DREADFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 525, 3 July 1869, Page 3

DREADFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Another dreadful colliery catastrophe, causing the death of at least 36 persons, occurred on the morning of April 1, in the South Lancashire district—an explosion of gas in the fiery Arley Mine, the seam in which so many fatalities have recently happened. At 7 o'clock the usual indications on the pit bank showed that the Highbrooks colliery, belonging to Messrs Mercer and Evans, and situated in Park-lane, Ashton-iu-Mackerfield, a short distance from the boundary of the borough of Wigan, had " fired," and news spread with startling rapidity, so that the pit bank was quickly crowded with the friends and relatives of the men who were employed at the pit. Upwards of 70 men worked at the pit; about one half of these were brought to the bank uninjured ; at least 23 have perished ; 15 others were recovered fearfully burnt or suffering from the effects of choke-damp. The Brooks colliery consists of two shafts—an upcast and a downcast, both originally sunk to work the Orrell 4-feet, or Arley Mine, which should lie GO yards below the 5-feet, to a point 00 yards above it, or at least 120 feet out of its ordinary position. The winning of this 4-feet team has been a matter of no small difficulty, for as the work has progressed, fault after fault has obstructed the progress of the work. The seam, too, so notably a gaseous one, has had to be got with the greatest caution, and every means has been adopted which could be suggested to secure the safety of the workmen. All the lamps were locked and examined by the fireman, no collier was allowed to fire a shot unless the fireman had first examined his place and given him permission, and care was taken to secure the services of the most competent men and underlookers and their assistants. The fireman, Richard Gortley, made his customary examination of the 4-feet seam, commencing at 4 o'clock, and afterwards returning to the pit-eye to lock the lamps of the colliers when they descended the shaft to their work. Several shots, it is stated, were made ready for firing on the previous evening, and Gortley was asked to superintend the ignition of these as soon as possible. He went to consult with a brother fireman on the pit bank, and then descended again as soon as possible. He left the pit-eye and proceeded to the southerly part of the workings for the purpose of examining the places iu order to give the necessary sanction to the firing. Immediately after this the explosion occurred—how has not been ascertained, for the whole of the men and boy semployed in the part into which Gortley went, as well as the fireman himself, are dead.

The latest intelligence) from Wanganui was to the effect that Colonel Lyons' expedition up the Patea Eiver had resulted in the capture of Tauroa, one of tho principal rebels on the West Coast, and, according to the Wanganui Times, second in importance only to Titoko Warn, and his following of 40 men, with their wives and children. Instead, however, of giving these men their deserts, being rebels taken with arms in their hands, and known to have participated in the outrages committed by tho West Coast Hau Haus, they are brought in prisoners, to burden tho country with a heavy and useless expenditure, until the Ministry sees fit to let them escape, and immediate arrangements are mado for their supply with food and clothing-