394 



NATURE 



[December io, 1914 



As soon as war was declared, the supply from 

 the Baltic practically ceased, as pit-timber was 

 declared contraband by Germany, and its exporta- 

 tion prohibited by Russia. The supply from 

 France^ Portug-al, and Spain, though hindered by 

 scarcity of labour while mobilisation was going 

 on in the Landes, appears to be now normal, as 

 the price at Cardiff, which was 205. per ton in 

 July before the war, after rising to the panic figure 

 of 355. in August, dropped to 215. on October 10. 

 These pit-props of maritime pine are cheap in 

 price, as the vessels which convey coal from 

 Wales to Bordeaux, Lisbon, Oporto, etc., carry 

 back the timber to Cardiff and Swansea as ballast 



voyage, higher cost of labour, etc. As soon as 

 an equitable price is fixed, ^ we may expect ade- 

 quate supplies of mining timber to arrive from 

 Montreal, Quebec, Halifax, etc. In case of need, 

 further supplies are doubtless available from 

 British Columbia. 



Home-grown mining timber consists chiefly of 

 larch, spruce, and Scots pine, either grown in dis- 

 tricts near the collieries, or obtained from the 

 Highlands of Scotland and Ireland, the latter 

 country sending last year about 50,000 tons of 

 larch, a good deal of which is used in the pits ol 

 Lancashire. A small quantity of inferior timber, 

 in the form of branch wood, coppice, etc., of 



Fig. 2. — A' Cruach 32 years afier planting with Douglas fir. (Altitude 54-1000 ft. above sea-level.) From the Transactions of the Royal Scottish 



Arboricultural Society. 



at a nominal freight-charge, often as low as 45. 6d. 

 per ton. The Welsh collieries will probably con- 

 tinue to receive regular supplies from France, 

 Spain, and Portugal, but these countries will have 

 no surplus timber to send to other colliery dis- 

 tricts in England and Scotland. 



It is well known that an abundance of timber 

 suitable for pit-props is available in the vast 

 forests of Canada and Newfoundland. Representa- 

 tives of the Board of Trade, who were conferring 

 on October i with the Dominion Minister of Trade 

 at Ottawa, ascertained that the only difficulty is 

 the question of price. It is not possible to obtain 

 Canadian pit-props at as cheap a rate as the 

 Baltic product, on account of the longer sea- 



NO. 2354, VOL. 94] 



broad-leaved species, like elm, sycamore, and 

 beech, is also used from local sources ; but it is 

 disliked by miners, who prefer to handle coni- 

 ferous poles, which are light in weight and smooth 

 on the surface, besides being very strong. Oak, 

 on account of its great strength and durability, is 

 used in mines for special purposes, but in no 

 great quantity. 



In the present urgent necessity, the supply of 

 native pit-timber can be greatly increased for one 

 or two years at any rate. Once the price offered 

 reaches a certain point it will be advisable for 



3 To encourage shipment of pit-timber, vessels from Canada are now 

 allowed by the Board of Trade, as an emergency regulation, to carry unre- 

 stricted deck-loads of timber. 



I 



