THE KAITANGATA COAL MINES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3398, 1 March 1879, Page 3

THE KAITANGATA COAL MINES.

♦ (lit/ the Special Reporter of Ihe Ly ltd ton Times.) In resuming my notes on the Kaitangata coal mines, I purpose to point out the sources of danger to -which the men who were employed in the Tunnel mine were subjected. As the readers of the LytteUon Times are now awaro, the men entered by a long tunnel, this iLain drive branching out right and left into a series of underground streets, as they might be termed, forming a complete network. Almost everywhere, a man of medium height would be able to walk fairly erect. In the working places, the parts from which the supply of coal was being cut, the average height would be Bft, and the width 12 or lift. The permanent ways — that is to say, those in which tramways were laid, would probably be on an average 6ft wide, very considerable regularity being observed in laying out these subterranean highways and byways, and indeed the map of a mine might easily be mistaken for that of an ordinary city. There is one point in which tho comparison would not hold good, namely, that the principal traffic lines of the mine are narrower than the cross streets. Supposing two of the permanent lines to be in progress, at regular intervals a broad way would be cut from one to another, the intermediate blocks becoming the supporting pillar3. If, after having cut one of these broad ways, the men were to proceed along it, using their picks above their heads, and bringing down all the coal they could, they would then have adopted the practice of "dropping head coal." Ihe supply obtained in this way would be more quickly and easily gained than by the former process of cutting into a face, and the eagerness of the owners for a quick and large output would be gratified. The broad way so" worked would have become an old or abandoned working, and would be stopped up in some way, so that tho ventilating current might be made to travel elsewhere. In the vaulted chamber formed by the old working, the fire-damp, buoyant with its large percentage of hydrogen, would accumulate, and it will be perceived that a man might walk through the place, even with a naked light, without accident. Suppose, however, that in looking about) him for something — some old tram rails, for instance-— ho raises the lamp above his bead, then the fatal explo-

sion must surely ensue. In the Kaitangati mine, the doorway leading into the old wo?kinj was narrow and low, and the deputy-manager with the flaring tallow lamp hooked as usvfa into the front of his cap, had but to stanc erect after stepping into the place to produci the awful catastrophe which has awakenet the sympathy of tlfe people. This, I hav< not the remotest doubt, was precisely how tin explosion occurred. But the details which ] subsequently collected made the matter niori saddening, for they showed that had there been more than one way into all this networl of underground passages, for many of tin victims there would hare been a chance oi escape. Miners at their work in those close corridors, cannot be cumbered with cloth ing. These men were found at a distance from the various points at which they had been engaged (not more than two can wort together), and they had resumed their clothing in some instances, or had gathered their things together, just as they would hare done on leaving work in the ordinary way. It will be remembered, moreover, that they were absolutely unharmed by the explosion itself, not burned in the slightest degree, while the body found in (he old working, and the bocliea of those in the line of the outrushiug blast, bore terrible marks of its intensity. Could the ordinary air supply of the mine have been sustained, or even quickly renewed, there would not to-day have" been so many widows and orphans in the little hamlet. The air entered by the long main drive, and it had also, after being made to pass round and about the workings, to return by the way that it came, nearly to the entrance, at a point where the heat of a furnace drew it up a shaft to be discharged into the outer air. The division between the ingoing and the outgoing air currents, was only a brattice, a wall of boards, which, before the force of the explosion, was of no more avail than so much paper. Every atom of that allini2)ortant wall was shattered, all the air entering the mouth of the mine rushed direct to the furnace, and the after-damp struck down the prisoners into a heavy sleep from which they could wake no more. Quick as were the rescuers, they were at first powerless, for without rebuilding that aircourse as they went, they could not advance. All the wreckage along the now horrible tunnel had to be cleared away, boards and scantling to be carried in and erected, heaps of debris to be driven through, and this in an atmosphere still so heavily charged with carbonic acid, that the men reeled ; and, when they were dragged away to let others take their places for a time, their delirium could hardly be controlled. One man, speaking to me of the di.Viculty of inducing the workers to cease for a time, and of the noble heroism of his mate, (and the brave fellow had done just as much himself), said "Ay, lad, he had got to get his man out somehow, and he wrestled with him grander than ever I saw him wrestle in the ring ;" the mate in' question having a wide-spread reputation for liis prowess. Since the accident, it has been stated, and was the case, that a new way in and out of the mine was being constructed, and in connection with this work a very pertinent question suggests itself to me. Was the new drive being constructed in the interest of the men, for their greater safety, or was it simply that coal might be obtained in much larger quantities, and as cheaply as possibly by a decrease of the underground haulage distance? Mi* Charles Edward Twinning tells us, inter alia, that he was employed by the Kaitangata Company as their 'surveyor, with instructions to largely increase the output — by 50 per cent, it' I remember rightly ; that he had suggested that it would be better to have another outlet from the mine "by which to bring the coal out from the north side of the workings," that is, from the workings which were newest, and at a distance of nearly 500 yards from the existing entrance. Mr Twinning also tells us that in England it is compulsory to have two outlets in every mine in which nine or more adults were employed. The death roll at Kuitangata was 3-1, the mine had been producing highly remunerative results for perhaps two years, but there was only the one outlet. In a shaft mine the danger to the men would be the same, -plus the shaft, and men cannot have yet forgotten the fearful lesson taught at the Hartley Colliery, with its only shaft stopped up, and all hope of safety for the imprisoned miners utterly dead. In Foster and Company's mine, the one I inspected, the workings are 400ft below the surface; nothing, it is true, aB compared with the enormous depth of some of the English shafts, but deep enough in case of any mishap. lam bound to state, from what I saw of this mine, that the utmost care appears to be exercised, and that the plan upon which the mine is being worked out has been well conceived. Two drives ave being steadily carried up the dip, and when they have been sufficiently advanced a new shaft is to be sunk to meet them. Air will then be admitted at one of the shafts and expelled at the other ; there will be two main roads right through the workings, and two ways of entering or leaving. A great deal has been said respecting the visits to mines of Government oliicials. A manager with whom I had a lengthened conversation on the subject, told me that the Inspector could, of course, make any suggestions relative to the working of the mine, but that he had no power to tee that they were carried out. The gentlemen acting under Dr Hector would have geological information in view rather than practical mining details. In oonclusion a word or two of explanation may be added relative to the inclliciency of ventilation in some of the existing mines. To facili tate haulage of the loaded trucks, and to draii. away the water, the workings are made to slope down towards the opening ; so that,when the workings have been carried to a considerable length, they may have risen considerable above the level of the entrance. The difliculty there must necessarily be under such circumstances in making "the ventilating current travel up this incline and then down again to the lower level, at ;i temperature increased by its passage, will readily be perceived.