FURTHER RISK FUTILE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 10

FURTHER RISK FUTILE.

NO HOPE FOR ENTOMBED. ATTEMPT TO SEAL MINE. PROPOSAL ABANDONED. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON. Friday. The Minister of Mines, Hon. G. J. Anderson, to-day received the following telegram from the superintendent of the State coal mines, Mr. James:— " Self, Miller, Davis (inspector ef mines), and the mine manager have been at Dobson since 6 a.m. to-day. Restored ventilation temporarily and inspected mine ac tar as safe to do so. and found mine on fire. After inspecting mine and conferring with other managers, also the union executive, it was unanimously agreed that the entombed men were dead and that it was too dangerous to take any further risks. "It was agreed to seal up both mine extremes and this work was nearly completed when a second explosion occurred, fortunately without further loss of life. Have now decided to flood the mine by pumping from tho Grey River." The Minister stated that as long ago as April, 1925, he gave written instructions that the inspecting staff was to keep a close watch on operations in the mine. ' He was advised that these instructions tiaci been carried out. The cause of the disaster would ;be thoroughly investigated. A FURTHER EXPLOSION., SOME RESIDENTS LEAVE, FLOODING OPERATIONS TO-DAY. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL RETOHTEa.} GREYMOUTH, Friday. • A further explosion occured at the Dobson mine at about nine o'clock this evening.- The flying debris affected some houses in the direct line of the disturbance.' Three ; or four families left Dobson for Greymouth, preferring to spend a night, away from the danger zone. The previous explosions had served'to clear the accumulation of debris near the mouth of the mine, otherwise tho eoiasequences might have been moro serious. There is bo change in' the condition of Ashtoh, the o'aly survivor 6f the explosion. The work of flooding the mine will ie* commenced to-morrow morning. v-- -" THE DOBSON MINK AN HISTORIC PLACE. AREA'S RECENT DEVELOPMENT: ' T- \ Although the existence of a rich se,im of coal suitable for "smithy" work hat] long been known, Dobson, situated on the left bank of the Grey River, about six miles north of Greymouth, is practically a new coalmining area. Operations were begun there m 1924 by a company formed for tho industrial development o? tip field, and the quality of the coal and the cdnvonient position of the mine for rail and harbour facilities quickly transformed into a busy mining town a settlement that once consisted of a wayside hotel and a handful of bouse 1 ;. 'The train pasties it just a mile'below Brunner, where, on the other side of the river, the passenger lias a gloomy panorama of tho ruined coke-ovens of the Brunner mine, which are a constant reminder of the terrible disaster there, in ,1696. . • : Dobson has an historic interest in thai it is named after, a young surveymw j brother of the late Mr. A, D. Dobson of Christchureh—who was murdered thejro by tho Sullivan-Kelly gang in the sixties.' I'i: grave is on a riso that overlooks the district. . ' ',- h Boring operations vere carried on •at ' different times,and for difteicr* purposes over a long period of years, bat it, not until about m,years ago that'definite attention was given to the commercial development of itho field. Late in 1921 a thick seam of coal was proved in operations begun by Mr. J, D. Lynch,- of Greymouth, but his project .was not proceeded with. Later the present company was formed, and developed the, mino into an important unit of the extensive coal industry of the West Coast, providing acommercial fuel similar to that won from the old Brunner'seam. ; [j ; —-——' ' ' PREVIOUS DISASTERS. ■" HEAVf TOLL OF LIFE, BRUNNER>ND HUNTLY RECALLED Not since, the terrible explosioa it Huntly on the morning of Saturday, September 12, 1914, however, lids there been a! colliery fatality of such dimensions as that which occurred yesterday. That disaster occurred in Ralph's colliery, E'untly, owned by the T&upiri Coal Mines, Ltd., and the Hoyal Commission which inquired into it found that it was -caused by the ignition of fire-damp by a naki light which a miner had carried in the old workings of the mine when proceeding to his work. The ignition of the g*a caused a concussion which raised a quantity of fine inflammable lignite-dust, irv which the- explosion was intensified and carried to the top of the upcsist shaft, a distance of about three-quarters of * mile. f Experts had declared the mine erte <>' the safest; in the world, and practically free from all forms of dangerous gases, yet the misadventure of one man led to ■ a holocaust that brought about the second greatest mining disaster New Zealand has known. The roar of the explosion was heard for.'miles around, and only 19 men, some of whom died later, escaped alive from the mine. There were scenes of remarkable heroism, the rescuers being beaten back for hours in their fight against the deadlv gases with which the shafts were charged The greatest ckplosion was that f-i Brunner on March 26, 1896—about a mile from the scene of the present disaster. Although rescue parties worked for three days, not one o' those working in tho miino at the time escaped alive, the death roll reaching, 65. The evidence at tho Royal Commission was that the primary , cause Was a "blow-out shot," fired by a /vfsrvn unknown-, and contrary U> the rules of the mine, in a part where no wont ; should havp been in progress. . A previous disaster was that at Kai* tan a; at a. in Otago. on February 21, IB *B, when 34 lives were lost « In 1923, (the Blackball mine caught ft re, but the only serious result was that there was no work for some months and a ipwn totally ddpendenf. on mining activities was largely deserted until the min? was lit a fit state for the resumption of operations. Ths fire occurred during the night.