NIGHTCAPS MINE DISASTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14000, 5 September 1907, Page 4

NIGHTCAPS MINE DISASTER.

RESUMPTION OF TIIK INQUIRY. THE FOURTHDAT'S SITTING. MINE MANAGER'S EVIDENCE CONTINUED. (From Our Social Reporter.) RIVERTON, Soptenibcr 4. The Royal Commission set no to inquire into the circumstances of the disaster at Nightcaps coal mine, which caused tho death of three men on June 21, was resumed this morning. MINE MANAGER IN THE BOX. The examination-in-chief of .'.Toh[t Lloyd, tho mine manager, by Mr Macdonald wa6 continued. "Witness .said tho time at which he was overtaken by tho seizure from what ho now know to be white-damp was about 10 minutes pa6t 7 in the morning. Carson and .Welsh were sent'to the seeno of-the fire about 10 minutes,- and Duncan about three minutes, before. It \m about. 7 o'clock when Carson and Welsh, were sent in, and seven minutes past? 7 when Duncan went in. There was a' fan shaft and fan driven by an engine at the mine. As a rule, while tho mine was working ihe fan was/driven 17 hours. It was, driven, more if required. The driving of the fan began at 7.30 a.m., and continued until , a few minutes after midnight. The fire yas kept goingduring- the whole time that the men wero employed in the mine with tho exception of tho night shift, and on that shift thero wero only two men. These were in tho mino to watch tho'fire, and if the fire did not require attention they did odd jobs. Thero wero in tho 24 h'ouri three shifts. The first shift started at 8 a.in; and knocked off at 4- p.m. There wero 23 or. 24 men in that shift,' working in No. 1 -eectiort. Tho second 6liift at 4 p.m.; and knocked off at midnight, ami the third shift, tlin night shift, bogan at mjdnjght and lasted until 8 a.m. There were eight in tho second shift in No. 1 scction. In tho night shift thoro were hvo men; Thoro wero not tho same number of shifts' to' work No. 2 section. To wovlc this there was ono shift commencing' at 8 a.m. and knocking off at 4 p.m, Tho number of men employed was 14. From 4 p.m. until'B a.m. f.hovo were no men in No. 2 section'aj; all. The deputies in oliarire. of the; shifts' in No. 1. section wero., William Duncan (head deputy), in charge of: the morning shift: Archibald Dixon (second deputy), in charge of tho afternoon shift: .Tamos Sohiornilc (night deputy). Witness's hours at the mine varied. Generally ho was 011 the works from 7.20 a.m. until 5 p.m., and from 6.30 p.m. till 8 p.m. When he wns not in tho mino thero.was( representing hint there, in addition to tho deputies named, the under- ' viewer (Joseph Frame). This man ' had hold the position of tindervjewer. about 14 months. His hours were from B,a.m. to 5 p.m., and longer when, There was part of the timo mentioned—that from 5 p.m. to 7.20 a.m.—when neither witness nor tho underviewer was in the. mine, and their place was then taken by ' the deputies. Ho' produced ' the report book of William Duncan, the head deputy, who hfid charge of the day shift, and who was killed by tho explosion. ' ■* Duncan's LAst Report. The last entry made in tho book by the head deputy, William Duncan, who was killed, was dated Thursday, June 20, and read as f0110w56.15 a.m. .1 have examined No. 1 mine, working places, and roads 'leading thereto,' and found them all safe.—(Signed) Wiiaiam Duncan." He was killed shortly after 7 o'clock on the Friday morning. ' Ho'had • held office as head deputy about throe years, and was a very ■ trustworthy servant. I-lis servico- in tho company had extend over .26 years, and ho had worked oontinually. with tho exception of two years, when ho was away at Shag Point. His duties were to gq round tho mine,'mako an examination of it, and return to the station, to pass tho .men- in if ho found everything satisfactory,- and to report to the underviewer whatever lie thought necessary. He • then entered his report in the deputv book. No report was made by Duncan at 6.30 on Friday morning, as ho was otherwise engaged. He could not report anything in the book before.ho had examined all places. That would be after 8 o'clock, wlien the men had' been passed in. Ho had to make tile examination between 6.30 and 8.30.'a.m. As a* matter, of fact, ho did not make the examination on Friday morning at any time;because wit ; liess told him to go up Carson's heading, and there he met with his death. ! Witness did not appoint anyone else to -make tho examination, befcauso when Frame and Jardino cfimo in ho told them-.that Duncan and Welsh an<J .Carson were down the din, and to. go down, and look after them. Ho told Frame that he "was done,"'.and ho (Frame) was to take full charge of the .mine. This was shortly alter the Seizure— probably about'7.2o n.m. Witness had left Duncan there some 11 minutes or so before. ;.Ho did not then- consider that section 1 of • tho'mino was in a very dangerous condition. Mo-sent, two men to,look after the three men he bad-kit a fow minutes before, because Archibald Dixon had told him that two fresh men could put up the canvas in 10 minutes, and lie wondered' what the three men-wero doing that, thoyhad- hot returned. Ho rememkered giving evidence at the inquest. -Ho . then said: "I met , -Dixon at the-stable. He 'told mo one of the--stoppings' was burning. He . did not > toll mo things were dangerous in .tho mine, j I wanted to put water on tho firo, but I j could *nol; get-it on. The firo had burst E through the. stoppings." ■■ ■' ■ ,i, | Dangehs op the Mine. ) From the timb I got to tho mine until . 1 ' o'clock things got moro and more dangerous, and when it was impossible: to put water on.tlie firo it became more dangerous every minute.. I knew it was my dutj

