The Express.
London, England, 1853-04-04 00:00:00

THE WIGAN COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Thesdourned inquiry was resumed yesterday be-
fore Mr. L. Driftleld, at the National School-reem, Ince-
green, near Wigan. Mr. James Darlington, one of the
partners, had presented 501. to a fund for the relief of the
widows and orphans of the deceased, and an eminent firm
in Manchester, not wishing their names to be puk4ishul,
2.M. The company have already distributed 39M. among
the bereaved families; and Mr. William Laird, of Liver-
pool, one of the firm, and commercial and shipping ma-
nager, said they would be prepared to make a further h.
nation. Mr. William Lancaster, government iimptetu of
mines in Scotland, who is a partner of the company, and
sunk the pit in which this shocking occurrence took place,
was also present, and Mr. Dickenson, government intrector
of the district. . . .

Some evidence as to the identity of the bodies having
been taken, I of the men employed in the pit were
examined, but their testimony was not important.
Mr. Dickenson, government inspector of mines, from
Manchester, said, in accordance with instruatiens from the
Secretary of State, he had made en inspection of this
mine and investigated the causes of the explosion. In l‘rd
ho had visited the mine, and he then found it perfettiy
clear of gas. Since this explosion he had been thrice into
the pit, namely, on the 25th, 28th, end 30th ult. In the
course of this examination he hail traced out the seurce
of the explosion, and he believed it originated in the ;.;:-
lion of the workings situate near the top of No. 2 gig
brow, north. The centre of the explosion (so for as I et a
judge of it from the traces of fire and the effects of the
blasts) is in the drift, almost immediately oppt.t.ite tho
of the pig brow. This is where it was most intense, and
in nearly the whole of this rise was the cool as
deeply blistered, and the bodies of the men
taken out of them were charred. Tram the vast
extent of workings through which the flame has snre-.d
there is very little doubt nearly the whole of these .'.rifts
and end', fourteen in number, were foul at the time. 1 he
flame has passed in t. north-easterly direction to the face of
the levels, where it was probably again augmented by ,s
fresh accumulation. That would be a distance of about
five hundred yards. In the opposite direction it appears to
have passed to the bottom of the shafts, burning Loth men
and horses, and drivii.g both doors, 'toppings, harms, and
meo, all before it; indeed the violencelof the blast has seen
the greatest in Lancashire, with one exception, that I hare
visited—l mean one at Bardaley, in MI. Sane of the
bodies were literally blown to pieces, and of the tatty-eight
persons who were either at the battom of the
pit or scattered at wido distances in that
part of the workings, not one has escape 1 ;
and from the fact that 52 of them, or near'c 92 percent.,
were burnt. may be inferred the ye intity of gas ignited,
which perhaps so far as this neighbourhood is conecraca is
without a parallel. From all that I could observe, and
from all that I could learn, there is no indication of any
large outburst of gas to account for the sudden filling of
the working:‘. The conclusion therefore fonts ite:f upon
mo that the whole cluster of rise workings wss imperfectly
ventilated and in a foul state at the time of the exploskn.
The men aopear to have been working with sof,: ty lamps,
and to ail appearances were going on as roue!. when pro-
bably the filing of a shot lighted up the stm,•apter.t,
and the catastrophe ensued. It has been suggested !,y Mr.
Darlington, in his evidence, that the stoppage cf the caps in
the shaft, and the slackening of the fire in the furnaces for
two or three hours, had caused a partial stoppsge in the
ntilatdir . and of the strength of this Jots was taken
into:custody. It is of importance to !snow how fax this r.ay

'arse tended to the ezploal .n. I have, their:Ore inessured
iht air ping through ;Le shaft when the :ornate was mt.
in oven'. E ,n, and An. it to be 0,000 cubic feet. ,ad there
is a diminution of abort one-twentieth (with one of the
canes in one shaft and water butt in the other Shaft) a
difference far too a:ight to account for the explosion
if • sufficient margin were lef; in the extant of ventilation.
So lnalified workman was a; pointed to fire the shot., and
the precautions the printed rules erjoined appear by the
evidence to bare been systematically broken. Scarcely &Ey
one seems to bare boticed the air before the shots were
flied ; and iuread of the probe wite being used, as ordered
in the rules, many of the nt,th do not =N.:. or to have kuown
it was intended for that purpose. Smokerf. also seem to
tare used their , 1;:es for the •:•,rpose. No steret wss =du
et the tnalter, enr, at the .-:.eers of the mine informs us
that he smoked. They appear to have winked at it in thu
men, and the wen to Lare w!nl..ed at it in their turn.

