WELSH PIT DISASTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 1509, 16 January 1914, Page 7

WELSH PIT DISASTER

RESULT OF THE INQUIRY. COMMISSION'S FINDINGS. EXPLOSION ACCIDENTAL. NO CONTRIBUTORY NEGLECT. By Te>graph—Press Association-Copyright London, January 15. The finding of the commission appointed to inquire into the recent colliery disaster in Wales, by which ■ ■v. r 100 met] were entombed, is to the effect that the explosion was accidental. The colliery, it is held, was properly ventilated and inspected on the morning if the ".xplosion, and the numher of examiners is considered to have been adequate. The explosion was due to gas fed by ivaldust. The cleansing of the floors and roads was systematic, but the commission has recommender that more attention should be pair to the roofs and sides, and urges that the Home Office should endeavour to find a solution of the dust problem. The commission is unable to locate the original spot where the explosion started, hut the preponderance of the evidence enabled the fixing of the lamp station as the probable starting point. The commission i.' unable to say whether the ignition of the gas was due to a spark from an electric wire, but the evidence pointed to a naked light in the lamp station. There was no neglect on the part of anybody that contributed to the deaths that occurred. The commission is of the opinion that the lamp station ought to he placed in a safer position, that the water tanks should be fitted with a sprayer, and that the use of shovels and buckets should discontinued.