Dearie:Russell Family History

The Straits Times, 5 August 1914, Page 10, Malay Mail, 7 August 1914, p.15 and The Malay Daily Chronicle, Thursday August 6 1914, and MALAYAN COLLIERIES. [Articles] The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), 4 August 1914, Page 12

MALAYAN COLLIERIES, LTD. Mine Manager Describes Progress Of Borings. The first annual report of the directors of Malayan Collieries, Ltd., for the year ended June 30, to be presented at the general meeting at Kuala Lumpur on the 22nd inst., runs as follows:- TITLE.— The company's mining certificate has now been exchanged for mining lease No. 2549, district of Ulu Selangor, over an area of 1,282 acres. The balance of the concession, however is still held under a prospecting licence giving the company the right at any time to select, at a premium of $5 an acre, the whole or any part of the land covered by it. 0. Prospecting.- Further prospecting was carried on throughout the year. The coal area proved extends beyond the boundaries of the land so far under lease, and it is intended to convert more of the concession to leasehold land, applying for a renewal of the prospecting licence over the balance. 0. Management.- The directors were of the opinion that it was advisable in laying out their plant to secure the advice and services of the very best home consulting engineers to be obtained, and also to engage a mine manager who had practical experience as a manager of a large home colliery. With this end in view they engaged in the first capacity the services of Messrs. Forster Brown and Rees of Cardiff and London, one of the largest firms of consulting colliery engineers in Great Britain, and these latter on behalf of the Company selected and engaged as mine- engineer Mr. T.L. McCall. Mr. McCall, however, was unable to leave the Ormiston collieries until the end of the year, which made a delay of some months; but the directors thought it better to incur this delay rather than to secure as manager a man not so well recommended. Arrangements are now being made at home to engage an assistant manager, and a mechanical-electrical engineer. 0. System of Working.- Mr. McCall after his arrival was first engaged in obtaining data regarding, and consulting with the directors concerning, the particular system by which the mine should be worked: that is to say, whether by open cast, by vertical shafts sunk to meet the seam at the 300ft level, or by means of inclined shafts sunk on the outcrop. The latter was the method finally decided upon. 0. Mines.- The mine will be worked by two diverging haulage inclines which should insure a regular and continuous output capable of being at any time considerably expanded beyond the initially intended supply of 500 tons per diem. A shallow vertical ventilation shaft is being sunk between these two haulage mines. 0. Plant.- In a circular to shareholders issued on March 20 it was stated that the directors hoped the 500 ton per day installation that is being erected could all be obtained from stock. Unfortunately this anticipation has proved to be wrong, the most of the plant having to be specially manufactured. The majority of it has now been inspected under trail by our consulting engineers, passed, and is on its way out. In the meantime to avoid delay in opening up, a temporary and locally obtained plant has been installed. 0. Railway.-The Government railway line to the collieries is well in hand, and is estimated to be completed by the end of the year. A brick- kiln has been started on the concession to supply the needs of the mine, and probably also those of the railway. 0. Telephone.-The government has agreed to connect up the Colliery with the telephone system. 0. Directorate.- Mr. Tan Chay Yan, having been unable to attend three consecutive meetings of the board, in accordance with the articles of association of the company resigned his seat. The board do not consider it necessary to elect at present another director in his place. The Government have not availed themselves of the right for which they asked to nominate a Government Official to a seat on the board. The retiring directors are Mr. J.A. Russell and Mr. Foo Choo Choon, who being eligible offer themselves for re- election. The auditors, Messrs F. W. Barker and Co retire, and offer themselves for re election for the ensuing year. 0. Mine Manager’s Report. 0. For the half year ending June 30, Mr. McCall, the mine manager, reports from Rawang under date June 30:- 0. On assuming duties at the mine at the beginning of this year, the first steps taken were to examine the field and prepare plans and reports for Messrs. Forster Brown and Rees, your consulting engineers. These plans and reports having met with your approval were dispatched towards the end of February. In order to expedite matters, I assumed that Messrs. Forster Brown and Rees would agree to the general outline of the plan and according put down a few shallow bores in the neighbourhood of the inclines or mines, by which mines the coal will be brought to the surface. These bores were necessary for the purpose of starting the mines to catch the coal at the correct inclination. This work was finished by the end of April. 0. On receipt of a cablegram from the consulting engineers, stating that the plans submitted had met with their approval, the south mine or incline to the main coal seam was stated on May 22. Owing to a spell of dry weather the incline was driven down without the use of pumps until June 6 by which time the distance on the slope from the surface was 55 feet. At this juncture work had to be suspended owing to the flooding of the mine due to the resumption of the rains. A temporary boiler and pump were installed and work on the incline was resumed on June 17, coal was struck some 76 feet (on the slope) from the surface and the mine is now 10 feet into coal. The north mine or incline to this same seam was started on June 16 and is making good progress. The coal as shown in the south mine is hard and compact and so far is free from shale bands. It is being burnt in the temporary boiler with satisfactory results. There is a minimum of ash, the small quality that there is being fine dust. There is no clinkering and the fuel is almost smokeless. I cannot yet report on its storing qualities. 