MINE FIRES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 143, 14 December 1922, Page 6

MINE FIRES

BLACKBALL AND HUNTLY

AN INQUIRY SUGGESTED

IN INTERESTS OF SAFETY S

It is somewhat of a coincidence that within a few weeks of one another fires have occurred at the Blackball mine on the West Coast' and the Extended mine at Huntly. The Blackball fire, which is believed to have been caused through the fusing of an electric cable, first broke out about three weeks ago, and was responsible fdr some 300 men being thrown out of employment. . Operations at the Extended mine have also been suspended as a result of the fire there, which is supposed to have originated in one of the seams. \ When the Prime Minister visited tho West Coast during the election campaign, a deputation waited upon him and requested that steps should be taken to have the men placed in some of the other mines, otherwise they were faced with a prospect of six months' unemployment. Mr. Massey gave the deputation a sympathetic reply, and Mr. W. R. Kimbell, Under-Secretary of Mines, visited the Coast with a view of ascertaining how many of the men could be absorbed elsewhere. 1 Mr. P. O'Rourke, secretary of the New Zealand Miners' Federation, stated today that he had been informed by Mr. Kimbell that arrangements had been made for employing 30 of the Blackball men at the Roa mine, 30 at Denniston, 20 at the State mine, Runanga, and that the Blackball Company would also be engaging some 90 others on work about its mining property. Endeavour was also being made to employ oth<j|^ oa making tracks in the district, there being a sum of £600 on the Public Works Estimates to expend in this and other ways. In view of the serious "dangers to men working underground in the event ,of fir.c breaking out, . the suggestion was made by Mr. O'Rourke that, in the interests of the safety of miners, an ' in- 1 quiry should be held into the causes of the fires at Huntly and Blackball. He understood that the men affected by the Blackball outbreak had already expressed an opinion in favour of an inquiry. Mri O'Rourke regards it as providential that a change of wind took place at the crucial moment as the men underground were leaving the Blackball mine, otherwise there was a serious risk of the smoka and fumes being driven back into the mine and suffocating the men.' The disaster at Huntly some years ago was recalled by Mr. o*'Rourke when over forty men lost their lives as the result of an explosion of gas caused through a naked light igniting tho firedamp. Mr. O'Rourke also said that some time ago, following upon representations made by Mr. Frank Reed, when he was a Government mining inspector, the Taupiri Company installed stoppings in' a certain section of the Extended mine in order to render it safe for the workers. Within a comparatively recent period "creeping" had talcen place at Huntly, and this had caused the railway line to subside. Other, "creepinge" and "crushings" had also occurred at Huntly, arid hadi been the subject of remedial measures being undertaken. The general public knew comparatively nothing of the risks which attended the occupation of ...mining, and it was imperative that the fullest precautions should be taken to ensure the safety of the lives' of those who worked he-' low the surface of'the earth for a livelihood. ..,..' . .