C'.—l3.

Troublemen were set to work to trace this fault to its source. By a process of elimination they traced the trouble to the line supplying current to the Glen Afton Mine. One of the Power Board officers went to the mine and informed William Wilcox, the underviewer, David William Thomas, the engineer, and Christopher Blackburn, the mine-manager, that there was trouble in connection with the power-supply. Thomas states that Wilcox informed him that probably the trouble was in the mine circuit within a few yards of the entrance, because he had noticed there a displacement of the conduit pipe. In passing, it is notable that at this stage Wilcox did not make any reference to a probability of a short having occurred at the site of the fire which he had seen that morning. After a second-Power Board officer arrived it was decided to experiment by cutting out the mine circuit altogether, and to telephone the substation to see what the effect might be upon the trouble formerly indicated. It was found that by cutting out the mine circuit the trouble was eliminated entirely. The. circuit was examined at the point suggested by Wilcox as being likely to cause trouble, but, although there was displacement of the pipe there, the cables were found to be in perfect order, indicating that the trouble was further in the mine. The mine circuit was then switched in again, but disconnected beyond A section, thus leaving the wires alive up to that point, but rendering them dead from that point farther into the mine. By again communicating with the Huntly substation it was ascertained that this still indicated an absence of any trouble on the ma,in circuit. It was proved, therefore, that the trouble which had been observed in the Huntly substation had been caused by some defect in the mine circuit at a point farther in the mine than A section. This conclusion was reached at about 5.30 p.m. C. Blackburn, manager, D. W. Thomas, the engineer, W. Wilcox, underviewer, and R. V. Turley, electrician, then went into the mine to examine the conduit and inspection boxes with a view to locating the trouble. Later they were joined by Bell, and Blackburn was replaced by Rogers. They worked until about 7.30 p.m. without success, and then ceased work for the day under instructions from Mr. Blackburn, mine-manager, to turn out at 8 a.m. on the following morning (Sunday) to continue their examination. The electrical circuit is laid in the travelling road for the first 874 ft., and from there it continues in the return airway. The fan, which had been stopped at about 1.30 p.m., was not restarted while the examination of the electrical circuit was being made between 5.30 and 7.30 p.m. There was no one in the mine from 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, 23rd September, until 8 a.m. on Sunday, 24th September, and the fan was stopped throughout that period. On the morning of Sunday, 24th September, two deputies, Richard Ireland and Walter George Cole, and two mine electricians, Raymond Vivian Turley and William Rae Bell, entered the mine at approximately 8 o clock. The deputies went in to make their usual Sunday examination of the workings and the electricians to continue their search for the electrical fault which had occurred on the previous afternoon. In addition to these four men, it appears from the evidence of D. W. Thomas, the engineer, that John Marshall, a shiftman, was engaged on repairs to timber just within the mine-entrance. We are satisfied from the evidence that the fan was not started by these men before entering the mine. They may have thought that as the electricians had to work in the return airway, the strong air-current with the fan working would make their work inconvenient and unpleasant, and it would be more convenient for the fan not to be running. The evidence of Mrs. Blackburn, widow of the mine-manager, shows that at about 9 a.m. Christopher Blackburn informed her that he was going over to the mine to have a look round, and he left his home for that purpose, saying that he would not be away long. There is no direct evidence of the movements of any of the first four' men who entered the mine, or of Mr. Blackburn himself, but Mrs. Blackburn's evidence shows that some time after her husband left his home he telephoned to her from the mine, " For God's sake tell Thomas to get the fan going, as there are. men trapped in the mine." As Blackburn's body was later found close to the telephone at the entrance to K section we think it safe to assume that the message was sent from that point. It is probable that the time of the message was about 10 o'clock. Thomas, the mine engineer, said he received a message from Mrs. Blackburn at 10 o'clock, and thereupon went over and started the fan. He was not told at that time that there were men trapped in the mine. It is probable that the time of starting the fan was not later than fifteen minutes after Blackburn had telephoned. Shortly after delivering the message to Thomas, Mrs. Blackburn received a second one, this time from the deputy, W. G. Cole, who appeared to her to be seriously distressed because there was a distinct pause between his words. Mrs. Blackburn immediately left her house and ran towards the mine, which is situated on the opposite side of the gully, approximately a quarter of a mile away. When she was about half-way to the mine she saw Thomas coming from the fan and called to him that she had a message from Mr. Cole to say there was carbon-monoxide gas in the mine and that he had to start the fan. Thomas replied that he had started the fan, but in his evidence he affirmed that he did not hear Mrs. Blackburn make any reference to carbon monoxide. Mrs. Blackburn then returned home and waited by her telephone, and in a few minutes her husband again spoke to her, saying that he had found Cole, one of the deputies, and that lie was going back for the others. He stated that the condition of the mine was " awful." After receiving the message from Mrs. Blackburn, Thomas went to the deputies' cabin at the mouth of the mine, where there is a telephone communicating with the underground telephones and surface stations. There he found John Marshall, who said that when working just inside the mine he had heard the telephone ring and had come out to answer it. He said Blackburn was speaking and was asking for men to be procured and sent into the mine. Thomas states that he took the telephone receiver from Marshall, and Blackburn instructed him from inside the mine to get certain men into the mine as quickly as possible. Blackburn, who had given the names of the men he required to Marshall, repeated the names of four men to Thomas (Rodgers, Clark, Hunter, and

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