HUNTLY MINE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2439, 19 April 1915, Page 6

HUNTLY MINE

EVIDENCE AS TO ITS CONDITIONS. tßy Tblegraph—Prew Association.* Huntly, April 16. William Wood and Alexander Penman, manager and under-manager at Ualph's mine, Huntly, were charged before Mr. Rawsori, S.M., with failing to comply with ltule S of tne Coal Mine 6 Act, requiring the appointment of underviewers to make daily inspections of miDea. The case relates to the period since the Huntly disaster. Mr. Gillies, for the Crown, said the defence admitted the'facts. Hie case really resolved itself into an interpretation of the words "daily inspection or mines." -

Evidence, was given by Frank Reed, Chief Inspector Gf Mines; to the effect that gas still existed iu v the old workings, where four blowere-(points where gas is admitted) were at present active. A weekly inspection was inadequate to secure the safety of the men—a daily examination was necessary. Boyd Bennie, local inspector, 6aid that more gas had been discovered since the explosion than ever before. He found accumulations at every exit. There would be danger if a fall occurred, driving the gas into the present working. It would only require a miner to break his lamp or open it to light a cigarette, and there would be a repetition of the disaster of September last. Professor Parkes, of Otago, said that after hearing the' evidence ne was convincedtho old workings a potential danger, and a daily inspection was necessary. ' Mr. Tunk6, for the company, con- j tended that the' word "mine" meant only_ the present workings. If' the' Magistrate s interpretation was otherwise it meant imposing a severe, inconvenient, and expensive burden on the company. TJie hearing is not yot concluded.