C—l 4:

74

[j. M. BROWNLIE.

17. Can you indicate which side of Legg's bord ?—No. 18. Did you notice falls between the place where the rails were and the door where you were to put them ?—I noticed them when I was driving there. I think it is the second bord off the trap-door. 19. That is the old fall ?—Yes. 20. How far were the rails from that spot ?—1 could not tell you. 21. How many bords away ?—I think it was the fourth bord away ; but lam not sure. 22. Did you notice some rails at that fall ?—No ; I was not in it that day. 23. You mean you were not in that particular place when you went there into that section a fortnight before ?—That is so. 24. Were you in old workings when you were struck by the blast ?—They are old workings now. 25. When you were in there on the morning of the accident, would you call them old workings then ?—Yes. 26. Did you pass through any doors leading to that spot ?—Two doors. 27. Were they open or shut ?—Shut. 28. Were they locked ? —No. 29. Were there any locks on them ?—No. 30. Did anybody give you any special instructions as to opening or closing those doors ? —You do not need to close them—the wind closes them. 31. Was anybody there looking after the opening and closing of those doors ?—No. 32. Are any of the bords that you passed, forming part of the old workings, fenced in any way ?— Yes. 33. Are all of them fenced, or how many, about ?—Nearly all of them are fenced along the old horse-road. 34. I mean those leading down No. 5, near where the rails were to be lifted : are any of those bords fenced ?—Not that I know of; Ido not think so. 35. Are any of the bords forming part of the old workings leading off the old horse-road unfenced ? --No, I think they are all fenced in. 36. Why was it that you went on that roundabout journey to get to that point ?—Because I could not get the horse through the trap-door—it was too small. 37. The more direct route was through the trap-door, but you could not get through that way owing to the presence of the horse ?—Yes. 38. Was there any other way for you to get there except that way ?—I could have got there by going through No. 5. 39. Were you able to go through the dip with your horse ?—Yes, the way I did. 40. You expected the other men to come through the trap-door to meet you ?—Yes. 41. Was that in consequence of anything you heard from Deputy Smith ?—Yes. 42. What did he say ?—That I was to go that way, and that he would send the other men down the other road. 43. Did he use the words, " the other road " ?—That is what I understood he would do. 44. What were Deputy Smith's words when he told you about these other men ?—He said he would send over four men down to meet me. 45. Did he indicate which way they would come ?—That is the only way that I know of. 46. Answer my question, please : did he indicate which way they would come ?—No. 47. Did he mention that trap-door ?—No. 48. Did he mention which way they were coming ?—No, he did not. 49. Mr. Tunics : ] Are you quite sure that it was the fortnight previously that you went to draw rails ? Was not the mine working the previous fortnight ?—I do not think so. 50. Are you quite sure ?—I would not say ;I am not sure. 51. If the mine had been working you would have been at your working-place ?—Yes, at No. 6. 52. You would only have been drawing rails if it was an off Saturday ?—Yes. 53. You are not quite clear whether the mine was working or not on the Saturday a fortnight previous ?—No. 54. Did I understand you to say that you saw Darby or Smith. ?—Darby. 55. He was at the telephone, and after he had been at the telephone did you get your instructions where you were to go ? —Yes. 56. Then, may I understand this : that you would not have started until you got your instructions from Darby ?—From Smith. 57. I mean from Darby at the telephone, who got them from Smith % —No. 58. You did not hear what Darby was saying at the telephone ?—No. 59. But did you know that that telephone connected with No. 6 cabin ?—Yes. 60. And that the usual routine was for the deputy to ring up No. 6 cabin before the men started to work ?—Yes. 61. And get the word from the examining deputies ?—Yes. 62. Then, when you were waiting for the word to start on your round did you know where these men were ?—No. 63. You did not know where Allen, Roper, Baker, Jackson, and Martin had gone to ?—No. 64. You said, I think, that you had seen the old fall in No. 5 alongside the bord with the trapdoor when you were driving there : how long ago ?—Before the strike. 65. Which trap-door did you mean—the one that is blown out since the explosion ? —The small door at No. 5 section. 66. You say that that had existed there at the time of the strike ?—Yes. 67. Were you working there then ?—I was a horse-driver on that section.