when I found the mine waj dangerous ■ tt> withdraw .the. men. from it. 1 never at any time withdrew the - men from the fire. Wit* ness believed ho had made this statement when ho first learned that the .water could not be turned on. It was, lm thought,, about 6 o'clock; He did not start' the fan because there was-, three times as much ventilation goingr into the mine as was necessary. The fire was bumin|*.:brig-htly. If more ventilation had been employed, it would not have helped to prevent the generation of gases, ; particularly whitedamp. The more., ventilation the mfore fire and the more gases'. Before the firo witness was not aware that incomplete combustion or' -burning was. one 'of the eauscs of white-damp. Knew tliere - was 'black-damp in the mine tJiat night'. Wit--31 ess had not used safety lamps on that Friday morning. When in one of (lie. roadways witness did not remember hearin? an explosion. Did not hear one at any time.. Remembered nuking this.statement at the 'inquest.:—" On Friday morning' I. heard .what, I took to be an. exnlosion. I was. at tlie engine. The explosion fame out of the old.lay-bv road. It mint .have been a mixture of what- I would , call bastard, gas.',' ; Cause 'op the Explosion. .v-

The explosion was caused either bya-large fall at the hack or starting the fan and putting .the pressure of air fo much'oil that it drove, the funics ..of I the fire ant through this drive. It could not possibly

escape through the section. Ho was there,' and it went right over his head. It. did not, burn. It was awavo of blue or preen air. He' did not think it was an ordinary explosion. It was probably a foot or 15in from the. roof. He lioliccd this at 20 minufcea to Bon Friday morning. After this, which ho had called ah explosion, ho ordered the men 1 not to go into tho mine without safety lamps;' He felt no heat at all when this 60called explosion- passed over his-head. In 6aying at tho dnqiteat that lie heard an explosion ho mode a mistake. He must have heard a fall back or a slamming at tho dooiv Ho did seo something coloured blue or. green pass over his head, but did nit think at the time that. it was accompanied by a noise. He thought he had i heard a noiso immediately before that. .The blue or green appearanco in the air ho attributed to tho fire. He was standing about 2J chains from tho fire in a straight line. There, wcro -two doore between the fire and tho placo where, lie was standing, 'but no stoppings. (Witness indicated the position of the doors oil the plank.) As fa-r-as ho understood from i'iic deputy, one of t.ho doore was'open.' It was left open purposely •to cut the air off the fire. After this he ordered the men not to go into tho mino without safety-lamps. Ho did so '-because he. thought'it was "necessary. It was the appearance of :bluo or green' air that made him think it heccssnry. He knew that this bluo or |»reen air was a kmd_ of bastard gas. and did'not think it was firedamp or white-damp. 1 He thought it was a combination of fumes; from the frfc. Tho eases witness know of which were mot with in mines' were black-damp (non-combus-tible), fire-damp, and white-damp. Tho gas on this occasion could not have been black»<(amp. Then, as far as witness knew, it' would bo a combination of white-damp and fire-damp. Ho felt- ho heat. Ho could distinguish a dirty bluo flamo mixed with green. He had never seen cxaotly the same thing before. ' , To' the Chairman: He could not detect any smoll. „ ' ■ Effects of Fire-damp.

