of coal. The position from the beginning of July had been affected by influenza amongst the miners. Available supplies had to be more or less regulated in accordance with the importance of consumers as regards the national interest. So far as any shortage of coal was concerned, Ireland was no worse off than any other part of the United Kingdom. Mr. J. P. Farrell asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Irish Coal Controller had cognisance of the fact that Messrs. A. Guinness and Sons, brewers, had stored at the Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin, some 50,000 tons of coal, which had lain there for nearly five years, and on which grass 2 ft. high was growing; whether they had other large supplies at James-street and the North City Quay; and whether, in view of the number of persons in Dublin, faced with the prospect of a fireless winter, it was proposed that Messrs. Guinness should be allowed to accumulate and retain such large stocks of coal. Sir A. Stanley stated that the matter was receiving atten- tion. The Controller’s information was that the stock did not approximate to 50,000 tons, but the firm had been notified that it might be necessary to divert a portion of their supplies. Fuel and Lighting Order. Sir A. Stanley stated, in reply to Mr. Gilbert, that a short and concise form of the Household Fuel and Lighting Order, 1918, for the benefit of consumers and embodying the chief points of the Order had already been printed, and was being circulated to coal merchants and gas and elec- tricity undertakings throughout the country. Inasmuch as consumers would have to approach these three sources of fuel and lighting supply, it was decided that this was the best method of distributing the notice to consumers. He would consider whether copies could be supplied at post offices and local town halls. August 7. Coal for Mullingar Asylum. Mr. Shortt, in answer to Mr. Field, said that the Wolf- hill Collieries were prepared to supply coal from their collieries to the Mullingar Asylum at about £3 per ton. This offer was not accepted, but Welsh steam coal was supplied through -a Mullingar merchant at £4 per ton, and Scottish steam coal at £3 15s. per ton. When it was discovered that Welsh coal was being supplied to the Mullingar Asylum, and that coal from the Wolf hill Collieries was available, the Welsh coal was at once stopped with a view to saving unnecessary transit. The Coal Shortage. Mr. Houston asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he was aware of the situation being brought about by the diminished output of coals from the mines, thereby affecting the prosecution of the war, our Allies, our indus- tries, our export trade, and the comfort and convenience of our people; whether, seeing that this shortage of out- put was due to an insufficiency of men to work the mines, he would urge upon the Government the necessity of bringing back immediately from the Army the older miners; and whether this was now possible in view of the reinforcements to the Army being landed almost daily in France. Mr. Wardle, in a written reply, stated that he was aware of the diminished output of coal and of its possible consequences, against which, however, must be set the main cause of the diminution — namely, the pressing military necessity of the withdrawal of 75,000 miners for the Army. The Army Council was engaged in releasing as rapidly as possible 25,000 miners of medical categories B 2 and B 3 now serving at home, and between 6,000 and 7,000 of these men had already been released. Fuel and Lighting Order. Mr. Wardle, in answer to Capt. Carr-Gomm, said that the Household Fuel and Lighting Order came into force on July 1. The clauses in the Order relating to appli- cations for fuel and lighting and requisitions were only effective 42 days from that date, namely, August 11. The necessary forms and notices were already in circulation in many districts, and the task of distribution would be completed before the end of the week. Irish Miners' Wages. Mr. Francis Meehan asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he was aware that the miners in the Arigna mines, County Leitrim, were being paid a maximum wage at the rate of 2s. 6d. per ton on their output, with a war bonus of Is. 6d. per day, while