HUNTLY COAL MINE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 89, 17 April 1915, Page 3

HUNTLY COAL MINE.

DANGEROUS GAS IN OLD WORKINC. Feb Fresh Association. Huntly, April 16. William Wood and Alexander Penman, the manager and the under manager of Ralph's Mine at Huntly were charged before Mr Hawsou, S.M., with failing to comply with rule 8 o! the Coal Mines Act, requiring the appointment of under-viewers to make a daily inspection of the mine. The case relates to the period since the disaster. F Mr C«illie.s, for the Crown, saicythe defence admitted the f;'cts of the case, which really resolved itself into an interpretation of the words ‘‘daily inspection of the mines.” Cvidence was given hy Frank Reid, Chief Inspector of Mines, to the effect that gas still existed in the old workings, where four blowers (points where gas is admitted) are at present active. Weekly inspection was inadequate for th(> safety of the men, and a dailv examination was necessarv.

Boyd Bennie, tlie local inspector, said more gas luul been discovered since the explosion than was ever before found. There were accumulations at every exit, and theiv was a danger if a fall occurred of driving tin l gas into the present workings, when it only reouired a miner to break. Ins lamp nr to open it to light a cigarette for a repition of the disaster of September last ..

Professor Parkes, of Otago, said after hearing the evidence ho was convinced that flip old workings constituted a potential danger and a daily inspection was necessary.

Mr Tanks, for the company, held that the word “mine” only meant present workings. If the Magistrate’s interpretation was otherwise, it meant imposing a severe, inconvenient, and expensive burden on the company. The case is proceeding.

Later. The Magistrate has reserved his decision.