THE RECENT ACCIDENT IN THE WAIHI MINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13398, 29 January 1907, Page 6

THE RECENT ACCIDENT IN THE WAIHI MINE.

ACTION AGAINST COMPANY ANT)

ENGINEER.

[BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

WAIHI, Monday. Ttte adjourned charges preferred by the Mining Inspector against John Henderson (assistant engineer of the Waihi Gold Mining Company), and the Waihi Gold Mining Company, in connection with the accident at No. 2 shaft, in November last, by which two men, W. C. Gray and H. Boxall, lost their lives, came on for hearing at the Warden's Court to-day. The charge against tho Waihi Company was that the company on November 13, 1905, were by their servant, John Henderson, assistant engineer, guilty of negligence in shutting off the steam from the air-compressor engine at No. 5 shaft a.t their mine, whereby the supply of air was cut off from the winding engino or winch at No. 7 level of the No. 2 shaft, and thereby causing the death of one William Cray, and serious bodily injuries to Thomas Henry Boxall, two miners in the company's employ, and who were then engaged in sinking No. 2 shaft below No. 8 level. A similar charge was preferred against John Henderson. Mr. Miller appeared for the mining inspector, and Mr. T. Cotter for the defendants.

The evidence in the main was the same as that tendered at the two previous inquiries, with the addition of cross-examination.

James Lang Gilmour, manager of the Waihi Gold Mining Company, under crossexamination, stated that tiring with fuse in a shaft was more dangerous than firing with an electric exploder. The primary object of the bucket was for haulage of the broken out stuff at the bottom of the shaft. If anything happened to the bucket the ladder was a reasonable way of getting up, and out of the shaft. There was- always a. liability of machinery going wrong.

Re-examined, witness said he had never forbidden the men to us© the bucket.

W. J*, Ganvain, chief engineer to the company, said he considered that there would not be sufficient air in the pipes five minutes after cutting off of the air to raise the bucket off the bottom.

Robert Ah ken Henderson, who was ill at the time of the inquiry, said he was employed in the engineering department of the Waihi Company's mine. He usually took his instructions from Mr. J. Henderson, He received instructions from the latter at about ten o'clock on the morning of the 13th to do repairs to the Babcock boiler after crib time, so as to allow the men working in the shaft to get out of it when going for crib. He started the work of repairs five minutes after the mine whistle went, and proceeded to turn off the main steam valve, which had the effect of stopping the aircompressing engine. He had received no instructions to give the men in the mine warning. The job was really such a short one that it wo.s considered hardly worth while sending word down the mine. The work of repairs was completed within twenty minutes after the stoppage of the air-compressor. To Mr. Cotter: He was given distinct instructions by Mr. Henderson, assistant engineer, not to cut- off the, steam till the men. had gone to crib. In allowing ten minutes from the commencement of crib to the commencement of the work of repairs there would be ample time for the men to get up. The man at the winch should know if there was air in the pipes directly ho put his foot on the valve to haul up. James Ogilvie, who was one of the eontract party, gave similar evidence to that already published. In the course of crossexamination by Mr. Cotter, he said that there had never been any complaint made to the party as to the method or mode of firing the holes. He considered that firing by electricity was not safer than by fuse. The case is proceeding.