Huntly Mine Disaster.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 3, 25 September 1914, Page 2

Huntly Mine Disaster.

CORONER’S INQUEST. The adjourned inquest on the bodies of the victims of the disaster that occurred in Ralph’s 'Mine on Saturday, 12th. inat. was continued on Wednesday in the Court House, Huntly, by the coroner Mr E. Rawson, S.M., and a jury comprised of Messrs. J. P. Bailey (foreman), E. J. Farrell, E. George, Wm. J. Arthur, J. Eceles and Frank Tregoweth. Mr. C. J. Tunks appeared for the Company; Mr. Napier for the Trustees of the Ralph Estate, owners of the mine; Mr. Northeroft and Mr. Robertson represented the families of several of the deceased. Mr. Macassey, crown prosecutor appeared for the Mines Department. Inspector Wright, conducted proceedings for police and Mr Boyd Bennie, Government inspector of Mines represented his Department. Mr S. Dixon looked after the interests of the Miners’ Union. Though the inquiry of Wednesday only concern the bodies of 21 of the victims, the coroner stated it would not preculde any evidence that might throw light on the death of allthe deceased. The first business, the coroner stated, was to’consider the cause of death, the second to discover -if any blame was attachable to any one. As the Government intended to set up another tribunal it would not be necessary to go so fully into the matter. Mr Macassey stated that Prof. Dixon would be unable to arrive before Saturday. Inspector Wright suggested that after the evidence had been taken it might be well to adjourn the inquest until the commission had come to a finding. James Fletcher, general mining manager, of the Taupiri Mines, and certificated manager, of Ralph’s Mine under the Coal Mines, produced a tracing of the working plan of the mine. On September 12th. he was not in charge of the mine, having been incapacitated by an accident. He had nominated William Gowns, the underviewer, to act in his place. Gowans was a fully qualified and certificated man and his appointment as deputy manager was approved by the Mines Department. Mr Gowans was one of the victims of the explosion. The plan produced showed the workings of the mine up to ihe c-fficliiwoH of the last survey which took place at the end of June. The day of the explosion was ail off day. Work was proceeding in Bird’s dip, Dooley’s dip, No. 6 dip. No. 6 section, Taupiri West Section, and No. 5, when the mine was in active operation. The old workings were the places out of which no coal was being taken. The pillars were still standing. The mine possessed two down cast shafts and an up cast shaft, the winding and air shafts being close together. The now shaft was not vet connected with the others. Witness explained the course of the air currents which were conducted by doors and stoppings, tiie plan showing the whole process of ventitation. The deputies were thoroughly acquainted with the method of ventilation, and if they found anything wrong it would be their duty to report any defects. The whole of the wordings werd 1 reached by the down cast shaft at Ralph’s mine. 11l compliance with the Coal Mines Act (section 42, sub-section 42), the whole of the working places and the roads leading thereto were examined by three competent persons, known as examining deputies, posessiug required qualifications. They examined the working places two hours before the miners entered the mine to commence their day’s work. This inspection was made the morning of the explosion, as per the examining deputies’ reports found after the explosion in their usual place in the mine. The reports for every day of the week preceding the explosion were produced and read. Signed by H. Peckham, John Whorskey, John C. Skellern, theyshowed that the examination had been duly performed, gave the barometric and the thermometrical readings, and pronounced the working places, the travelling and haulage ways safe, and the air good in every part of the mine. The reports produced covered the whole of the working places and the travelling and haulage roads. | After the examination the ex- I deputies met at the cabin in No. ! < 6 level and made their reports, j The first man down when the | ] whistle blew for the opening of • the mine was the day shift i deputy. He telephoned to the l examining deputies at No. 6 cabin 1 and when he was told that every- i thing was right the men who i followed the deputy wore al- t lowed to go to their places, i If there was anything wrong 1 the men would not be allowed t to proceed. The examining de- i puties examined the various f parts with the safety lamp to I f ascertain the presence or other- j f wise of g s. They also ex- j r amined the ventilation, the j v travelling and haulage roads to j 1 see that they were clear of falls j i and loose ground. Their ex- j I animation included the roof of the j travelling and haulage roads. Their duty was to see that the mine was safe for the men to i work in. The , list of those I a who went down the mine that ; e morning, as far as the re- 1 t, cords showed, was produced, I c

