DOBSON DISASTER INQUIRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3823, 21 June 1927, Page 55

DOBSON DISASTER INQUIRY.

HEARING CONTINUED.

MINE MANAGER’S EVIDENCE

GREYMOUTH, June 13. The Dobson disaster inquiry was continued to-day. Mr Hughes, manager of the Dobson mine, stated that he was acting-manager at the time of the explosion. Indications were that the line of force came from the rise working, and unless it could be shown that such line was from the dip the ignition must have been elsewhere than _ i'n the dip. He did not think that heating caused the ignition, but a fall from the roof could cause sparks, as also could a safety lamp left where gas had accumulated. If the ignition occurred irnßrammer’s place in the dip it but that place was wet. while Noakes’s place was only damp. He did not think that Reid’s place was the scene of the explosion. He had instructed the underviewer two days before the explosion to see that the air was kept right up to the working faces. Dust had attained dangerous proportions in some parts, and on the Saturday before the disaster witness had agreed with the mines inspector to employ clay as a remedy. He did not think that the shot’s were fired improperly to any extent. The electrical .equipment was satisfactory, and he did not think that gas had. accumulated in the “goaf.” There'was no check on the safety lamps. He had heard no complaint as to sparks

from the electric motor. He was satisfied after the disaster that there had been an explosion in Brammer’s place. He would have preferred the electrical switch below to have been immersed in oil. Possibly, if the mine had been stone dusted, the explosion would have been averted, and he thought stone dusting was essential. The officials in the mine were not overworked. He was convinced 'hat the initial explosion was due to gas. There was not sufficient dust in the rise workings to carry it along. The explosion was probably off No. 5 or 6 heading. Nothing was done to prevent coal dust accumulating. Being only mine manager at the time he had no instructions to use stone dust. As to not checking the lamps, he had only followed the custom in vogue before he came. There was no record of a system of search for lamps. The regulations should define the depth for shot holes, without the present ambiguity. After the argument between the witness and the ex-manager (Walter Leitch) as to responsibility, witness saying he did not feel he could do as he liked in Leitch’s absence, the chairman, Mr E. Page, S.MI, said Leitch was responsible for the system he had employed, but not for anything else. Hughes said the explosion might have been due to heated coal, but Dobson coal was not likely to bring about spontaneous combustion.

RECEIPT OF DEPARTMENTAL WARNING DENIED. GREYMOUTH, June 14. The Dobson disaster inquiry was continued to-day. After Hughes, the mine manager, had completed his evidence, Walter Leitch, the ex-manager, who was on leave at the time of the disaster, said that one pound of coal dust to 300 cubic feet was sufficient to cause an explosion.- He did not think there was sufficient coal dust, in the Dobson mine to cause an explosion. Some time before the disaster he had had in mind the idea that the mine should be stone dusted, and he had endeavoured to get a supply. Witness said he did not remember the receipt of a letter from the Mines Department in November threatening to take action unless the regulations regarding coal dust were complied with.

Mr A. H. Kimbell (Under-secretary of Mines) interjected: “I don’t understand yet, why you did not have the mine stone dusted to comply with the regulations.” Witness replied that he did not think the mine was in a dangerous state. He did not succeed in getting the stone dust when he sought for it. They had not got it at the State mine, and he did not then know that he could get inert matter for that purpose at Ross only. He took one sample of the coal dust in the mine six months before the disaster. The proportion was so small that witness did not think at that time that the regulations applied to it. The searching of the men was ineffective, if they wanted to carry anything in. If Hughes had received the letter from the Department about stone dusting it was his duty to carry out the work. Witness swore he had not seen the letter. The manager’s duty was to see that the lamps were taken from the mine.

MINE TO BE INSPECTED AGAIN. GREYMOUTH, June 15. The Dobson mine inquiry was resumed this morning. Ex-mining Inspector O. J. Strongman gave evidence. His theory of the cause of the explosion at the time of the disaster was the firing of a shot in the dip workings by the deceased miner Alfred Noakes. Strongman admitted that the theory was based on incomplete evidence; but,, in his opinion, it was the most probable cause of the disaster. The Chairman announced that the commission would make another inspection of the mine.