THE WALLSEND ACCIDENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5994, 1 August 1887, Page 3

THE WALLSEND ACCIDENT.

The Commissioners' Report [Pbb Pbebs Association.] gbeymouth, july 31. The report of Major Keddell, the Coinmiaaioner appointed to enquire into the cause of the accident in the Wallsendmina, is to hand. He Bays that the primary cause of the accident was the faulty manner in which James Dunn drilled the hole and prepared the shot. Before requesting the overman to fire it. He drilled a hole with a drill of which one corner was off, making the hole too email for the usual cartridge. He tamped the shot with coal dust, and did not pay sufficient attention to the clearage of the coal at the face. Tho overman was responsible for not having examined the shot properly, taking Dunn's statement for granted. The Commissioner has no doubt that it waß not ft purely gas explosion, as many miners state in their evidence; and he is of opinion that the management of the Wallsend mine has been lax, and sufficient precautions have not been taken to secure the safety of the men working in it, considering that it has been notoriously subject to the appearance of gas in all the working places, and instances are given from the evidence, such as firing shots with a naked light, clearing gas "in places" while the men are in the adjoining 1 -workings, tamping shots with coal dust, neglect ©f deputies to enter in the report-book aU the instances of gas ignition, and the want of care in inspecting and cleaning safety lamps. _ Major Keddell makes several suggestions. Shots ought to be fired by heated wire and touch-paper, and gaa should not be cleared out of places till the men are out of the mine. He recommends the substitution of other explosives, Buch as some nitro-glycerine compound or lime cartridge. The report-book is useless, as some of the most important entries are interlineations. He strongly urges tha proprietors to procure better lamps for I their underviewers and firemen, and all J who have to try for gas. He considers the Davy lamp out of date, and thinks Living's gas indicator would be a valuable assistance to the manager of the mine.