a—6

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incline. Crossing up and going to Worthley's there had been a piece of a pillar taken out, making a cavity, where there had been a fall. It is a very different fire. It had been very strong to anything we had seen before. 60. Is that in the bord? —Yes, near the face. 61. Will you just tell us about that particular fire ?—After we went in a few yards from the third incline the force seemed to have died out, although there must have been very severe fire and flame. There were lots of this coked stuff. 62. Would that be accounted for by the fact that the blast could not get any further in, and simply took what it could get to feed on ?—I do not think so, because the same thing would apply in Brislane's bord. It went in very strong there, but there was the same amount of fire as there was in Worthley's bord ; and the same thing would apply to the flame not getting any further. 63. Supposing the conditions were the same ? —Yes. 64. Well, what about the appearance of the flame—was it a different kind of fire ? —Yes. 65. Have you any idea of where that fire came from ?—I could not say. 66. You cannot say what generated it ?—Not unless it was the fall I have referred to. There may have been gas on the top of the fall. My opinion at the time was that it must have allowed some gas to come through to account for the different kind of fire. 67. What you say is that in Worthley's bord there was a different kind of fire, and you think that that different kind of fire would have been caused by gas from the fall ? —Yes. 68. And I suppose that the flame travelling up there would have ignited the gas ?—Yes. 69. Please proceed with your description. —Of course, the fire must have been stationary for a time to burn the props; the place has been full of flame. The same indications were in Scott and James's bord ; the fire had gone in, but not strong. 70. Do you remember going into McMinn and Peillon's place ? — Yes; there was a fall there, and we found a small indication of gas on the top of this fall, but very little fire. We came out into Watchman and Pattinson's, and we found very conflicting indications in that place. 71. You mean that you could not very well tell the direction of the force?—lt appeared to have gone two ways. 72. Where did you go then ?—We came in at the face of Pattinson's bord ; there were more indications of fire along the face of it ; there was a slit upward to the bord above it, where there is a fall. There is a little gas there. 73. Did you find gas above all the falls ? —No; it was above a fall of stone in Pattinson's bord. The appearances were as if the force of the blast had come down the silt; and a prop on the top side and near this fall showed very strong indications of the blast going upwards, because the coal and stuff had been knocked against it. 74. Where did you go to next ?—After leaving Watchman's we came back out of the main dip, and up the intake airway. 75. Before you came away did you find any indication of gas, or of any rush of water from the solid?— No. 76. From the fault ? You know that there is a fault running up here [indicated] ? —lt was reported to us on the second day of our going in that some one had found a big blower. 77. The Chairman.] Did you verify it?—We went to see the place where this blower was supposed to have been found very strongly. We found something making a noise somewhere about there. 78. Mr. Park.] Near that fall?— Just above Watchman and Pattinson's place. We could find no gas coming out of this supposed blower, although we could hear something making a noise. It might have been gas, or it might have been a mixture of air and water. On putting Davy lamps to this place we could not find any indication of gas in the blower. 79. Did you find any indication of a fault about there ? —1 did not see any fault. 80. You say the noise was as if it came from gas and water. Did you look for water ? —Yes ; we could not see anything, but we heard the noise. 81. You left that side of the incline then ?—We left those workings, and went up the next bord. We came out of the intake, and went up the main dip to the next workings—that is, the old workings. We travelled all through them, but did not find much indication of a blast. It seemed as if it had blown a lot of stuff in from the dip a certain distance. We found little falls, and there was some indication of charring or slight fire. 82. You agree with the other witnesses in this respect: that in this particular part of the old workings there were indications of burning or fire?— Very little. 83. Did you examine these old workings carefully ?—Yes. 84. In what direction was the blast when you saw any ? —lt struck it here [indicated]. There were very slight indications ; we saw some charring there. 85. Could you tell in what direction it was travelling?—l could only tell where it struck. [Witness indicated on plan.] 86. That is what you call the middle level ?—The mid-sump level. 87. Where did you go then?—To the top of the level, to the old workings. 88. Nobody had been near those ?—No. 89. Near the tension-wheels?— Yes; in the tension-wheel bord we found a bit of gas at the face. We found it about 2ft. in at the face on the right side, and we found it getting less until we got 4 yards back. A little over 4 yards back you could not tell it. It was 2ft. from the face, tailing back to nothing at 4 yards. We also found slight indications as if in coming in the blast had come in here [indicated], but there were no indications of force. It looked as if it had gone through No. 2 bord and come up the slit. It also appeared to have blown the stoppings in. It appeared to come from the main dip near the tension-wheels, to have travelled along the middle bord, and the lower bord, and to have gone up the incline. It had then struck something which