, Sixty-two men went down on the j morning of the accident. ’ Twenty ; of these were rescued alive-two | having since died- tiic number killed thus being 43. Only repairs had to be done that morning and no actual mining. There was also employed by the company an inspector of old workings with his assistant. It was their duty, ; according to a system introduced three years ago. to examine the : i old workings for spontaneous combustion and heavy falls, j They dealt solely with the old workings. A daily report was sent in. It took these men a week to go fully over the whole mine. The report 1 D. Weir haff examined tie old workings and the return airways and had found all safe, the ventilation being good. The report showed that during the week proceeding the whole of the mine like been inspected. J. Darby and W. Smith, two day shift deputies, who had lost their lives in the disaster, had signed several of the reports. Gas, but not in any considerable quantities, had been found in cavities caused by falls from the roof. No difficulty had been experienced in dealing with it. The gas was C.H. 4 —- carburretted hydrogen or fire damp—which baing lighter than air was^ met with in the roof. On August : l7th at’4p.m Mr Wear reported that gas had been found in No 4 bord, south section* It ; had been diluted by the air. but was not in sufficient quantity to yield a fair test by the aid of the safety lamp. The gas was generally generated in the stratum above the coal. A small seam of of coal wastseparated from the main seam by a band of fireclay. Mr Bennie and wit--1 ness examined the place on August 21st. He found it satisfactory and the air currents good. Any gas reported had been found in cavities where the roof was exposed. As it took a week to go round the old workings it was possible that gases might might have accumulated and especially if any : large fall had occurred. The : mines, the witness considered, were practically immune from fire damp. The fall might liberate suddenly* any gas that had been pent up. The round was continuous. It was not possible to anticipate a fall, the coal being of so hard a nature that falls were few and far between. On July 9th, gas was ignited which singed William Kelly,a conttractor, working in Number 6 stone drive. Kelly was putting through a stone drive, the work proceeding from both end* simultaneously; air being conducted to the face. He was working about\2o yards from a pot hole that was “ bleeding gas” on the fresh air side. He went back to the pot hole three or four times to get a drink of water and on the fourth occasion the naked light which he carried ignited- an accumulation of gas near that hole, the result being that Kelly was singed. He was off work 14 days, but was walking the streets on the ’ fourth or fifth day after the accident. 'That section had been inspected the i<mi- morning a-8 a.m. when everything was reported clear and the men had been working from 8.30. until the occurrence of the accident. The gas was very local. On the previous day the holing between the two ends of the stone drive was effected, and these men -were engaged in enlarging the opening, thus admitting a good current of fresh air. One of the contracting parties before the burning occured asked deputy Darby to cut off some of the fresh air on account of the . cold. The request was refused. The disarrangement of the ventillation in witness’s opion explained the presence ot gas, and the intake pipe was partially blocked by brattice cloth which he had personally ripped off. Kelly and his mates would not admit covering the pipe with the cloth. The accident was reported to the inspector who signed til# report as read. He knew of no other explosions during the four years lie had been in charge of the mine. Kelly’s was the only accident within the last year. There might have been others but he had no recollection cf them. The deputies, underviewers and men had never complained to him about the presence of gas. His information was obtained from the reports of the officials and from personal examination. He had not any other reason to suspect that gas was .present in the mine in dangerous quantities. By means of the tally board at the surface and another at the shaft bottom a record was kept of the number of men who descended or ascended the shaft. As the men walked onjjto the cage the banks-man pegged them off and the onsetter at the bottom pegged them as they came out of the cage. The onsetter and the banksman compared notes and if the tallies agreed the number of men at work was entered on the sheet. The names of the men who went down were not kept. In future a record would be kept of those receiving safety lamps at the lamp cabin. The pegging for numbers and the safety lamp for names would operate for the future. The men had no official number. Two check inspectors were appointed by the Union They also made reports. The inspectors at present were S. Dixon apd J. Tui-ton. [Mr Fletcher’s examination and cross-examinajtiori, an j t j !e e\ ideuce of otiiei witnesses taken on the first dav will he coutinuedjiext week.