RALPH'S MINE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 264, 17 April 1915, Page 4

RALPH'S MINE.

DAKCKROUS GAS IN OLD WORKING. By Telegraph.—Press Association. ,unr , nmitl y- L ast Night. VI illiain Wood and Alexander Penman, the manager and the under-nmnager of Ralphs Mme at Huntly were charted' before Mr. Rawsou, S.M., with faifinif to comply with rule 8 of the Coal Mi-JH Act, requiring tlio appointment of under* viewers to make a daily inspection of the mine. Ihe ease relates to the period' since the disaster, Mr, Gillies, for the Crown, said the defence admitted the facts of the case, which really resolved itself into ail In' terpretation of the words "daily inspection ot the mines." ■ Evidence was given by Frank field, Chief Inspector of Mines, to the effect that gas still tasted in the old workings, where four blowers (points where rag 8 admitted) are at present acfive. Weekly inspection was inadequate for the safety of the men, and a daily examination was necessary. Boyd Bonnie, the local inspector, said more gas had been discovered since the explosion than was over before found, mere wore accumulations at every exit and there was a danger if a fall occuried of driving the gas into the present workings, when it only required a miner to bieak lus lamp or to open it to light ft Professor Parkes, of Otago, said after hat'tL In eV,d r'° e 118 waß co " vinc «A that the old workings constituted a potential danger and a daily inspection was necessary, u,^ r ' fl J" nks : , for tlle 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