WRECKED COALFIELDS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1942, 20 February 1919, Page 1

WRECKED COALFIELDS.

The latest news received l>y the French Coal Mission in London illustrates (lie set purpose and ingenuity wild whit'll the Gormans wrecked the coal mines of Lens and oilier dislricls in Northern Franco. It: is clear that the coal supplies of; France can hope for little alleviation from this source lor many months, and that France must in the meantime depend upon the output of (he British mines and upon the sacrifices of the British public for much of the coal she needs. In wrecking' the mines the Germans worked with thoroughness. Throughout the coalfield of the Nord there is, above an impervious stratum of clay, a vast area of water-impregnated rock, as it were a sponge, called in places “Lc Torrent,” a ceaseless cause of anxiety to the miners. The Germans, by dynamite charges skilfully placed, destroyed the “tubbing” or shafts which held back the water, and “the torrent” poured into the workings. Then, to render the work of repairing more difficult, they blew in the shafts. It is useless to try to pump out (he.mines until (ho breaks in the tubbing have been located, and the news which has reached the French Mission confirms the estimate of M. Loucheur, the French Coal Controller, that it will take, according to the measure of destruction, from two to Hvo years to restore (ho coal production of the wrecked mines. British forces having entered the great Mons-Charleroi coalfield, the Belgian Coal Department in London is awaiting information as to whether the Germans have spared the mines there, but even if they are intact there is no hope that Belgium will have any surplus coal for France for a long time yet.