THE HUNTLY DISASTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 111, 3 October 1914, Page 4

THE HUNTLY DISASTER.

tub oay.\Jis.s/o\ or en-query., , By Telegraph.—l>rc«s AsMK-iation. • Auckland, Last Night. ; The Commission set up to fcnquire in- ; t© the recent disaster at Ralph's mine. . at Huntly, by which. 45 mm lost their ; lives, coimiiwicej to lake evidence at ; the Courthouse, Huntly, this morning. I Evidence was given by Professor ! Dixon, m British explosion expert, on ' tfto same- lines as at tho inquest. He ; stated that he now considered the mine j dangerous owing to the explosive na. ure of the. coal dust. The men evidently h;id been working for a long ! time in this mine under dangerous con" | uitioros. Boyd Ronnie, Mines Inspector, said I that in August he suggested to the Unj der-Secretary of,. Mines that the manj »gor of the mines should be prosecuted . in connection with the accident to a. j miner who was burned by a slight exj plosion of gas. ThiTo were" several \ such explosions. liis proposal to prosecute was supported by Mir. Frank I Reed, Inspecting Engineer of Mines, who* ! said that a prosecution would do good, i even if a conviction could not be obtainj ed under the obsolete and weak Coal j Manes Act, for it would show the pub- ' I lie that the Mine* Department was alive ,- to tho danger, and would cause tlw ' management to give greater attention ! to the safety of the mine in future, i. Should an explosion occur, the fact of | tho prosecution would be appreciated ;by the. public. The Department, howj fcTcr, took no action, owing to the diffi- | cutty of obtaining a conviction. I Mr. Bennie, in his letter to the Unj der-Secretary of .Mines, also mentioned that ho could got no assistance in tho | work .of inspection from th" Miners' ! Union or their check inspectors, which 1 were tho creation of the mining companies' union. Tressed to explain this, * 1 tie' witness saad that the men whoj formed the new union aft<r the ntr&e I generally believed to be the agents'i af tho company. j The Commission adjourned till to- ; morrow.