THE COLLIERY EXPLOSION AT KAITANGATA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 893, 25 February 1879, Page 2

THE COLLIERY EXPLOSION AT KAITANGATA.

i c THE IXQUEST. iJi'XEiux, February 2-1. Tlic inquest on the bodies of the mci killed vis resumed to-day, before Mr. E H. Cure*, Coroner. On .Saturday 32 bodies were identified and certifiovtes of burial given, and to-dai the bodies of Archibald Hodge and Andrew Jarvie were iicnti'ied. 'lhe principal evidence was given bj Charles Edwa:.l Twinning, a mining surveyor, holding a Government certilicatc. Ho deposed : 1 was a colliery manage! in England, ami held the position of ;i manager in Lancashire fur six or seven years. I was employed by the Kaitangatr Company as surveyor, with instructions to in-.-rea.se the get of cr.al to 200 or 300 tons per day in the wintu I had no control •H-er the management of the mine, but marie suggestions to Xr. Holmes, who, 1 believe, was Chairman of f he Directors of the Company. William Hodge was working manager. I did him instructions, but communicated, vith Mr. Holmes, and ciiiveyed instructions from him to iJ-trige. Mr. Ilolmes only once instructed sue, namely, to start a :ie\v drive in a certain place. (Indicated on plan.) It was in December last that I iir.st saw the mine. The first thing I did v:\s to make a survey of the underground workings that were not surveyed before. I know the plan produced. The part covered with. pink shows my survey, that marked yellow new workings, and that colored blue old workings. I showed my survey to Mr. H'diiies. who asked me Inw they could increase the get of coal. I laid out two places, also marked, and recommended them to Mr. Holmes. Xu work was going >n in the old workings. Hodge had talked i>> n;e about them. 1 recommended him :iofc to touch them by way of getting more coal out. My reasons were that >y robbing the inoutli of the mine ,"ti weaken tiie foreground of the mine md main drive. I recommended the ipciiing to be made as near the face of he workings as possible, so as to carry he air round. That was done. There vas the same amount of ventilation in December as there is now, but the air lid not travel in the same direction. New direction of ventilation was traced.) recommended Hodge to alter the ventilaii >n, and have the mine openings'nut in he faces so as to bring pure air round he .workings. He did that. I have lever reported on the ventilation of the nine to the directors op to : Mr. Holmes, did not consider it part of my duty to do hat. My duty was to come once a week nd see that the drives were taken in a ropor direction. The duties of a .mining ngineer at Home have nothing to do ith the management of mines. The uiy of the engineer is to provide for entilation. I a:n sure of that. He orks under the supervision of the ii-ectors. The underground managers ave to hold a Government certificate efore they can take such a position. At tome they have to understand ventilaou, and the way to get coal out so as to ork the mine safely. I don't know that ever had spoken to Hodge relative to mutilation, but always told him the great ling was to keep the air up to the worfcig places. He never complained to me lat the air was bad. Last Saturday cek I found the air in the face better lan usual, and remarked so to Hodge, consider the air was always very fair, it the ventilation was not conducted on ie same system as I would have expected have found at Home. I never was in

