PROFOUND PATHOS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20039, 4 March 1927, Page 9

PROFOUND PATHOS.

THE CWM DISASTER. SCENES AT THE PITHEAD. ALL HOPE ABANDONED. “WOMEN DRY-EYED AND SILENT. DEATH VISITS MANY HOMES. (Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, March 2. Hope was definitely abandoned at 9 o’clock tins morning that any of the 49 miners entombed in the Cwm colliery are now alive. It is officially stated that the death roll of the two disasters is 71. Thus far 24 bodies have been recovered at Cwm. There was a tensely dramatic scene at the pithead throughout the night. Scores of women, many holding babies wrapped in shawls, stood silently while the pit cage continued ceaselessly up and down, each descent with fresh rescuers and each ascent with a blackened body. By the intermittent light of the furnaces nearby a group could be seen standing motionless and almost emotionless. As the darkness turned to dawn hope fled, and some turned to walk to the adjoining humble street, which is lined with humble cottages. Others remained where they had stood all night, inches deep in mud, until the officials conveyed the sad intelligence that no more men below could possibly be alive. No scenes accompanied the announcement. Brave women took the tragedy dry-eyed, and returned lonely to their homes to await the cal] to the mortuary for identification. Meantime throughout the day frantic efforts were made far below to clear the debris and the gases. Gangs of labourers descended in relays and attacked the massed lock and timber. In the afternoon it was reported that a part of the big fall at “black vein” had been penetrated, and that some bodies had been found. In anticipation of these being brought to the surface, the colliery officials summoned the ■ relatives, who waited in pathetic groups while they witnessed the grim sight of lorry after lorry piled with roughly-made wooden coffins arrive at the pithead. Again the monotonous cage brought up body after body. All were reverently placed in the coffins. Mothers, wives, fathers, and sons, grief-stricken, and out of work, wearily waiting, and knowing full well thta hope was gone, wept silently before a sight that was sufficient to make the stoutest heart quail. Although there are many theories as to the cause of the explosion, the reason is still unknown and unlikely to be solved until the thousands of tons of debris covering the seat of the explosion are cleared. It is probable that this will be a long time, because the place is a seething mass of the deadliest gases. The majority of deaths were due to the deadly black damp, which is worse than any gas produced in wartime, and overcomes a strong man in less than three minutes.—A. and N.Z. Cable. RECOVERY OP BODIES. RESCUERS IN GAS-MASKS. DEATH ROLL TOTALS FIFTY-TWO. LONDON. March 8. (Received March 3, at 5.5 p.m.) As a result of yesterday’s work at Cwm the rescuers broke through the “black vein” fall and recovered 19 bodies. The opening released poisonous gases, thr -atoning the whole pit: but the rescuers, in gas masks, crawling on their hands and knees, reached the huddled heaps of bodies, which they hope to bring to the surface .early this morning. Ten men remain to be accounted for. A British official wireless message states that it was announced in the House of Commons to-day that there was no possibility of any more men being rescued alive from the Cwm mine. Exploration showed that the “black vein” seam in which 28 men were entombed was full of gas. It was feared therefore that the total death roll would be 52. —A. and N.Z. Cable. MR BALDWIN VISITS SCENE UNFORTUNATE DEMONSTRATION. A DISPLAY OF HOSTILITY. LONDON, March 2. There was an unfortunate demonstration when Mr Baldwin and Mrs Baldwin visited the Cwm pithead at midday. They had just left the mine offices, where they inquired of the progress of *he rescue operations, when they met a crowd which shouted unintelligible Welsh exclamations. One voice cried excitedly: “What about the men lying at the ‘black vein’?' For a minute or two Mr Baldwin stood alone in the face of the demonstration while awaiting the car. Mrs Baldwin, considerably agitated, and on the verge of tears, clutched at Mr Baldwin’s arm when lie entered the car and sank back with an expression of pained amazement. Mr Baldwin, though pale and agitated, continued smoking bis pipe. There was renewed shouting as the car drove away, such as “Traitor! Get back to your pigs.” A half-hearted attempt to rush the car was frustrated. Only a section of the Cwm miners was involved in the demonstration, with which the majority, including the leaders, entirely dissociate themselves. Replying to sympathetic messages of the colliery officials and the Labour members of the House of Commons in the district. Mr Baldwin, with a shrug of his shoulders, said: “It is only a few irresponsible young men. One must expect mbs of this kind.” —A. and N.Z. Cable.

PRIME MINISTER’S SYMPATHY, BEREAVED HUMES VISITED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 2. (Received March 3, at 5.5 p.m.) During the visit of the Prime Minister and Mrs Baldwin to the scene of the disaster, they visited several of the bereaved families. To the father of two young men who lost their lives, one in attempting to save the other, Mr Baldwin said: “I have come to see you as man to man. 1 have come not as Prime Minister, but as a man who wishes to express his sympathy for you.” COMMENT BY DAILY HERALD. LONDON. March 3. (Recived March 3, at 8 p.m.) The Daily Herald, in an editorial, describes the demonstration against Mr Baldwin as a painful incident. The motives of Mr Baldwin and his wife in visiting the scene of grief were kindly and human, and their personal sorrow was manifest, but to the people of Cwm the present was linked with the past. The Prime Minister’s part in the lockout was remembered, and hence the outburst of feeling.—A. and N.Z. Cable. OUTBURST BY MR JACK JONES. LONDON, March 2. Mr Jack Jones, Labour member for Silvertown, waa cheered for saying at a London trade union meeting that Cwm had received Mr Baldwin in the proper spirit. It was an effrontery when the Prime Minister, who had engineered the miners’ eight-hour day and a reduction in wages, had visited the district in its hour of travail. The House of Commons was shedding crocodile tears.—A. and N.Z. Cable. ROYAL SYMPATHY EXTENDED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 2. Profound sympathy has been sent by the King and Queen and the Prime Minister in connection with the disaster. REFERENCE IN COMMONS. LABOURITES DISPLAY BITTERNESS. LONDON, March 2. (Received March 3, at 5.5 p.m.) Mr J. Sullivan (Lab.), introducing a private member’s motion in the House of Commons, drew attention to the unemployment in the mining industry and the mine owners’ discrimination against active trade unionists Referring to the Monmouthshire and Nottinghamshire disasters he declared: “We miners feel very strongly on occasions like this that we do not want expressions of sympathy from certain quarters.” The Deputy Speaker (Mr E. A. Fitzroy): That remark is out of order. Mr Will John (Lab.), seconding the motion, said that without imputing blame to anyone for the catastrophes, it would bo desirable for the Government to ascertain whether th e owners, through being obsessed with the idea of increased and cheap production, were at present adopting policies tending to increase the possibility of accidents. Sir A. Steel-Maitland (Minister of Labour), after sympathetic reference to the disasters, said that the men employed in the mining industry totalled 1,006,000 on February 12, and the number was increasing. At present unemployment in the mining industry was not nearly so severe as it was in the iron and steel trades, or half what it was in shipbuilder Sullivan’s motion was defeated by 224 votes to 155, and the House adjourned.—A. and N.Z. Cable.