MINING UNDER THE SEA.
The discovery of a weak spot in the roof of one of 'the Newcastle mines and (he consequent stoppage of work therein, is possibly one of the results of the "creep' iviiirh has hid such sensational effects in the district. If. as appears probable from the name nf the mine, the workings af fected were under the sea, the incident further emphasises the existence of a clan ger which has already been recognised in Newcastle. In the latter part of last vear the chief inspector of coal mines forbade any more hewing to be done in a portion of the Stockton Colliery known as "Gar rett's district" which lay under the sea. f because it had been found that the roof consisted only of 80ft of solid sandstone, followed by' 140 ft to 150 ft of alluvium. The Coal Mines Act of New South Wales ' requres that the minimum thickness :>f roof between a coal working and any body of water that may be above it shall not be less than 120f't. and as alluvium, or mud, lets through the water like a sieve, it could not be considered in estimatinji the thickness of the roof of this particular seam. There was, in fact, a considerable danger that the miners 'might find the Pacific Ocean breaking in upon them al any time, and a large portion of the mine was therefore closed. The conditions of the New .South Wales Act, it is said, were taken from the English Act, the minimum cover of 120 ft of solid strata having been fixed after a fearful disaster in an English coal mine, in which a large number of men were drowned, owing to the BUi'ilen irruption into the workings of the waters of the Herman Ocean. As is well known, a number of Ihe Cornish copper and lie mines run under the sea, nnilin the heavy weather it is asserted that the miners can hear the boulders rolling about on tin rocky bed of the ocean over their heads. The'men themselves are not disturbed by the noise, but visitors are, said to betray
:iu anxiety for a repetition of an experi pure wliirii suggests such hideous possibi lities.
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Greymouth Evening Star, 22 May 1906, Page 4
Word Count
370MINING UNDER THE SEA. Greymouth Evening Star, 22 May 1906, Page 4
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