The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-16 00:00:00

GARIBALDI'S EXPEDITION.

DEMONSTRATION ON THE OPENING OF

NAVIGATION COLLIERY.

The indomitable spirit of enterprise so characteristic
of Englishmen has received another notable illustration
in the persons of Messrs. Nixon, Taylor, and Corry, the
proprietors of some of the most extensive collieries in
South Wales. For five long years have these gentle-
, men been sinking a shaft at Rlountain Ash for the
purpose of winning what is called the "four-feet vein
seam," and after successfully overcoming what, in less
enterprising hands, would have been insurmountable
difficulties, they reached the desired haven on the Bth
inst., at the enormous depth of 350 yards, and at a
princely expenditure of some £130,000.
The now thriving little town of Mountain Ash was, a
few years ago, but a little village, containing a few
scattered cottages here and there, but through the enter-
prise of such gentlemen as Messrs. Powell and Nixon,
and the discovery of the rich field of " black diamonds,"
it has now reached a population of almost 5,000, and
when the woiks are in full working order and the 300
new cottages completed, there will be a population
of at least 8,000 souls, all dependant npou these coal
mines. How applicable to the circumstances of South
Wales are the lines of the poet—
Saxon, from yonder mountain high,
I marked thee send delighted eye,
Far to the south and east, where lay,
Extended in succession gay,
Deep waving fields and pastures green,
With gentle slopes and groves between
These fertile fields, that flowery vale,
Were once the birthright of the Gael;
The stranger came with iron-viand,
And from our fathers rett the land.
Where dwell we now ? see rudely swell
Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell. '
Ask we this savage hill we tread,
For fattened stem' or household bread;
Ask we for flocks this shingle dry,
And well the mountain might reply,-
4` To you, as to your sires of yore,
Edlong the target and claymore
1 give you shelter in my breast,
Your own good blades must Win the rest 1"
It was resolved to celebrate the important event
on Thursday last, by a general holiday, on which
9ccasion the whole of the shops were closed, and
triumphant arches, with appropriate mottoes, were
erected in different parts of the town. Arrangements
had also been made by a committee for out-door amuse-
ments, such as races and athletic sports, but the day
'proving extremely wet, many of these arrangements
were abandoned. During' the afternoon, however, a
large number of persons assembled in a field set apart
for the purpose, where a few races, and other amusing
sports, were gone through in a very creditable manner,
notwithstanding the torrents of rain that descended.
An excellent band of music, belonging to the rifle corps
of the town, was in attendance, and played a number of
tunes in excellent style.
At four-o'clock a deputation of gentlemen waited the
arrival cf Mr. Nixon at the railway station, and escorted
him, amid the booming of cannon, to the woiks, where
he was met by a large concourse of the working people,
who cheered him vociferously, the band playing "Seethe
conquering hero comes." As soon as he entered the
office,:
The Rev. W. WlLLtims, in presenting the address,
spoke,as follows —I am deputed by the inhabitants of
Mountain Ash to present you with the Ogress which
now hold in my hand, and which, as it expresses SQ fully
q.y own feelings and sentiments, I will at once, with
your permission, read :
We the undersigned inhabitants of Mountain Ash, beg
leave.t9 Wider you our warmest congratulations on the success
which has attended your spirited enterprise in the Navigation•
Colliery. The accomplishment of such a vast and important
un grt sking.is a.cau-se of much pleasure to us and doubtless of
great eat4faction to.yourselves; and we trust you may realise
such an,amount of gain from the great expenditure which has.
necessarily been incurred as will gratify your most sanguine
anticipations; and we also beg leave to e7,:press our earnest
hope that you may, through a gracious Providence, have long
life, health, and happiness to enjoy the many acquisitions
which the completion and success of this undertaking will
'inevitably produce. And while tendering you our congratu-
lations on this auspicious occasion, we beg to express our
pleasure and gratitude that you have hitherto acted on the
true principle that "property has its duties as well as its rights,"
and that you have not been nnuaindfnl of the social and moral
state of the workmen in your employ ; and we are persuaded
that in proportion to the increase of • your respqnsibilities as
employers in this respect, a corresponding increased interest
will be manifested on yc,ul part, and we offer you our best
wishes.
I am right glad, Sir, that I can assure you, the senti-
ments expressed in this address are sincerely felt by the
inhabitants of this district, and as far as I am personally
concerned, I most heartily concur with every word it
contains. I fear ahat you would consider me indulging
in fulsome flattery were I to speak in your presence the
feelings of respect which I entertain for you, and which
are universally shared in by the inhabitants generally.
I will only, therefore, repeat the words of the address,
and wish you and your partners success, health, long life,
and happiness. I have just been informed that this is

your birthday. May you have many, vet), many, happy
returns of the day. I beg now, in the name of the
inhabitants, to present you and your worthy partners
with this address. (Loud and long-continued cheering.)
The address was signed by the chief tradesmen of the
town.

