PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1880. CALAMITY.

Patea Mail, 11 September 1880, Page 2

PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1880. CALAMITY.

Another disastrous explosion in a coalmine is reported from the north of England. An explosion at Scabam colliery, near Sunderland, is reported by cable; and 150 miners arc entombed and believed to be all killed. It must have been an explosion of the most disastrous kind to entail so great a loss of life. Tlie mine is notoriously “ fiery” from excess of gas and unusually high temperature, but it has been so carefully managed of late years that it was not considered dangerous. The miners in that pit work naked, the air being so warm, and the mine is partly under the sea. There are eight or nine galleries at different depths, like so many floors in a monster hotel, and an explosion in one of the lower levels would send the foul air into the upper galleries with destructive effect. The mine cannot have been affected by this explosion to any serious extent beyond one or two levels, as there arc probably two thousand miners in the whole colliery, and the 150 lives lost were probably those in only one level. The most serious consequence is the blocking up of the shaft by the falling debris, but there will be an alternative shaft to the mine, though it may not pierce to the lower level where the explosion would be likely to occur. This east-coast mine is the property of the Marquis of Londonderry. It is well established that September is the most dangerous period of the year for coal mines. A special condition of the atmosphere renders the gas in pits more explosive than at any other time, and it is notable that the most disastrous colliery explosions in England and Scotland have occurred in the autumn. Out of these 150 deaths, probably 100 are beads of families, these bread-winners being removed without a minute’s warning, and in most cases with no provision in the shape of savings for widows and orphans. Public subscriptions are always liberal m such eases, but they arc a dismal and poor compensation at the best.