The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1866-12-29 00:00:00

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OURBy IDG_
WSW wane on waft *re nary one, , contained a
large amount of extlosive gas, and the men sere all
provided with exnellentricz lamps. Every pre-
Caution, however, id the upon this important
point is constantly foot •by the recklewmese of
the men, many of whom miry false keys to enable
them to open their lamp; when :slope. There is no doubt
that they do this for a two-fold purpose, the one being
to get more light for their work, the other being to
obtain fire for their pipes. Unfortunately none of the
varione kinds of safety lamps give as good alight as a
naked candle, and until one is invented which shall do
no, the men will, if possible, open their Iptitts even at
the imminent leek of explosion. As to,the emoting it
can only be prevented by forbidding mime% to have
pockets in any of the clothes in which thee descend a
Mine. and by making it a matter id instant discharge
to be found smoking. Indeed there is no reason why
It should not be med., a penal offence, and so punish-
able by imprisonment, as endangering the lives of all
the other into employed. So reckless are the men in
this respect that they have constantly been found
letting upon the ground smoking, with the gas longing
In a grey canopy a few feet over their heads and to
stand up in which with a lighted pipe would be certain ,
death. If these men will not protect themselves, they
th o 1 I be protected from themselves and each other. I
Surely a law might be brought in somewhat to this
effect. It might not altogether .do away with the evil,
but it would greatly mitigate it. Miners are only st
work for eight hours out of the twenty•four. and if
they must have tobacco during that time, they bad
better ,lo OA sailors, who are in like manner forbidden
to smoke between decks, and upon deck allowed to do
so only at eertain times, and take to chewing. It is a
nasty practice, and an unclean habit, but the latter
would not be a very serious cause of objection to I
miners; and, indeed, a great many do so already. At
any rate, they ought not to be allowed to smoke; and
in this accident the lives of nearly a hundred men have
been sacrificed to the reckless carelessness of the far-
rier, who, after shoeing some hones, went further into
the workings and opened his lamp—l have no doubt
for the purpose of lighting a pipe. At the pit's mouth
all was quiet, there were no sight-seers about, and the
services of the police have been dispensed with. All
the bodies have been recovered except two, which are
either in the "sump," or well, at the bottom of the
pump, or in some of the distant workings of the mine.
The engine was at work, and they were lowering bricks
and mortar into the pit to repair the damage caused
by the explosion. There WM but little to see, and less
to record. The villages round the pit now present their
usual appearance; the blindn are again up, for the dead
have been found and buried; whereas, near the (take,
they will remain down until all hope of recovering the
bodies is over. In addition to which, none of the rib
Ogee here have been so completely swept clear of their
male population AN has been the case at Hoyle Mill and
Ardsley, in Yorkshire. And now, with the exception of
the inquests, with their long examination of scientific
witnesses, the "Oaks" and the "
accidents are becoming things of the paid ; but I trust
that something will be learned, something gained by
them, and that the public will not be estibfied with
subscribing money and relieving the widows and
orphans who have been left without their bread-win-
ners, but will insist that a law be passed which shall
render the recurrence of these accidents less frequent
and lees fatal when they do occur. The provolone
should be that every pit of above • certain extent
should be provided with shafts at each extremity, and
be, if pomade, divided into two mines, each with its
separate system of ventilation, so that, in cue of an
explosion near one shaft destroying the bratticing,
and, by cutting off the ventilation, leaving all thee
in the distant parts of the mine repotted to certain
death by suffocation from the choke damp, that they
could make their way into the adjoining mine. Had
provision been made at the Oaks, probably not one-
tenth of the sufferers would have periehed, liy the
exiatence iif this second mine at Talkoiit•- Hill half
of them in the pit escaped. The act should Illeo pro-
hibit PIW Icing In mines when safety lamps are neces-
sary, and make it a penal offence even to carry a pipe
or matches with there ; and it should insist that the
hest leeks, which could not be pieked, ehould be used
for the safety lamps, It would also be • useful step if
some ecieniific body were to offer a considerable Pre-
mium for the safety lamp which ehould combine
security against fracture with the greatest possible
amount of light. There are many other things to be
done to improve the condition of the miner, such an
initiating that boys under • certain age shall not be
employed, and that these shall be obliged to attend
schools. This does not lie within my province. but I
trust that Cr. parliament meets again they will have
received the attention they merit-