SUPERVISION IN MINES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 72, 24 February 1937, Page 9

SUPERVISION IN MINES.

STRICTER CONTROL URGED. THE GRESFOBD DISASTER. (British Official Wireless.) Received February 24, 11.40 a.m. RUGBY, Feb. 23. The House of Commons to-day discussed the Gresford Colliery disaster. Both the opening Opposition speaker, Mr David Grenfell, and Captain Crookshank, who followed him, described the accident as one of the most appalling in the post-War mines record. The debate arose out of the report of the inquiry into tho explosion, and Mr Grenfell, who paid a tribute to the ability and patience of the Chief Inspector (Sir Henry Walker), who presided over the commission, said 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 the inspection had proved ineffective at Gresford. He hoped the House would make it unmistakably clear that it required the strictest administration of the law and regulations, and that if new legislation were necesasry it would pass it to protect men who contributed to the wealth of the country and the comfort of its people by coal-getting. The Secretary for Mines (Captain Crookshank) commented on the difficulties in the way of arriving at firm conclusions about the accident owing to the fact that it had been impossible to enter the affected area, which had been sealed up, and that a great deal of the evidence presented to the Commission was contradictory. There were three questions: First, observance of the law by those engaged in the industry—owners, officials and workers —and on that he would 6ay no more than that the Attorney-General had the whole question of proceedings under consideration. Secondly, the administration of the existing law, and in this connection Captain Crookshank referred to the criticism of the inspectors concerned, which had been made at the inquiry and elsewhere, and stated that no disciplinary action would be taken. Thirdly, amendment of the existing law and the regulations. It might be that greater powers should he given to inspectors, or that the organisation of inspection required modification, but oil those points they would await the report of the Royal Commission on Safety in Mines, of which Mr Grenfell himsell was a member. “Let us learn what we can,” declared the Minister in conclusion, “from the catastrophe and try to increase our knowledge and strengthen the administration. It is the best and only consolation we can offer to the bereaved.”