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-10 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
• LONG WALL BRUSHINGS. •
The changeableness of April weather has no
doubt been responsible for the manifold changes
of front shown by some of the papers toward
certain coal interests during the "fickle month."
ihe alternate roasts and eulogiums would have
interested and amused those toward whom they
were directed if the latter could have spared time
from signing contracts to read them.
—o—
The Guntersville, Ala., Democrat makes the following
frank statement regarding the coal produced
in that locality: "The coal we are using is
peculiar. It has too much iron in it to be tit for
slate, and too much slate to smelt it as iron. It
has served the only purpose to which it can be put.
It has been sold."
—o—
The United States supreme court's decision on
the New York ten-hour law consigns to the limbo
of things which have no right to exist, one more
restriction and coercive measure whose principal
effect has been to destroy individual liberty of
action.
—o—
Not content with proving that he is the archenemy
of labor, the journals devoted to the cause
of the workingman are even endeavoring to prove
—and with a considerable measure of success, too—
that Eugene Debs is not even an honest socialist.
—o—
Despite all the "bear" movements brought into
action in the Pittsburgh vein district at the turning
of the spring tide, the Western Pennsylvania
coal market is in the best shape it has ever been
in under normal conditions.
—o—
Coke consumers who are holding back on last
half contracts may review with profit the outcome
of the waiting game played so unsuccessfully last
fall by coal buyers who refused honest and friendly
advice.
—o—
Mr. Schwab's conquest of Russia is what his
friends the newspapers would aptly term a "scoop."
Nova Scotia Mining Report.
The report of Edwin Gilpin, Jr., chief inspector
of mines for Nova Scotia, covering the year ending
September 30, 1904, states that the production
of coal was 5,247,135 tons, an increase of 2,112
tons over the preceding year. The production by
districts was as follows: Cumberland, 631,604;
Pictou, 654,008; Cape Breton, 3,660,000; other districts,
301,523 tons. 'Ihe number of days worked
varied in the different mines from 140 to 297, the
average being 223 days for the year. The number
of persons employed at the mines was 11,659
in all. The total number of persons killed by
accident was 27, or 2.„2 per thousand. The number
of injured was 80, or 6.90 per thousand.
The total number of days' work reported was
3,167,092. The number of casualties was, therefore:
Killed, 0.009; injured, 0.025; total, 0.034
per 1,000 days' work. The most serious accident
during the year was the fire at the Joggins, in
Cumberland county. 1 he fire started on the main
slope about 70 feet above the 3,100-foot level, and
made it necessary to flood the entire section of
the mine. The fire was extinguished, but it required
considerably over a month to pump the
water out, and it was necessary to clean out the
slopes and levels, and to re-timber a considerable
portion of the slope.
The total shipments of Nova Scotia coal reported
were as follows: To New Brunswick, 414,-
537 tons; Newfoundland, 127,138; Prince Edward
Island, 80,141; Quebec. 1,730,948; United States,
713,170; other countries, 83,082; total shipments,
4,544,609 tons. In addition to these shipments
80,811 tons were sold to colliery workmen and
others at the mines, and 36^398 tons, or seven
per cent, of the total mined, were used in operating
the collieries. Mining machines operated by
compressed air, have been in use at the Vale colliery,
in Pictou county, and it is understood that
others are to be introduced. At the Drummond
colliery, also in Pictou county, coal-picking belts
with patent conveyors are now being used with
success. The four largest operators in Nova Scotia
are: Dominion Coal Co., 3,117,648 tons; Nova
Scotia Steel & Coal Co., 492,604; Cumberland Railway
& Coal Co., 489,687; Acadia Coal Co., 325,837
tons, mined in 1904.
RULING AFFECTING RIVER COAL SHIPPERS.
Judge J. A. Evans, of the common pleas court
of Allegheny county. Pa., recently handed down
a decision of some importance to river coal shippers.
The case was that of the Dilworth Coal Co.,
of Pittsburgh, against the Pittsburgh Construction
Co. In July, 1903, some barges of the coal
company broke away and lodged against false work
at Port Perry, where the construction company
was building a bridge. In removing the barges
the employes destroyed them and the coal company
sued to recover. A non-suit was allowed,
and in refusing to take it off Judge Evans says
the burden is on the plaintiff to show the destruction
was unnecessary and that the testimony
of the plaintiff does not show negligence on the
part of the defendant.