the miners in the adjoining mines in County Roscommon were paid a higher wage per day, together with war bonus, and whether, having, regard to the fact that this sweating system was likely to lead to a strike and result in a shortage of supplies of coal when so much is required, would enquiries be made and steps taken to fix a fair wage. Sir A. Stanley said he was not aware of the circum- stances mentioned. Enquiries were being made by the Coal Controller. THE ISERE-AIN COAL FIELD. Mention has already been made in our columns of the prospecting operations in connection with the recently discovered coal deposits lying in the Isere and Ain departments, quite close to Lyons. Further infor- mation respecting this enterprise—which was begun in 1916 and is at present being carried out in new directions—is now available. The Blanzy-Creusot-Marine group started borings at Zonchet, a hamlet in the commune of St. Maurice de Gourdan, north of the confluence of the Ain and Rhone. The Societe des Mines de la Mure has bored to a depth of 600 metres on the right bank at Balan, west of St. Maurice. The Societe du Bassin du Rhone in 1916 began prospecting with one boring at Meyzieux, north of its Azieu operations, and another, in 1917, at Authon, which is in the same area. Furthermore, two new combines have been formed, one directed by Mokta, the other by M. T. Natanson, who founded the Societe d’Etudes et Recherches Minieres du Centre with an original capital of 300,000 fr., in- creased to 700,000 and then to 1,000,000 fr., which purchased the Communay anthracite concession. M. Natanson also instituted the Societe Lyonnaise des Houilleres du Rhone, with a capital of 2,000,000 fr. (increased to 3,000,000 fr.), which prospected at Jonage and Decines, near Lyons. Still another group—the Societe de Recherches et Exploitation du Bugey—has been created with the object of carrying out the investigation of the district, in accordance with the views of M. Friedel (principal of the St. Etienne School of Mines), as far as the western spurs of the Jura Range. M. Friedel calcu- lates that the deposits extend into Switzerland, where, however, the presumed thickness of the overlying strata will be too great to permit the coal to be worked. The Bugey Association, which comprises the following companies : the Acieries de la Marine and the Pont-a-Mousson, Micheville and Mokta companies, is prospecting at Torcieu, not far from the Amberieu- St. Rambert line. The coal measures have been tapped, but up to the present only shales have been found in the bore. This, however, is not surprising, as Torcieu is in a presumed petroleum area, near the Vaux borings, which were stopped in consequence of explosions of natural gas. Though the last series of investigations—in 1917-18 —have not yet obtained any decisive results with regard to coal, good hope is entertained of ultimate success, the organisation having been greatly improved by the collaboration of savants, including—in addition to M. Friedel—M. Delafond (former chief inspector and director of the Paris School of Mines), M. Deperet (Dean of the Faculty of Science, Lyons), and Profs. Lefevre and Kilian, of Grenoble. A few geological facts concerning the Lyons coal field will be interesting at the present time. The St. Etienne district undoubtedly extends to the left bank of the Rhone, and to the east of Lyons there lies a basin of greater dimensions than either St. Etienne or the Pas-de-Calais. On the other hand, this basin is by no means so rich as that of St. Etienne, though belonging to the same geological horizon. Its estimated coal content does not exceed 1J per cent., whilst the St. Etienne deposits yield 5 per cent., and even 7 or 8 per cent. The Rhone-Isere district is there- fore not expected to furnish more than 1,000,000 tons a year at the outside, which, however, will largely consist of gas coal. From the geological point of view this coal field differs materially from that west of the Rhone. At St. Etienne the coal is more abundant on the southern edge of the synclinal. It was assumed that the same would occur in the east; hence the discouraging results at the beginning of the researches. On the left bank of the Rhone it appears that the conditions are reversed, and that the northern boundary of the