MINE DISASTER

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21015, 18 January 1940, Page 6

MINE DISASTER

INQUIRY RESUMES COMMISSION SITS NEXT WEEK EFFORTS TO OPEN SHAFT FAIL The Royal Commission set up to inquire into the disaster at the Glen Afton coal mine on September 24, when 11 lives were lost, was adjourned on December 6 in order to allow the sealed mine shaft to be opened and evidence gained as to the suspected seat of the fire supposed to have been the cause of the disaster. The commission will resume its inquiry at Huntly next Monday without the important and relevant evidence. Attempts to penetrate the shaft have failed. The commission sat for almost a fortnight at the original hearing. The inquiry will resume at 10 ajn. Monday. Efforts were made on December 28 to penetrate to the suspected seat of the fire which generated the death-dealing gas, but they were unsuccessful. Overpowered By Gaa The sealing which had been placed over the fire shaft in order to suffocate the fire was opened, and a gang of men penetrated the shaft to a depth of about five chains. The gas overpowered them, however, and the attempt to locate the seat of the fire had to be abandoned and the shaft resealed. It is understood that the shaft will have to remain sealed for some months now, as apparently the fire is still burning. It is thought that the inspecting party did not reach the shaft where the fire had started. The commission has been instructed to report to the Government not later than February 6, the date being an extension of the original time limit of the second week in December. Members of the Commission are Mr S. L. Paterson, S.M., of Hamilton, chairman, and Messrs J. C. Brown, of Westport, J. Dowgray, of Granity, T. O. Bishop, of Wellington, and A. McLagan, of Greymouth.