ONE YEAR AGO

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21225, 23 September 1940, Page 5

ONE YEAR AGO

MINE DISASTER GLEN AFTON TRAGEDY DEATHS OF ELEVEN MEN Twelve months ago tomorrow, on September 24, 1939, eleven men lost their lives when they were trapped by gas in the Glen Alton coal mine. The disaster, which occurred on a Sunday, was the biggest colliery tragedy in the district since 1914, when about 40 men lost their lives in the Ralph’s Mine at Huntly. The first indication that anything was amiss in the Glen Afton mine last September was given when a frantic telephone call from the interior of the mine was received by Mrs C. Blackburn, the wife of the mine manager. Earlier that morning Mr Blackburn entered the workings, saying that he would not be away long. Prior to that two deputies and two mines electricians had gone in, the former to make their daily examination and the latter to continue their search for an electrical fault which had been discovered on the previous afternoon. When the alarm was given from the interior of the mine, Mr Blackburn said to his wife “Tell Thomas (the engineer) to get the fan going. There are men trapped in the mine.” Following this a number of men entered the workings to give their assistance, and at about mid-day the real seriousness of the trouble was realised when the mine engineer, who decided to take refreshments to the men, was nearly overcome by gas and had to beat a hasty retreat to the surface. Great Difficulties Quickly-organised search parties, in which every miner in the district offered his services, worked steadily throughout the rest or the day in the effort to save their fellow workers, but it was in vain. All they could do was to bring the dead bodies of eleven men from the underground tunnels, and so great were the d.lificulties that the last body was not recovered until several days later. The men killed in the . disaster were:—Messrs Christopher Blackburn, mine manager; William Brown, under manager; William Wilcox, under viewer; Richard Ireland, deputy; Walter George Cole, deputy; Jack Marshall, acting-deputy; William Bell, electrician; Raymond Turley, electrician; William Peden, miner; George Hunter, shift man; and James Clark, shift man. All the men were married. To inquire into the cause of the underground fire which was said to have occurred in the mine on September 24 and to have been the cause of the disaster, and also to consider several other aspects of the tragedy, a Royal Commission was set up and sat at Huntly from November 27 to December 6, and from January 22 to January 24 last. As a result of the evidence forthcoming at the sittings of the Commission several recommendations for the safer conduct of mines in New Zealand were made to the Government.