Witness continued that his experience of fire-damp was that it was more rapid and ficreo than this. ' If.fire-damp passed over ono it would singe his hair and whiskers, and would even burn the clothes.off once body. -Its eo!our was' pale blue. Witness gave Mr I'rame tho order about the 'safety lamps. In the ordinary course men would not be' coming into the mino shortly, atter that time, becaus'o it was a holiday that morning—Friday, Juno. 21; ;' \« To the Chairman: The whistlo wenttlie ■night befe'-e that it was to be a holiday 'next'morning. ' „.y ; ■' '• Waiting for Orders."" w*«' To Mr 'Macdonald: There were a lot. of men in the mino at that timo, however. When witness gave tho order seven or ciehi men ' wero in the mine, and the deputy wsw Frame. -Before sending the men in witness did not rend a man to examine t.ho mine with a- safety lamp. He ,was 1 waiting for safety lamps to recover the men. lie knew that. Ja.rd'ine ran had fallen. Witness did not think it' would have been better had ho turned on the faji as soon as he appeared on tho soone at 20 minutes past 3. The ventilation at 7.20 had' not diminished Sincp'3.2o. It had considerably increased .at '7.20. Ho thought it pronor that the fan should be turned on. under, tho circumstances. -Ho would not havo sent men to look for Jaidine at 7.40 unless the fan had been turned °"to tho Chairman: The place where the men were lost was in the middle soam.

Recovery of the Bodies. •He did not know who went down to .find Duncan and. Jmxline. It was Mr Frame who sent the messenger..-' He was not in charge at tkt time. He saw thp dead body''of Duncan shorty aftcr.it .was : recovered, Tnit could not say at what time. Ho did not sec the bodies of Welslrand Orson. Naked,lights wero used in iSo. 1 section of- the mine on Thursday night and VVidav until witness ordered the men at 7.40 to take' saJety lafhps. .Ho believed thev dW not use safety lamps during the rest of that' day. but did not know why. In ease of accidents in section N0.,1 of .the mine there wero throe or four escapes, and in section 2.'there" wore.-four or. ,five exits. (Witness pointed out jthese on the map.) Inspection- of' the Mine. ... Mr Green's predecessors in- the office Inspector cf Mines were Mr Gow, Mr

John Hayes, and Mr Burns. Mr Binns was the firet inspector to inspect tho mine, and as far as witness know ho did not complain as to tho state of tho mine. Tho ventilation was not'first class until thoy got tho fan. Tharo was no complaint by Mr Gow or Mr Hayes, but Mr Green com-, plained three ago. Witness was aware that where two shifts woro employed tho act.'required'that Clio mino should bo examined onco ovary 12 hours, and that tho examination should t-ako place with a safety lamp, but witness had not carricd out that provision of .tho act in his mine. His reason was because hp had never seen any gas or anything of that description requiring tho use of a safety lamp. ' Witness'had made tho following statement at ; ."tho inquest:—"l know that it is my duty, to sea that tho mino is examined once at least overy day with a safety lamp. I hive not done this, for tho past .two years. I' don't think my employers knew that I ivas disregarding the act. I don't think tho Inspector of Mines knew it. I did not think it was neecKary to do it. 1. knew tho law required it. I didn't observe, the precautions of the act bccauso I 6aw no gases, and I don't think .whitedamp couid come into tho mino. It killed three men and. nearly killed another." The statement was trua Sineo ho hail been manager. witness had found no gases except black-damp in tho mine. Blackdamp was not constant in the mine. Thoy deteoted it occasionally whoro they wcro taking :out tho pillars. ' Tho statemeait regarding the withdrawing of men from the mino (quoted above) was only partially true. Witness did withdraw'tho men after

ho saw tho wave of gas coming out. Ho withdrew thorn a little/before 8 o'olock' to tho turn in the main : drive leading to tho open cast, and he ordered that no man was to .pass this point -without a. safety lamp. 'It was not' Frame who withdrew the men. Someone shouted out " Hero it comos." Witness had his lack to the old lay-by. and turned round shouting, "Douse all lights and run." To tho question at tho inquest, " You wished-'to save your employer's; property?!' ho had' replied "Yes.!' ■ . " And in order to do .this you disregarded the provision of tho, aof- and risked tho lives of- tho men''" Ho had replied, "Yes, very probably." • Tiie Use of- Tp Safety Lamp. The following exfeorpt frtnn iho depositions of witness at tho inquo3t was then road:'— Question: "Well, if you wished to savo your' employer's property and not withdraw the men, did you not know it was part- of your duty to make an inspection of the mine with a safety lamp?" Answer: "I decline' to answer tho question. I will aftswer.it one way: I-had no tame to make tho, jnapcotion.',' I do riot think it was dangorous so far as gases vwere concerned. Thero Is always ii certain amount of risk in a mine on fire. In this oase I decided to toko' tho risk." . In reply to this state-

ment witness now said ho had meant to say that ho had no intention whatever of sending tho moil into any danger or to walk into thorn himself. • Mr Hanlon asked tho. witness if ho in-

taided to admit that. ho ohoso_to tako tho risk of sacrificing the men's lives to save his master's property.—Witnoss: No. The Chairman asked what was'meant

