The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 4051, 22 December 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1881.

Now and again a cablegraphic message announces some serious colliery disaster, by which hundreds of men hare lost their lires, and we regret that a message announcing the supposed annihi< lationof fully 200 men, through an eiplo-

sion of gas, at Wigan, appeared in our cablegrams a few days ago. It appears to us that scientists do not make the efforts they .should do in endeavouring to discover some means of nullifying the subtle and deadly influence of after damp, and we see no reason to believe otherwise than that it will hereafter become quite practicable to provide an antidote for gas, in the same way as scientists have discovered an antidote for the most deadly poison known. In many case? of explosion, the cause may be rxphined in insufficient veutilaliou—ventilation of a scientific nature. If ventilation were secured on a scientific basis, there would be very few of those terrible mining accidence, which so often appal us. The company ow uing the mine may be blamed for this negligence, in-as-much as greed for dividends makes them callous as to the safety of their men. The miner, and more particularly the collier, are not valued as men, but as mere mechnical agents necessary to extract that substance by which the shareholders live. They are well aware of the constant danger they are placed in, and become reckless and impious in their mode of life. Being always iv danger of death, they treat him with contempt, until the crash of explosion brings them face to face with him they had contemned. The New Zealand public as a whole have but a faint idea of the awful consequences of an explosion. A distant sound as of artillery is heard, a cloud of smoke arises from the shaft, and mothers, wives, and children rush with agonising shrieks to the edge. A number of men come to the rescue and bravely endeavour to descend, and though an impossible task they do not give up the attempt until nearly suffocated themselves. They return to the surface, and their reappearance, semi-intoxicated with gaseous fumes, announces the fact that they have been unsuccessful. At this time the fire is raging below at a depth of perhaps 2,000 feet, and the anxious ones on the brink are powerless to save their loved ones from a horrible cremation. Hours pass, and women no longer weep, for their grief has passed the limits accorded by reason, and they border on insanity. Some in their hour of peril do not forget to apply to Him. who is a n»verfailing source of help, but the majority by far are dumb to such religious feeling, and the Universal Benefactor is only appostrophised with horrible . imprecations. Curses are muttered on all sides, while above all can be heard the distant church bell, already tolling for the dead. Days pass thus, until a successful attempt is made, and one by one the mutilated and charred remains of the victims are brought to the surface and identified. And then i ensues another mournful scene, such as the pen of no man can describe, a scene too awful to gaze upon, and impossible to do so without thinking of the disgraceful callousness exhibited by mine managers and[directors as to the safety of their employes. To illustrate this it is only necessary to relate a simple incident. The writer happened to be at Home at the time of the fearful mining explosion at Merthyr Tydfill, and meeting a director of the company, said : "You have had a sad accident it seems; 350 killed P " To this he returned a look of the supremest indifference as he remarked : "Oh ! The mine is paying well, no doubt." Such was all he and his Board cared about the 350 men who had been sacrificed in order that he and his company should revel in wealth, and who, after working like slaves for years, had perished through the fault of those who had fattened on their work, and who were utterly destitute of humanity in placing their men in situations where they never knew the moment they might be hurried into the presence of Iheir Maker. It is quite time the scientists and engineers applied themselves to this question, as however important may be the telephone, microphone, or diotite, they all pale before the necessity of the preservation of life.