SAFETY IN MINES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1937, Page 11

SAFETY IN MINES

GRESFORD DISASTER

DISCUSSION IN COMMONS

ENFORCING THE LAW

(British Official Wireless.l

(Received February 24, 12.30 p.m.)

RUGBY, February 23.

The House of Commons this evening discussed the Gresford colliery disaster, in which 265 lives were lost in September, 1934. Both the opening Opposition speaker, Mr. David Grenfell, himself a miner from his twelfth to his thirty-fifth year, and the Secretary for. Mines (Captain Crookshank), who followed him, described the accident as one of the most appalling in the postwar record of mines.

The debate arose out of the report recently made public of the inquiry into the explosion, and Mr. Grenfell, who paid a tribute to the ability and patience of the Chief Inspector of Mines (Sir. Henry Walker), who presided over the Commission, said that a study of the report impelled serious disquiet about the whole machinery for supervision and inspection which Parliament had been building up for nearly a century. He felt that inspection had proved ineffective at Gresford. He hoped the House would make it unmistakably clear it required the strictest administration of the law and regulations, and that, if new legislation were necessary, 'it would pass it to protect the men who contributed to the wealth of the country and the comfort of its people by coal-getting.

The Secretary for Mines commented on the difficulties in the way of arriving at firm conclusions about the accident because it had been impossible to enter the affected area,- which was sealed up after rescue efforts proved unavailing and could not yet be safely unsealed, and.a great deal of evidence presented to the Commission was contradictory. THREE QUESTIONS. There were three questions. First, observance of the. law by those engaged in the industry itself —owners, officials, and workers —and on? that he would say no more than that the Attorney-General had the whole question of the proceedings under consideration. Secondly, the administration of the existing law, and, in this connection, Captain Crookshank referred to criticism of the inspectors concerned which had been made at the inquiry and elsewhere, and stated that no disciplinary action would be taken. Thirdly, the amendment of the existing law and regulations. It "might be that greater powers should be given to the inspectors, or that the organisation of inspection required modification, but on those points they would await the report of the Royal Commission on Safety in Mines of which Mr. Grenfell himself was a member.

■ "Let us learn what we can," declared the Minister in conclusion, "from the catastrophe and try to increase our knowledge and strenthen the administration. It is the best and only consolation we can offer to the bereaved."