Mr. Nixon, on receiving the address,' which was
beautifully got up, said :—He was truly obliged to them
for the kind manner in which they had presented this
address, which was the more acceptable for the flatter-
ing terms in which it was couched. He, with the rest
of his partners, who undertook the sinking of the
Navigation pit, well knew on the onset that it was 4
very serious matter they were entering into ; but at the
same time he must say that the difficulties they had to
encounter had been much greater than were originally ex-
pected. In fact, the large increased depth they had to sink
iu this part of the valley has been beyond precedent, and
the ground was of the most difficult nature. The ruck
extended some fifteen feet without a bed, without a
crack, fissure, or any opening whatever. They had all
to be blasted with powder: and scarcely a chip could
be got frOm the rock with the severest blow. Before
undertaking the sinking of the pit he had made himself
acquainted as to what the probabilities were. In the
Rhondda Valley a colliery had been sunk at that time
and he found that the four-feet coal was not workable.
That is to the west of them; whilst be knew from having
been in Dowlais Colliery, that to the east, the four-feet
vein had declined to two feet ; and going forward he found

The Daily News, in a leader, says, there is nothing
whatever to justify the assertion that Garibaldi's expedi-
tion has failed, and it gives reasons for coming to
a directly opposite conclusion. The loss of the two
steamers must have entered absolutely into Garibaldi's
plans. If they served to carry him and his men to
Sicily it was all he could expect. He had done with
them the moment of disembarkation. In the two tele-
grams, published yesterday, there is not a single word
to countenance the expectation of a Bourbon victory at
Palermo, where, teu days ago, public spirit had col-
lapsed. The people collected last Sunday and made
the walls of the churches ring with cheers for Italy and
liberty. If the Sicilian people commit themselves to
Ow Italian cause, Sicily is lost to the Bourbons.

The general public have now eabecribed more than
45,0001er Tom. Sayers.

THE DAILY TIMES, WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1860.

the four-foot to be an unworkable seam. This was
proved by Mr. Powell's pit at Tredegar being cut and
rendered worthless. It was of the utmost importance
for hin.} to ascertain if the sinking of Navigation Colliery
would answer, because if it was true that parties could
sink their pits with a less outlay, and put them in fair
way of working, he should not have been justified in
sinking the Navigation Colliery at a larger outlay, with
an uncertainty of it not turning out profitable. All
this he had to ascertain, and he made his calculations ;
therefore, it was with satisfaction that he had not
been at all deceived in his calculations, In the next
place he determined that unless he got a large pro-
perty, he would not undertake the sinking of so exten-
sive a pit. With that view he made application to
Bruce Fryce, and told him that ►}nless he could haye
the two properties he would not haye one, as it would
not answer his purpose. And now the property
extended all the way from Tail's Well up to Cwm
Neol, a distance of about seven miles ; and from the
mountain here on one side, to half-way across to the
Rhondda—a distance of about three miles. (Cheers.)

Thus they had the largest and most extensive un
worked four-feet vein of any colliery in the district.
They were aware that the four-foot coal was the best
coal. (Heir, hear.) That at the upper part of the
valley was nearly exhausted, and some collieries were
obliged to mix other coal with their four-foot coal.
It must indeed be a source of congratulation to them
all, that there was no fear of exhaustion here, there
being a sufficiency of coal to last at least their time, the
lease being for 99 years. (Loud cheers.) He looked
forward tp the period when Mountain 4sh would sur-
pass Aberdare in prosperity, for it was a fact that the
products of the coal fields around Aberdare were already
on the wane. No doubt many of those around him
were of the same opinion, or else they weuld not have
come and laid out their £lOO and £2OO in business and
houses. He believed they were right in doing so, and he
had no doubt they would go on increasing in population
and in prosperity. They had already let contracts for the
erection of froin 200 to 300 cottages. When they bought
the property. Mountain Ash had only a few straggling
cottages, but now there are from 400 to 500 containing
a population of about 5,000, and he believed in the
course of two years it would reach 7,000. (Loud cheers.)
That indeed would be a large number of people to bring
together in such a short time. Having a superior coal,
being most favourably situated for transport, and having
a long lease, when they got to work, no man need com-
plain of irregular employment. He would now tell them
a little incident which was the cause of his first coming
to South Wales, which perhaps would be interesting to
them. Mr. Nixon continued—in the year 1840 I went
to London from the North of England, and I happened
to go on board one of those boats now called "penny
boats," but which at that time were twopenny boats.
Upon looking at the working of one of Penn's engines,
I saw the stoker throw coal continuously into the fur-
nace, and when I looked at the funnel I saw no smoke.
This was a wonder to me, as in the north I had been
used to see smoke. I said to the man, "You have some
perfect consuming apparatus on board, my man ?"
"No, sir, I have not," said he, " and for this reason,
there is no smoke in the coal !" (Laughter and cheers.)
I asked him to allow me to look at the coal, which be
agreed to do provided I paid my "footing." I said I will
give you a shilling ; and if you let me feed the fire, I
will give you another. He did so, and I threw some
coal on the fire. I looked up at the funnel, but there
was no smoke ; and I threw 911 a second lot, with the
same result, I then said to him that he threw on the
coal in small quantities, and that was the reason. He
replied that it would make no difference if the coal
was thrown on in large quantities. I then asked him
where he got the coal from, and he replied, " From
Maerther, in Wales." (Laughter.) He could not say
Merthyr. I next asked him who was his coal merchant,
and he replied it was Mr, Wood, Toou, 1' You have
got two more tips, and if you will let me take your
place I will give you two more shillings." The man
referred me to the captain, who consented, and I soon
te9k place, wished to See whoa tbe