0. The road in the coalfield, through the jungle, has been widened out and the bridges have been rebuilt. It is now possible to bring in sufficient machinery over this road to develop the mine, until such time as the railway may be through. There is good brick clay on the property and a brick kiln is in the course of erection, which will be shortly producing. Further borings for coal are now in progress on the lands over which the company have prospecting rights. A kedai has been erected on the mine and is open for the sale of provisions, etc. The labour employed is Chinese throughout, and I am glad to be able to state that the general health of the workface has been good. 0. 1196 words) 0. Document: Malayan Collieries Limited, Directors Report and Statement of Accounts. For the year Ending 30th June 1914. To be Presented at the first Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held at the Registered Offices, 8,9 and 10, Loke Yew Buildings, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, the 22nd day of August, 1914, at 10 a.m. (Content as reported by The Straits Times, of 5 August 1914, Page 10) 0. Document in the National Archives of Malaysia 2/2144

Malayan Collieries. [Articles] The Straits Times, 28 August 1914, Page 10 and edited version in RAWANG COAL. [Articles] The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), 31 August 1914, Page 10  Malayan Collieries.

PAST YEAR'S WORK ON RAWANG COALFIELDS. Present Position and Prospects. The first annual general meeting of the shareholders in the Malayan Collieries, Ltd., was held on the 22nd inst., at the registered offices of the company, Loke Yew Buildings, Kuala Lumpur, Mr. J. A. Russell (the Chairman) presiding. A report of the chairman’s speech is sent to us by the secretaries, Messrs, J. A. Russell and Co. 0. The chairman in the course of his speech said:- 0. The report and accounts of the company showing the year’s working to June 30 last have been in your hands for some time, and I shall, therefore, ask you to take them as read. The accounts, which are from the formation of the company till the end of June, are, I think, self-explanatory. The total preliminary expenses incurred, not including brokerage, have been found to be $5,585.58, of which amount, in accordance with the terms of the prospectus, the vendor has now to refund the sum of $585.58. 0. From the Directors’ and the mine manager’s reports before you, you will have learned briefly what we have done up to June 30, and the position of the mine at that date, and I should like now, after this further six months, emphatically to confirm what I said at the statutory meeting of this company; that is, that everything that has so far transpired in the development of your property has but tended to confirm the statements made in the prospectus. The prospectus at the time was described, perhaps cynically so, as “ an extremely glowing one”: the year’s working has proved the potentialities and prospects of what is popularly known as the Rawang Coalfields to be equally “glowing”. 0. Quality of the Coal. 0. Our coal in fact is all that it was claimed for it, while the Main Seam, which is the seam we are now developing, would, so far as we have opened it up, appear to be with regard to freedom from shale bands even better than was anticipated. The coal is perhaps harder in texture than was thought, but despite this extra hardness it is not believed that the working costs per ton as estimated in the prospectus will be exceeded. We are ourselves already in a position to turn out a certain amount of coal, and have had numbers of enquiries for consignments of it, we presume for trial, from the local shipping interests, engine ring firms, mines and others; but until the railway is through we can supply nothing. We are, however, using out coal for our own plant and with great success. The Chinese engine- drivers upon the coalfield, who have previously worked on mines using Indian fuel, tell us that they can obtain from our Rawang coal more satisfactory results than could they formally get from Indian stuff, and this I tell you for what it is worth. We wish, however, to be perfectly frank with our shareholders, and I must warn you that on certain points, such for instance as the coal’s storage properties, we have not yet had sufficient experience to guide as at arriving at a definitive conclusion; but I can and do say that indications on all these points are on the whole favourable, and that none of them are of sufficient importance to outweigh the many good qualities of the fuel. 0. The majority of our permanent plant has now arrived, or should be arriving in a day or two at Port Swettenham. That which has already arrived is in the process of being carted from Rawang to the coalfield, where foundations to receive it are in the course of construction. 0. Plant and management. 0. Messrs. Foster, Brown and Rees, our consulting engineers at home, in conjunction with our mine manager, have drawn up very full plans, and have purchased and tested for us all our plant. In order to obtain the best plant at the cheapest prices, a contract has been given for the whole amount to one firm, but the supply has been split up amongst some twenty firms. Messrs. Forster, Brown and Rees have called for tenders for each separate part of the plant, specifying exactly down to the minutest details what we require, and seeing that we get our requirements. This is the value of our employing the best colliery engineers to be obtained; their fee may be high, but in specifying for machinery, and for all the hundreds of articles used in the equipment of a mine, one has the advantage of their years of experience in managing many of the largest collieries in the British Isles; and in daily using themselves the very articles which we require; they know how to get the best and cheapest of everything, and, moreover, no commission is charged on purchases. 