Ti:e it:4u'.ry wus a,:jouruo.d ibt nine o'c:uck tlight to
Thursday next.

IRELAND.

PCBLIN, APRIL 2.
The strength and solidity of the wc.r...-.ltt the Great
esiseeially tlto yet ut.finistied
r-ofing of the great central hall, hare been severely
tested, but with the most satisfactory result, by the
storm of the last tao does._ _

i mtlanehotv catavropae mast Iby the II:onn, ec-
er.rred in the ',tannon en Thursday evening. Three
captains of foreign vessels loft As!:caton in a boat,
with a crew of five gierson., for the rarpose of reach-
ing their rtspict:ve vesseis; but tl:e boat was cap-
siztd by the gi.le, and ail perit.hrd ith the except! 7U
of one of the captains, win sueetcdcd in clinging to
the boat until he was rescued.

James Itoehe, J.P.. the well-known "I. IL"
of literary world, and the.anthor of "Essays of
as o;:cgenariatn," died yoderday morning at hie resi-
dence in Cork, at the arcs atm .1 lege of S 3. The

•rk Eranthirr save of Lim %vial tiZtli, that ho was

"exemplary in every relati .n of life, u 4 n citizen, a
magistrate, and a man; tl. a he cas respectedby all
chases, and beloved by -,hnuc to whom Lis charity
was More than liberat.- The deceased was indeed
etc of the most popular. as well as one of the most
eminent men in the south of Ireland.

THE FATAL COLLISICN Oil TM: I LII OF MAN.—
This :,.eestigation arit:ne out of ti. raade by
Csyta'm Duncan with reference to th:t and mys-
tcrious Ai ai'. was brought to C COlSC:l:<t.Cll`.l.,re the Pcltast
Tench of magistrates en Thursday. Stversl witnecre.. wno
11:4 teen passengi.rs or sea:sienna bo-r 1 the Minerva at ttlii
Cm., of the collision, were examintil, lint their tridence
elieitt 1 no new facts. The magiatrater, after consulting,
,7 at c d That they had come to tho chi-% that Captain
Lyall should give L di, himself in lON., and two sureties in
',M. each; that the mt.te should give hal!. hitus:lf in SJI.,
and two sureties in 25!. each; and Shit the two .amen on
tL, w;„tch should give Oil:, each in 201., and two sureties in
t ach. Bail wai then tcndered, and the court ad-
journed.

MUSIC.

ROYAL ITALIAN OI'ER 1.

This is the fiat sensor., within cur u.emory, that
London has had no Italian opera till the mouth of
April. Instead, too, cf our having two great houses,
as we have had for the last six rears, it now appears
;hat we shall have only one. ft has tie, n publicly
and officially announoi:d that Mr. Rm.:ilea, who was
put in possession of her Majesty's lieatre by the
Sheriff of Middlesex, has demised the lease of the
,lioatre to Mr. Owe front Lady-day (22ith of March)
last. So far, then, the fact is beyend doubt. It is
said that the legality of the above transaction will be
called in question, and that another Chancery snit
will swell the enormous mass cf litigation to
which the affairs of the Opera-house have
constantly given rise. But, be that as it
may, the ;present positicn of things puts every idea
of her Majesty's Theatre being op,.nerl this year
entirely out of the question. Mr. Gaye, therdore, as
lessee cf the Royal Italian Opera, now has the field
to himself; he has no cu: petitor in the race. Let
ns hope that this will not induce him to " walk over
the course," but that he will strain evety nerve with
as muol. energy as if he still had an adversary run-
ning actls. and -neck with him. We do not anticipate
any falling off on his part; but all the weild knows
(and it has been peculiarly the case in thrcatrical
management) how greatly zeal and activity are
quic.ioied by competition, and hui: s_tily they are
Elskl: en ed by the want cf it. To fall into such a
temptation is shortsighted and tiuwi,.e ; but the
temptation is dangerous, and requires to be firmly
resisted.

