THE QUEEEN OF BEAUTY ACCIDENT.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1935, 17 March 1875, Page 2

THE QUEEEN OF BEAUTY ACCIDENT.

INQUEST YESTERDAY,

An inquest was held yesterday on the body of Robert Fox, who died c from injuries received in the Queen of Beauty mine, on Saturday, before James, Kilgour, Esq., Coroner, and the following jury:— Hugh Mcllhpne, Thomas Veale, John Wilson, William Avelling, Francis Amey, John Nodder, Thomas Kitchen, Edward Twohill, Charles Jprdin,. John Hendy* Howell Williams*, Mathias Whitehcad, Thomas Wood.

Mr Hugh Mcllhono was elected Foreman.

The jury retired to view the body, lying at the late residence of thedeceased, Parawai. .

On returning, Mr Macdonald itated that he was E resent to watch the proceedings on bealf of the* Queen of Beauty, shareholders.

Charles Wilson said : I am a miner residing in Giahamstown. Have been working in .the Queen of Beauty mine. I was at work in the mine on Saturday, the 16th. I was working with Fox side by side, shovelling up quartz for the purpose* of putting in timber. It was between 10 and 11 o'clock in the morning. Fox said to me " Will you change sides ? M I said "Yes," and we changed. We had filled about one truck and a half when the stuff came down- Just before that there was a piece came down on the right side. Mr "VV ilson and Pat Nolan told us to take everything down and make it sound. Between three and four hundred weight of stuff came down, and fell, upon Fox. I saw him iying under the stuff, a piece lying on bis shoulder. He did not speak before I removed that piece, but when I removed it he said •■' Charley, my arm is broken.'' I took off tjie piece* that was on hia leg, and he was clear then. The two men working with the truck and timber, came then and carried him out of the chamber. The men came from the stopes, and deceased was conveyed to the Hospital. Deceased bad been working in the mine about a fortnight. He was working upon wages. Deceased remarked that he should have to take care and takedown the loose stuff hanging about. He was a very careful man. Deceased did not express himself as considering the place he worked in unusually dangerous. He was an experienced miner. My opinion is that as long as we had taken down all the loose stuff the place would have been safe. We took.down all that we could see lcose—all that we could see anything the matter with;

By Mr Bullen—-We were working on the No.. 4 level. It is the bottom level. I cannot say what depth it is from the the surface. The deceased and myself were working for contractors—McMinnimin, John Williams and Patrick Nolan. The contract was for driving and taking out the leading stopes. Were working three shifts, four men on one shift, and two on each of the others. I worked since j the commencement of the contract; deceased worked about a fortnight. Did not go on with leading stope the same time as we went on with the drive; Before we started to timber, we commenced the leading stope. The drive was in about 100 feet from the last of the timber. Could not get the big timber in before we got something out. The flHve wasrin some parts eight feet wide. The stope was four feet wide and four feet high—in some places more. Stood on spreaders put in from the .top. The* stope was continued about 30 feet beyond the timber. Beyond the timber the size of stope might be 14 feet from the roof. The width is in some places 5 feet and in others 8. The width yai-ies. We put in timber where there were bad places, such as flakes made by .the putting in of a shot. There may be some bad places in that distance. - I hare been mining between six and seven years. I have seen a drive put in over a hundred feet without timbering, when ibis necessary to blast ihe. ground, es you would, shoot j away the timber. I saw the manager of the mine on the day of the accident.! Saw him during our shift. He told us to be careful after the piece of earth had fallen from the left side. He told us to sound it aU round, and take down that which was loose. He told us he would not let us drive any more until we got the timber in.' The timber was ready to put in. We were getting ready for timbering. The timber was on the mine. 1 did not hear anybody say that the reason of our not timbering was because there*, was no timber ready. It was not very safe to do that amount of work in the place we were working without timber. There were only the two flakes came out that day. If we see any loose we pull them down. I have seen flakes come down in the untimbered portion of the drive. It was customary for the relieving shift to say if there were any dangerous places', and to warn us to put pieces of timber against them. The height of the. drive where the piece fell was about 11 feet. The stope was above the drive. The caps were about 9 feet high, and the stone fell about 11 feet. If the drive had been timbered the stone would have fallen on the roof of the drive instead of into it. It is the duty of the manager of 8 mine to see that it is timbered. I was last in the mine last night, on the 4 o'clock shift. Timbering has been done since the accident--in the drive and in the stop*e. The 30 feet in the stope is all timbered. About five sets of timber have been put in the drive from the stope up to last night, and it is being put in as fast as possible. No more than five sets can be put in on one shift. Knocked off on Saturday morning, and commenced work in the same place on Monday afternoon. I don't think