fold is the richest. East of Champonnay the basin curves to- wards the north, which acounts for the negative results of the borings near Heyrieux and St. Bonnet. The borings have shown that the superficial strata of marine tertiary sandstone have a fairly uniform thickness of about 200 metres, but that the thickness of the underlying chalk and other conglomerates varies between 0 and 500 metres, some beds being either exaggerated or absent. The presence of petroleum is strongly indicated in the district, and at Chavag- nieu the sandstones contain oil for a thickness of over 80 metres. As a whole, the Lyons coal field presents interesting features, but at present it does not seem likely to afford any relief for the shortage of industrial fuel in France. ACCIDENTS FROM EXPLOSIVES IN 1917. The 42nd annual report of his Majesty’s inspectors of explosives for the year 1917 states that the total number of accidents with explosives reported during the year was 701, as compared with 641 in 1916, and 485 in 1915. Of these, 404 occurred in manufacture, as compared with 363 in 1916, causing 54 deaths and injuries to 330 persons, as compared with 195 and 598 respectively in 1916. Of 404 acci- dents in manufacture, no less than 171 caused no personal injury. The number of accidents under the heading of “Use and Miscellaneous” is 293, as com- pared with 274 in 1916 and 276 in 1915. By these accidents 40 people were killed and 309 injured, as compared with 45 and 274 respectively in 1916. There is nothing exceptional in these figures, and, having regard to the amount of unskilled labour now em- ployed in mines and quarries, it is surprising that accidents are not more numerous. During the year five explosives were submitted to test at Rotherham for admission to the Permitted List, and experimental shots were fired with 34 others. Of the five tested, three passed the test and two were included in the two Coal Mines Orders issued, the third not being added to the list at the request of the manufacturers. The following table shows the total number of acci- dents occurring in the use of different explosives and under miscellaneous circumstances in 1917, together with the number of killed arid/or injured in each case: — No. of Explosive. Accidents. Killed. Injured. Ammonite 4 ... 1 ... 3 No. 1 Bellite 1 ... — 1 2 ... — 2 „ No. 1 3 ... 1 ... 2 ,, No. 4 1 ... — 1 Blasting 1 ... — 1 Blasting gelatine 1 ... 3 ... 1 Bobbinite 5 ... — 5 Cornish powder 1 ... — 1 Detonators 29 ... 1 ... 31 Dreadnought powder 2 ... 1 ... 1 Dynobel 3 ... — 3 „ No. 3 Electric detonators .. 5 ... 1 ... 5 2 ... — 3 Expedite 3 ... — 3 Filled bombs 1 ... 1 ... 1 Fire 1 ... — — Fracturite 1 ... — 1 Fuzes for shells 1 ... — 1 Gelatine dynamite .... 2 ... — 11 *Gelignite 58 ... 11 ... 59 Gunpowder 92 ... 11 ... 98 Guncotton 1 ... 1 ... — Kentite 5 ... — 5 Monarkite 7 ... —— 8 Negro powder No. 2 .. 1 ... — 1 Nobel gelignite 1 ... 1 ... — Picric acid 1 ... — 2 Rendite 2 . . — 2 Rex powder 7 ... — 8 Rippite 1 ... — 1 Roburite 1 ... — 1 Rockite .... 1 ... — 1 Samsonite 2 ... 1 ... 1 Saxonite 2 ... — 2 Stomonal 2 ... • — 2 „ No. 1 1 ... — 1 Super Cliffite .... 1 ... — 1 Super Excellite 5 ... 3 ... 4 „ No. 3 . Thames powder 3 ... — 3 3 ... — 3 „ No. 2 ... 2 ... — 2 Tonite .... 1 ... — — ■ Unknown .... 4 ... — 5 Very signal cartridges ... 1 ... 1 ... 1 Viking powder .... 2 ... — 3 „ No. 1 .. .... 3 ... 1 ... 2 „ No. 2 .. .... 7 ... — 11 Waste explosives 4 ... — ... 3 * One case doubtful. Messrs. Instone and Company Limited, of Cardiff and London, have just completed the purchase of a part of a fleet of Messrs. W. and C. T. Jones, Cardiff. The dead- weight is some 16,000 tons, and the transaction involves a sum of considerably over a quarter of a million sterling. Ammonite No. 5 as a Permitted Explosive — The Home Secretary has issued an Order, dated August 2, by which Ammonite No. 5 is added to the list of permitted explo- sives named and defined in the First Schedule of the Explosives in Coal Mines Order, September 1, 1913. Road and Canal Transport.—It is understood that the newly created Transport Committee will consider schemes for national roads built by the State. The Committee will also deal with the economic use of railways and canals, and advise on heavy motor transport by road.