THE HUNTLY ENQUIRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 33, 25 September 1914, Page 8

THE HUNTLY ENQUIRY.

|.Pl3Ii PkEKS A&bOpUTION. I Huntly, September J 24

Joseph Young, assistant inspector of die old working., said ha had frequently found accumulation of gas in dangerous quantities in the old workings, which were barricaded and marked "dangerous," but he often found' traces of the presence,Of men in the old workings. Witness . resigned his position as assistant-inspector owing to ill-health, due to poisonus gases. On one .occasion he : had mentioned the probability of an explosion to one of the ..miners. .. ,■: m

Thomas Hughes, who. accompanied Inspector .-Wear on his tour of the old v.oiking for a fortnight, prior to the disaster, said he discovered signs of heating through shouldering timber on August 26, and steps were taken to e!iu inate all danger. The heating was caused by spontaneous combustion. Jphri deputy, of 45 years' experience in 12 different mines, said hi had never been in one safer than Huntly, which was considerably safer than Brunner.

Thomas Edward Webb:, 30 years a n inei, said that there was only one mine safer to his knowledge, and that TO, Elms Colliery, in Wigan, where naked; lights were used. He had examined every portion of Ralph's, and never, found any ti L ace of gas in a work-, ing face. , Fletcher, mine manager, recalled at .the request of the jury, stated in answer to a question that the company ha' i no life-saving appliances at the time of the explosion. They had an an.biilance box on top and below.

Replying to Inspector Wright, he' said he knew of no mines in the Dominion, except at Waihi, where lifesaving apparatus is kept. As far as he could learn, life-saving appliances were onh in their infancy, and from what, lie had read more lives had been lost b'v users of such appliances than sav-,

At .this stage Inspector Wright asked for an adjournment till the 30th, to enab]e a thorough inspection of,the mine to be made by experts to try and locate the seat of the ex'plosion. The inquiry was adjourned till the; 80th. The official , inquiry opens on October Ist. | DENIAL FROM MR SEMPLE. Wellington, September 24.

Mr Robert Semple emphatically demos the telegraphed statement insinuating that he and Mr Webb attended the meeting at Huntley for the purpose of advising the miners what to do as regards conditions of Work. The meeting, he said, was a public one, called to discuss what should be done to best assist the sufferers through the disaster, and it passed the following tiors:—That for the purpose of,seeur- ; ing unity of action in the organisation of a relief fund in connection with the mining disaster at Huntly, this meet\v.pr of Huntly citizens calls upon the present executive of the Huntly Miners Union* to resign and submit themselves for re-election by the Union: He was present at the meeting solely with the idea of doing what he could to help the Wives a'nd children of the men wJiff lost .their lives, and he did not know the meeting was to he held until - he air'ved in Huntly that day.