a the old workings. A fortnight ago ] e suggested to both Mr. Holmes'and Hodgej I believe—certainly to Mr. Holmes—that it would bejbetter to have another outlet from the liliiie, by a, drive about fifty or sixty yards long, by which. to bring the d coal, out, from'the ,north side of the work■t, ings. . .-That would "have given another i\ outlefrfrom the new working; That work, f' I believe, "was commenced: I understood ■s so because T conveyed instructions from Mr; Holmes to Hodge to push on that bit r of work. (A letter was here produced, s from Mr." Twinning .to Hodge, found in i the latter's dask, detailing instructions relative to the cutting of a drive for a e new outlet) Hodge was instructed to s carry on the outlet-cutting in three shifts e —that is, working night and day till itwas through. I thought it necessary f some expedition should be used so as to ', have the second outlet both for travelling t and air. That would have improved - ventilation. There is only one means of 11 getting in and out of the pit at present. The air pit does not afford means. The ■■ main tunnel into the new workings is 480 e yards from the mouth of the tunnel to the t extreme point of the new workings. The y tunnel from the mouth to the first '4, entrance of the old workings 13(5 yards, s or to tiro main entrance 20(3 yards, and extends from there to the extreme end of •1 the old workings 230 yards. I was present <■' on Friday last when the bodies were e recovered from the mine, I found at a e point in the now working about. 310 yards from th». mouth of the tunnel, and about s JO or lo yards south of the main drive, I 11 believe, six bodies. (Witness then '■- pointed out on the map" the localities of i> other bodies.) I have never seen a mine of this extent and description worked c with a single outlet. The air-pit or shaft d Ido not consider an outlet as it is now. i. At Home it is compulsory to have two •-, outlets in every mine where nine adults r or more are engaged. The more outlets '• the better, so far as I know of workings. h I thought it proper to have another outlet. « T thought it necessary to make the mine i- perfectly safe. I consider it not a safe >' system of ventilation that depends on the » use of brattice works in front of riew work's ings. Brattice work is good as long as nor thing happened, but there should be soraet thing more substantial if intended to stand. - A brick wall in place of timber would make j brattice work more substantial. The effect I; of a di'iva parallel to the main tunnel e would bo ihafc it would bo quite possible that men could have got out that way. <*' That is only supposition, but it is my opinion that the tunnel would require to be about 40 or CO yards long. The machinery on the top to wind men up and down would have made the air pit an 'f outlet. The ladder-way up to the air pit would not have sufficed. It is very neces--3 sary that old workings should be kept 0 open, so as to see that rro accumulation of gas occurs. They should be examined the same as other workings at Homo. Old a workings would bo. built up, but openings 0 would bo left in the wall. Two openings '}■ should be left—one to let air in, and the ■• other to let the foul air escape. There were y no openings. A fall of earth might occur, " and the wall be forced out. Provided no '*" j fall occurred, Oft in the wall would be 13 sufficient. Barometers are obliged to be . used under the new Act in the Old Country; •? I one in the mine and another on the surface, ";so as. to, compare them. The barometer indicates bad air by showing the pressure " of tiro atmosphere. When there is suspicion of lire damp floating about, it is cern ~ titfnly proper to have locked lamps or saiety lamps. A fortnight or three weeks agt I was told there was a little fire damp in the south side of the new workings. I , forgot whether it'was William Hodge or s Beaidsmore (foreman) who told me. We s were all three together at the time. I e wanted to go into the new workings, and 0 hearing that there was fire damp there, I took a Davy lamp to see, but I found none. There v,-,is not much talk about danger 11 from damp. That was the first I heard of damp. I had been told previously that there was nunc I was not aware of any previous accident in this mine, either from damp or oihui-u-isc. Mr. Cox, who I 1 understand was the Government Assistant \ I Geologist, and Mr. Binnes, who I believe j to be the Government Coal Inspector, ar- " i ranged to unwt me at the mine on the Ist I Jj'ebruary. ] me* - Mr. Cox at the mine, rl j and understood ;;,:i.t Mr. Binnes had been j down the da .~fu.'o. and had been through all the workings. 1 asked Hodge what he said about the workings. Hodge replied that ho had road Binnes' notes made during the inspection, but did not say 1 what the report was. Mr. Cox came down ■ on the Saturday following, and was through the new workings. He said everything ' seemed satisfactory. Up to the time of '" the accident I believed the mine was ordir narily safe to work, as it then was. I have no authority to order anything to be done about tire mine ; I simply reported to Mr. ' Holmes, who is managing director. Ido not consider I was consulting engineer, but was sometimes asked for advice. I believe 1 that higher places in the old workings I became dangerous from the accumulation I I of gas, and that the explosion took place ' there. It was not necessary to have an | engineer i n every culliery, but there should : always be a surveyor, or some one to draw ; out plans for the guidance of the manager, : so that the mine may not be worked haphazard. It is an advantage to have straight drives, as the mine angles cause greater friction, and give loss chance of ventilation. A Juror : Taking the works as a whole, has ample provision been made for ventilating tile works ? Witness : There was quite sufficient air g 'ing through the mine to ventilate the whole works, if travelling in the right direction. I told Hodge it would not do to dispense with the furnace at the air pit, unless fhey had a fan. There was always a good iire in. the furnace, so far as I know. THE PUBLIC MEETING. Duxedix, February 24'. The public meeting called by the Mayor to devise means for the relief of the sufferers'by the Kaitangata explosion was wyll attended to-night. The Mayor said there were 24 widows and S3 orphans to be provided for. Letters were received from Mr. H. Prince, enclosing LBO 9s, collected from the sporting men; from Bishop Neville's attorney, with L 25 ; from the Springfield Coal Company, Canterbury, offeriugLlOO: from Mr. H. Varley, forwarding LIOO, the result of collections at his services on Sunday ; from others including smaller amounts; from the Mayor of Wellington, asking what steps were being taken, and stating that the people of Wellington were anxious to assist ; and from Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Darrell, offering to take part in a benefit performance. Resolutions wore passed expressive of sympathy with the sufferers by the calamity, and deciding to invite subscriptions from the puplic of New Zealand. A large and influential committee was appointed, with Messrs. J. L. Gillies and Matthew Hawkins, lion, sees., and Mr. Richard Oliver, M.H.R., treasures. The Committee will meet to-morrow night.