HUNTLY MINING DISASTER.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13594, 8 October 1914, Page 6

HUNTLY MINING DISASTER.

COMMISSION'S INQUIRY

PREVIOUS EXPLOSIONS OF A MINOR CHARACTER.

•; WARNINGS BY GOVERNMENT OFFICER.

MAX Fi!AN'i\ lIEKD'S EVIDENCE

HOLOCAUST FORETOLD

[Unit*® Pkess Association.]

Auckland, Oct. <\ j The Commission's inquiry into the disaster -at Ralph's coalmine, Huntly, this morning _ Frank Rood, inspecting Engi&cer oi ■Minos, ;mi dconsulting engineer, btate collieries, said it was not until last ■Christmas that he 'had information suggesting that the Taupiri mines wojc Sangeraiss. As a result of his inquiries •Fletcher, manager of Hiilpk^s mine, wrote on January 4th.giving particulars of throp instances where minors •had bten burned. About the end ■of .January, witness wrote to. the UnderSecretary for Mines, enclosing Bennies hotter reporting a breach of the law by til- -p.annaomont of Ralph's mine iinaamuch as gas explosions which had caused injuries to miners toad been concealed by the management. Inat letter stated that the -elements for a colliery disaster were all present. Witness received no reply, but when Parliament opened he was asked by the Under-Secrotary to -give his opinion on a. Mining Amendment Bill. Witness, in replying, made reference to the conditions'at Ralph's mine, and stated: "If a disaster occurs as a result ot an inadequate law,' the inspecting brancu of tht- Department cannot be held responsible." Witness asked that preference bo given to the amending Bui. He wrote as follows:—"I fear a holocaust at Ralph's .mine." He again wrote on July 29th, drawing attention to a burning accident to a miner named Kelly in Ralph's mine. He .-stated in his letter: "This accident might have been a holocaust. The seriousness of these explosions at Huntly cannot be lightly passed- over." Witness continued to fool uneasy. On August 11th he wrote to the Undcr-Secretary jsugsostiaK that a prosecution would do good. Even if it failed owing to the obsolete Mining Act, at-least it would show the public <fchat the Department was alive to the position. He received a request from Mr Blow for particulars of tho dangerous conditions reported by Inspector Bonnie in collieries m the Auckland 'district; also for suggestions as to remedies. Witness, in a report dated August 16th, referred to *he Taupiri mines under the lollowmg head:: "Eire damp prevalent; several

miners burnt by gas; disastrous explosiou possible." He recommended that only safety lamps bo allowed; Eight days before the disaster at Huntly he came to Thames, bringing some safety electric lamps, with which no demonstrated to Inspector Benme in one of the Thames mines. Subsequently he asked Benaie to take them to I/letcher and try and get him to install them in Ralph's mine, which he (witness) regard^, as a dangerous mine. Witness then went to Greymouth. Un the day preceding the explosion at Kuntly he told James?, of the state of tha collieries, and that he feared a disaster in Ralph's mine. On tho following day a clerk came into his omee and reported the news of the disaster. James remarked: "Why, Ilcfd, Y<>u told me yesterday this would happen. Witness said he had examined the Taupiri mines several times during the last eight years. It was not until last Christmas that he had information suggesting that the mines were dangerous. During the Auckland Exhibition he was -.examining candidates for certificates in testing for firo damp, and his suspicions were aroused by the number of men who came from the Taupiri district. He said to one of them, "Why are so many of 7011 men coming from Taupiri? You have no gas in mines there." The sniner replied, -"Haven't we!" Another told him that there had been several cases of burning. He wrote to Boyd Bennie (district inspector) v asking him to ascertain from the Miners' Union whether cases of burning had occurred. Bennio replied that the- Union would give him no information. Witness, after examining a file of his letters which had been called for by the Commission from the Department, stated that some of the most important letters had not been sent. He had written six or serea during the early part of the year, and two since the explosion. Mr. Macassey (representing the Crown Law Office) asked for dates, so that he could send for the missing letters. He desired to keep nothing back

Witness^ stated that in one of his letters Jie said: "The seriousness of these explosioirs at Huntly cannot be lightly passed over. Should another Kaitanga* ta or Brunner disaster occur, the publicwould condemn us.' The manager should be made to realise the seriousness of the position." The reasons which actuated witness in hammering in six or seven warnings to the Department were (a) the large area of high workings in Ralph's mine; (b) the difficulty of maintaining ventilation and preventing ignitions of gas, any one of which might have caused a holocaust, and the amount of dust present • (o) the wepVr.f.;,?, G f the Act; (d) naked lights &a^ S&aa-producing explosives in use \ (c) inuxperience of the men all round resulting from the lack of facilities in Now Zealand for the instruction of colliers ia regard to the dangers of gas.