The Blackball Fire

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 301, 6 December 1922, Page 2

The Blackball Fire

liiQ 4-rl6j XV.1"81 iirgllo, *i / xxjl writing' of tho fire ?& tho Blackls mine says: it now transpire:? that the Blackb; i&iners were occupied in fighting t! flames up till I a-.zn. on Snturd-ij-. Eye-witnesses state that the* flam presented au awesome sight as tlv rose from the pit, and at first mm anxiety was felt for the safety of U men on ihe back shit (one hundfl ia number) who were still in the! when the fire- broke out. They hea the alarm whistle, but, as it w&s on about a Quarter of an hour fm knock-off time, they mistook it I that notifying the end of the sliil and consequently did not hurry"o The very thick, volumes .of sino Wers dr-VLng over the township, .a not a small Quantity was being drii clown towards where the men w< at work, and had it not been fori courageous efforts of their mat prominent among whom was Mr. Balderstone, secretary of the Unii they steed in danger of having encounter the .smoke before they -ff able to ge.t t 0 the surface. The 1 menfolk and w.cri:er3 off shift, ft lag the wcrst, rushed to the. pit-M unil many *>£ tho distressing incKM ,associated-with real disasters m not lacking, many of the won>eii b in tears before tht-y reached scene of the fire, This occtirrel No. 4 heading, near the main t road, and in rotated to have been; H> the fusing of. a, cable by a ftj coal. Two leads of hose were dii ed on to the -flames after aid brigade had fought manfully, aiiS gallons of water per minute foou its tale, although late en Satu thero was still some smoke i ss ? It was extremely 'fortunate that. fire occurred. e>t'a point where «j was' pleatifal, thus serious d$ was averted. I