there was any work done on Sunday. The other men knocked cff work on Saturday ni^ht. • By a juror; We complied with the instructions given by JVolan and Wilson m taking down all the loose stuff that we could see. Martin H. Payne, sworn, deposed—l am a duly qualified medical practiticW residing in Shortland. I wag calleljn Saturday to see the m an . I f oun d the left arm broken in ihrct places, also the leg broken in three places. Did what was necessary at the time. I then .went to fetch Dr. Lcrhbridgc, who was ill in bed. We agreed to have a consultation at one o'clock. There could be no two questions about what was t* be done—the arm and leg were objiged to be amputated. The man appeared to be in a very freak state, and we gave him stimulants and beef tea through the day. I sairhim again on Sunday morning,- and dressed the wounds, and again on Sunday night. He had been vomiting through the day a good deal. I saw him again on Monday morning. The pulse then seemed stronger. The next I heard of him was that he was dead.

Henry Goldsmith deposed — I am Mining Inspector for the Thames Goldfield. On Saturday morning, hearing of an accident at the Queen of Beauty mine, and having seen deceased at the Hospital soon after he was brought in, I proceeded to the mine, and saw the spot, at the 340 feet level, where the ac liaent occurred. I saw on the floor of the drive a quantity of quartz and rock, which appeared to have fallen from the side of the drive. A. quantity of blood indicated the spot where the accident had happened ; while from the position of the shovels two men appeared to have been at work loading the trucks. • That was all I saw.

. By the Coroner—The timber was allinits place right enough. As faras thetimberextendedit was safeenough. It was extremely substantial .in fact; the timber being of unusual size. A certain portion «f rock, adjoining what had been taken out of the side to mate room for the cap piece, must have" been loose; but it does not seem to hare been perceived by the two miners who were working under it, or as a matter of course, they would have taVen it down. In strong,ground such as this some heavy shooting is required, and if the timber is too near the shots injure it, and it is therefore necessary, to go in a certain distance before timbering; but there ii a special hazard in this, as the accident shows, from small pieces falling out from the side* and the roof, against which precautions have to be taken in the way of sounding. I do not think the drive and stopes were -taken in too far. They had just got far enough, ard were in the act of commencing to timber. Ido not think the manager is guilty of negligence, as he warned the men; but the men should have been more careful in sounding, and they would have discovered the» danger. I visited the mine the day before the~»ccidenfc, and saw some of the timber. The contract is for the rough, and they have to dress their own timber. .By Mr Bullen—l heard Wilson say that nearly 100' feet of driving and stoping was done. As regards the general character of the country- it was safe enough to work out so much. It would, perhaps, be better on the whole to- have the roof of the drive timbered, arid take the' stuff from the stope into the drive by removing the laths. If the men had taken the precaution to have a spreader or shield the. accident would not have occurred. Ido not think there were quite' a hundred feet without timber. The indication of where the accident occurred was about 3 feet from the last set of timber. The Foreman—The jurors wish to know how long it was since the Mining Inspector visited the mine prior to the accident. Capt. Goldsmith—l do not feel sure. I usually go through that mine about three or four times a week; but when I went down last I cannot say. It was not a long time.

The Foreman— Do you consider the workings vrere of a safe character ?

Oapfc. Goldsmith—l should say that the ground is extremely difficult ground to work, and requires unusual precaution and timber of great strength; and from what I can see of the manager, I consider he takes great pains to. work the ground with safety to the men. IVjave reen Boohing like negligence on thwart of the manager. - The Foreman : Do you consider it safe to have such an extent of work done and left untimberedP M

Gapt. Goldsmith—There are two dangers : one of a general collapse of the ground, and the other of small pieces comma: away. The Queen of Beauty ground is so firm, a distance of 30' or 40 feet could be driven without danger. Howfar the drive went in Ido not know—l think not nearly so far as named. The timber should be kept as close as possible to. the fade, but as I said before that is limited by the nature of the ground, which requires blasting. . The timber would be destroyed iF they-went too near the face. lam afraid the proper precautions were not taken by the men employed ; else the loose piece would have been discovered. Ido not say the men were not careful; they were not careful enough. The truck may have shaken the piece worse, but it is reasonable to suppose that if they had sounded enough they must have discovered the part which was loose.

The jury then retired (at half-past six o'clock) to the magistrate's room to consider their verdict, Which, after due conconsideration, they pronounced as follows: —" From the evidence adduced, the jury have coma to the conclusion that .Robert Fox lost his life by an accident in Queen of Beauty mine, and that such accident was caused by neglect on the part of those whose duty it was to see that the work was carried out with safety to the

men employed, and in an efficient manner. It is the opinion of the jury that had sufficient supervision been exercised in the timbering of. the ground, the accident would not have happened."