when witness Baid, "I chose to tako tho risk."—Witness said that'ho meantthaitho was prepared to take what, appeared to him to bo an ordinary risk in tho case of . a mino on fire. ' To Mr Maedonald: Witness,remembered his statoment, "If I had dorio _ what tho act said I should have 'dono. this disaster would hot havo happened."— I That was not' truo.. •'Witnces hail. meant simply that' no Kifcty lamp could detect tho uresonco of white-damp. (Witness explained -horo that he was ?till under the iniuenoo of whitedamp when giving ovidcnce at tho inquest, | land could not say how ho oamo to reply as-lie had done.) .' • '~ Mr Hanlon: Mr Solomon's question at tho inquest was: "Can you not say that if you had done what tho act. told you to. do and withdrawn, the meh , this disaster would not havo ', occurred ? Witness's answer was "No."—Witness: What I meant is this: If I had withdrawn tho men of course, their deaths would not have occurred at that time. i Allegations op Drinkixg. Mr Maedonald:. You havo been, Mr Lloyd, a heavy drinker?—No, I have,not. Mr Maedonald-: You have done' some heavy drinking?—l have dono some drinking. -'- ■ •Mr Maedonald: Heavy; drinking, Mr' Lloyd?—No, not extra heavy, but I have drunk a lot. , ••••_,, , , • • : You havo drunk so much, Mr Lloyd,, that prohibition orders have''been ,taken out against youf—No, I have taken them out irivsclf. . . :..... The Chairman: When was tho, last one.; taken out?—Tho last'one ctpired, seven or eight months'.ago... , ' , Mr'Maedonald: Did not Mr Handysido tako out one against you?— Yes. •Mr Maedonald: When was that?— Twenty

months ago. Mr Maedonald: And 1 that would bo the last?— Yes;'. but he took it out under a

misapprehension. , ' Tho Chairman: I euppceo you wero given to . understand that unless you submitted to these orders you would suffer'.dismissal?—-Yes., Mr Maedonald: Has:. Mr Handysido 'asked you to ' have tho" prohibition order renewed?— Yes, and I refused. Mr Maedonald:"lt is t .ajfact that you were drinking on the evening of Thursday,. 20th Jmie?~Yes,.' : . Mr Maedonald,:. And how much whisky did you drink that 'evening?—l had two glasses of whisky at's.so nt William Carson's. I had one about • 8 o'clock, after tea—this time a whisky 'and milk. I had tho lasishamed drink also' dt Carson's. Altogether I had four good nips of whisky. Mr Maedonald: You did not go home that night?—No, Mr Maedonald:,How many nips are there in a bottle?—l cannot say exactly, but I think, about .12. • :Mr Maedonald: Do wo understand you to say that you had only a third-of that bottle?— Yes. • •

..The Chairman: Do you mean by.a nip, a 6mall tumbler full?— Certainly not. : I should oorisidcr half a spirit glass a gcod nip. '.v'; ; Mr Macdonald: Why .did-you not go hdmo that night?—l .felt vory_ tired, anil I was waiting for CJareon, it being a holiday next ; day. Tlo' used- to do the gardening for me, arid I wanted to, tell him what to do for mq in the 'garden. T knew that ho would bo up. at my house between 8 and 10.' I lay down-and went to sleep. Mr Macdonald: AVcro you in your sober senses when you lay dowri?.7-Yes. , -. Mr Macdonald: You heard Mrs Carson's evidence at tho inquest; If she were called and repeated the' following statement, whicloho made before thoi court—" With the: exception;of. one-, nobbier my hu6band •had when' he went out, and one I put away for . him when he returned Lloyd drank tho wholo' of tho bottle between 8 and 10 "•'-would .that statement be true?—No, it is not true. When Carson opetaed 'Jtlio hottlo between 5 and 6 I had two nips. Ho ha<l two nips. Mrs Carson had two nip 3, and Mrs Tikcy. a neighbour, had two nips. • ■ • • -Mr Macdonald: If Mrs Carson made this statement 'hero, '.which ■ alio niado at tile' inquest, would this be true: "Hy husband camo home about 10,.and after.a little talk wivwenE to'bed. Lloyd lay down on tho sofa. He was lying down: on.the sofa. beforo my.husband came'in. I could not say that ho was drunk. hut'l could not say that ho ■was in his sober Senses?". Is that true?— I Jeavp the court to judgo that. I liavo 'told the court what I drank, Tho Chairman said he thought it unnecessary to go on with these' questions. Ho could not ■ incorporate Mrs Carson's cvidenco ih witness's evidence.

Tho Chairman: Is it true that you said at Carson's that you would lie down and havo a sleep?— Witness:. Yes. This ooncluded- the examination-in-ohicf of. tho witness Lloyd. The cross-cxwnina : (ion of Lloyd will bo .proceeded with tomorrow, tho court resuming at 11 o'clock.