85

C.—4

8. What reason had you to leave the pillar ?—The roof began to work. 9. What did you do ?—We came to the conclusion to shift our tools and go to a place of safety until she settled. I considered at the time there was no immediate danger. We filled about four tubs more when she began to work heavily. I told the trucker he had better go for the roadman. The roadman came and told us to knock off work, as the place was coming in. "If that is the case," I said, " the sooner we are out of this the better." 10. Who came next on the scene ?—Mr. Tennent, Mr. Broome, and Mr. Marshall. 11. What happened then ?—I was the only miner that stopped below. I said to Mann, " You stop here, and if we find any immediate danger we will whip the rails up." We took some of the brattice down. Mr. Marshall asked who took the brattice-boards down, and I said I had. Mr. Tennent asked for my pick, and I pointed to him to try the pillar I was working at. I knew that if he did he would soon order us out. Mr. Tennent went to the next flat-sheet, where the country was pretty solid, and he said to Mr. Broome, " Take out the timber and the miners would not see their danger." He threw the pick down on the ground, and I took it up to the men where they were sitting in a place of safety until Mr. Tennent, Mr. Broome, and Mr. Marshall came up. 12. When they came back what happened?— Mr. Tennent said, " Where is all this danger you men are complaining about ? " I said, " Have you examined the mine, Mr. Tennent? " and he said " Yes." I said, " Could you find no danger down there? " and he said " No." 13. What did you say then ?—I then asked him to come with me and I would show him where there was danger. 14. What did he say ? —He gave me to understand that he was boss of the affair, and we had no right to criticize his actions ; he reckoned the place was safe, and we had to abide by it. 15. How long after this was it when the roof fell in?— Before I went back to work Mr. Broome said he had a good mind to put every man out of the mine and get competent men to work it. I said then that I had worked in coal and alluvial mines for thirty years, and I thought a man of that experience ought to have an idea of danger. 16. What did Mr. Tennent say?—He said that if we men would go back to work he would visit the place within an hour. He said he was going to visit the Bridge section, and if everything was not safe he would shift us out of it. I then made a remark that if I was allowed to work in the pillar I was taken from for another hour that that portion of the mine would have fallen in.. We then went back to work. Mr. Marshall informed me that I must not touch that pillar any more— that is, the pillar I was working at when I left. I said, " Why is it that Mr. Tennent stops the place if he reckons there is no danger ? " Mr. Marshall said that Mr. Tennent had given him instructions not to allow me on that pillar again. 17. You say that he told the manager one thing and you another?— Yes. I said, " Why did Mr. Tennent say there was no danger if I was allowed to work this pillar? " Mr. Marshall said he would remove me to another level. 18. You are a member of the union, I think ? —Yes. 19. Did you lay the facts of what had happened before the men ? —Yes, when I came home from work, and as soon as I could get a meeting. 20. Were there any other complaints laid before that occasion?— Yes. 21. As to what ?—Bad air. 22. What did the union decide to do?—To lay the complaint against Mr. Tennent before the Minister of Mines, as we thought he was the proper man to go to. We thought it was no good going to Mr. Broome, as we should simply get the " sack." 23. Your complaint was made to the Minister of Mines, in consequence of this, about January following? —Yes. 24. You continued to work in the mine after the complaint was lodged by the union ?—Yes. 25. Did you work after that time in the mine?— Not after 1 was removed. 26. You do not know whether the coal fell in or not ? —Only from what I have been told. It fell in the same day. 27. The Chairman ] Mr. Mann told us it was not until after a month?—He was mistaken. I only worked in that particular pillar one day. He worked in that section. The trucker told me it was the day I left. 28. You did not work in that section at all after the day that Mr. Tennent was in ?—Yes, I did. 29. Where did you work after that ? —Higher up on the level, making a roadway through a pillar. 30. Mr. Cottrell.] Do you remember Mr. Tennent visiting the mine again after that ?—Yes. 31. About what time?—As far as my memory serves me, it was about March. 32. Who was he in company with?— Mr. Broome and Mr. Bayfeild, agent for the Cardiff Company. 33. Had any complaints been made against you as to your personal methods of working ?— Not up to that time. 34. Do you remember the date in March when they came ? —lt was early in the month. 35. What happened then ?—When they came into the place where I was working Mr. Broome introduced Mr. Tennent. Mr. Tennent said, " I have a document from the Mines Department: is that your signature ? Do you know anything about it ? " 86. What answer did you make?—l said, "Indeed; will you be good enough to read it to me." I then told Mr. Tennent I could not read without glasses, and Mr. Broome asked Mr. Tennent to give me his glasses. He did so, and I could not see very well through them, and told him so. He asked me whether it was my signature, and I told him that I would not swear it was. He asked me whether I knew anything about it. I said, " Yes ; I signed a complaint to the Minister of Mines with regard to you," and mentioned the time in December of this affair down