0. You will see by the directors’ report that arrangements are now being made to engage an underground assistant mine manager and an engineer from home. Well, we have thought it our duty to cancel the engagement of the engineer, and take on a local man, one who has been most highly recommended to us. In times like these, if we can possibly do so with safety, we must do what we can to assist local men. We do not think it safe or possible, however, to engage out here the class of man that we want as an assistant mine- manager, one that is, who has had years of practical experience in all branches, including the lower ones, of actual coal winning; so our assistant manager we shall be obtaining from home. With regard to the system of working I should like to assure you that your directors have gone very thoroughly into the question and have only adopted the system which they have done after full consideration of many other methods. 0. The Government have promised that their railway line shall be ready for the transportation of coal by the end of this year. There is at present pending between the Government and ourselves a question as to who shall pay for the marshalling sidings; but the Chief Secretary has verbally assured us that any delay in coming to a decision upon this matter will not affect the actual time of completion. 0. We shall require for use on the mine a considerable number of bricks, and having very excellent clay and abundant fuel we have found it cheaper to erect a kiln and make our own bricks than to purchase these bricks in Kuala Lumpur and cart them to the coalfield. The acting Chief Resident Engineer for Construction has informed us that if our bricks are of good quality, and we can deliver them on the line, he is prepared to take a considerable number form us, while when the line is open we hope to place them on the Kuala Lumpur market. 0. The Proposed Call. 0. I now come to a matter about which I am sure you are all anxious to hear; I refer to the call which has been made of $1 payable on or before the last of September next. Several shareholders have asked the secretaries whether it is not possible in view of the present crisis to defer this call. It has been pointed out that most companies are deferring their calls until the advent of more normal times and it is inquired why this company cannot do likewise. As announced by a circular issued to shareholders on February 2 last, the policy of this company’s board was, and is, to make calls as infrequent and easy as possible. I do not think that any shareholder when applying for shares in the company ever for a moment thought it would be over a year before the first call would be made, or that when made such call would be only one of a dollar; but by the practice of a rigid economy upon the part of the board, and I think I can also say by good management, this happy result has been achieved. Prospectus estimates are generally exceeded, and in the same manner that at the time of floatation of this company many voiced their opinion, even in the public press, that the facts stated in the prospectus were incorrect, so it was also said that our estimates were bound to be exceeded. Well, we have not only so far kept within our estimates, but we have kept well within them, and we shall endeavor in future to be as careful in the matter of making calls as we have hitherto been. But this present call must be made, and must be made now. The amount of our plant we have reduced to a minimum consistent with safety and efficiency, but this minimum has all been ordered and made, and must now be paid for. There is the freight and insurance and the transport upon it to meet; it has to be erected; there are foundations now being built, and bungalows and stores being put up. We shall want money for all these. I might mention that only essential development work upon the mine is being carried out, and that our labour wages have all been reduced; although of course we have not paid off any old hands wishing to remain on, and willing to work. We have work enough for all. 0. Two installments of 50 Cents. 0. By carefully arranging our finances I am now able to announce to you at this meeting that we shall be prepared to receive the call in two installments of fifty cents each: the first installment to be paid on or before September 10, and the second on or before November. Shareholders’ certificates will not be endorsed as having had the call paid until both installments have been paid in full, and I would earnestly ask such shareholders as can do so to pay the whole of their call straight away. But in justice to those shareholders who do pay, the company cannot afford to be lenient to those who don’t, and I must therefore warn you that if by the dates I have mentioned the installments of call upon any shares remain unpaid, steps will be taken under section 21 and 22 of the Company’s Articles of Association to forfeit such shares. 0. In conclusion I would add that there being so many Chinese shareholders in this company many of whom probably do not read English, it is intended to send to each Chinese shareholder a translation in Chinese of the report and accounts and of these remarks of mine. I think that this is all I have to say, and I will now formally move that the directors report and accounts be received and adopted, which I shall ask Mr. Henggeler to second; but before putting the motion to the meeting I shall be pleased to answer to the best of my ability any questions which any shareholder may desire to put. 0. No questions being asked, Mr. Henggeler seconded the motion, which was unanimously agreed to. The formal business was next transacted, and a vote of thanks to the agents and secretaries and another to the chairman and directors terminated the proceedings. 0. (1880 words)