The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1937, 19 March 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1875.

In returning to the subject of the late accident in the Queen of Beauty mine we do not feel called upon to disclaim hostile feelisg against individuals. If bur remarks convey the impression that they are actuated by personal feeling then we are unfortunate in .expressing our meaning, or the reader is in construing iti Mine accidents will happen sometijge,s, in spite of all the precautions wnipfc experience can suggest or-skill devise. But when accidents become too frequent in their occurrence — whether in mines, in. batteries, cr any place where numbers of men'aye employed, it becomes necessary to investigate the causes which produce such disastrous effects, not for the sake of

heaping- odium upon the persona whose position may subject them to some share of blame, but in order to avert as far as possible a repetition of similar catastrophes," and secure the greatest amount of safety to the men whose occupalion, at all times dangerous, should be hedged about with every preventive against accident. If there was no blame attaching to anyone in the late accident but the unfortunate victimwe couldi.willingly drop the.subject. But we are curious to know why so much haste was exhibited in timbering up the drive in which the accident occurred P Would it not have been better to leave it untouched after the accident until the inquest had been held, so that the jury—some of whom wore miners—could have inspected the drive and stope ? Why was it considered necessary immediately after the timber? ing was finished to get a? certificate from several well-known.inine managers to the effect that the workings were in a safe condition ? ; And further, if the workmen in the mine wished to testify to the ex> perience and ability of the manager and the consideration always displayed by the shareholders of the Queen of Beauty, did it not occur to any of them that such "testimonial" would be in better taste if given after the inquest, instead of bein£ prepared.and advertised simultaneously with the damaging evidence produced touching the death of Eobert Fox. We j should be very glad to '■''■ find that every- \ thing that coufct be was done to prevent accidents,' but we confess to a feeling of dissatisfaction with the enquiry as far as it has gone. There shoujd be an enquiry ©fa similarly exhaustive character to that which followed the Kuranut boiler explosion ; not because an accident occurred in the Queen of Beauty mine which many persons consider might have been averted with ordinary care, but because mining accidents of the kind are all too frequent. In • the case of the accident to Fox, a certificate from the Mining Inspector that the work-j ings were —as far as human knowledge could go—in a safe state at the time of the casualty would have been infinitely more satisfactory than the certificate from mine managers, or the, testimonial from workmen. \