The opening of the theatre, on Saturday evening,
affords scarcely any room for remark. We have ai-
rea ly made such observations as o Tuned to us on
the arrangements of the season as aneounced iu the
general prospectus; a document (tom which we
gather that not only the members ea the company
and of the teteblisement generall-, but also the
limas to be performed, will be very much the same
as last year. Some new singers are announced to
appear, and some new operas to be produced, in the
eeuree of the season, which are certainly hut little
kraea to fame. They may possibly exceed their
reputation, though thy: is a thing whieli very seldom
Leri:ens. Several eminent names of last year have
disappeared, among which that of 3/laarne Garcia
V;ar.ot (aa we have already obeen-ed) is
very remarkable ; and a considerable blank is created
by the want of Mdlle. Anna Zerr. Many people,-
too, remarked on Saturday evening, with more sur-
prise than pleasure, the disappearance of two such
great artists as I'iatti and Botterani front the orches-
tra. Still, however, a company which posieS{C.:. such
sopranos as Grisi, Castellan, Bosio, and Julienne;
such contraltos—we were going to say, but there is
only one—as Mdlle. Nantier Didiee—a name wholly
unkr.own ; such tenors as Mario and Tamberlik;
and such baritones and basses as Renconi, Belletti.
Formes, and Zelger—must certainly be regarded as
a very strong one.
Mr, :isiello—the opera chosen for the opening of
the henee—is so very familiar to the musical public,
and has been so often performed at this same
theatre, that there is little or nothing to be said
about it. Tamberlik, Formes, and Madame Castellan
appeared in their original parts of Masanicilo, Pietro,
and E!vira ; and the subordinates were nearly the
same as last year.
In the important part of the dumb girl Fenella
there was a great falling off. Mdlle. Marmot, who
perfurmed it, seems lip tie better than a mere dancer.
Her personation of the Ciaracter had nothing of tho
beauty, grace, and pathos thrown into it last 'car by
the ex :rite pantomime of poor Mdlle. Monti, who
is snee dead. Tunilre-lik, who had just arrived from
Ruseia, showed some signs of fatigue; but his per-
Arun:nee, nevertheless, was very fine. No one is so
successful as Tamberlik in the character of Mass-
nicU2. Ills impetuous action, the power of his fea-
tures, and the piercing, penetrating stridoit (if we
may Anglicise an expressive Italian word) quality
of his voice, so unlike the voluptuous sweet-
ness of Mario's ; all contribute to complete
the picture of the hot-blooded but kind-
hearted Neapolitan fisherman, driven to fury
an 1 madness by the oppression of the people
and the wrongs of hie helpless sister. Nor, proba-
bly, has Formes ever been surpassed in the fierce and
rugged Pietro. Elvira is an insipid personage; but
tare is charming nate.e. ;a the part, and Castellan,
as eeual, sang it charmingly. In the " mounting"
of the piece there was no diminution of the splendour
aid completeness for which this theatre is distin-
gu:shed. The scenes on the sea-shore, where the
:needy lazzaroni are Latching their dark conspiracy
ender eovcr of gay stags and dances—and in the
market-place, where the multitude break out into in-
surrection—lost nothing of their striking effect,
heietened by Auber's wonderfully picturesque and
dramatic choral music. The ballet in the first act
was got np with greater splendour than before; an
improvement in this department being announced as
one of the features of the Lcoston. None of the dan-
cers seemed remaikab:e, taken individually ; but the
effect of the tioever.l. wits admirable.
Dire was a full house, and the commencement of
the scasen was brilliant and decidedly succesafuL

SOUTH WALES R EXIENSION.—The ex-
ten ii m westward of the Sa.s.tit Wales hoe front Carmarthen
int) Pembrokeshire i> progrc4sing is the meet rapid man-
ner. The work is carri:d ou night and dn. It is stated
th.): tlie lino will be rt. ly for opcni.:g to Raverfordwo.t by
the manth of June,. cu... tint the contractors hnpr to lust°
it in w)rking order cnrin 7 the mor.th after.' The bridge er
Tit:tact et Car:ttarthon wii: cut nearly 10,0001., n^il will
hire two openings, one of 65 and other of 35 feet.
The contraction will be t. ;her novel, the part crossin7 the
lar,ter !Tan being drawS.4OOIVIIP-ilte line of roils, on a
slight incline, so that by Ititowtionsightuit will be la,:)elled
into place again. It5S tobe flaiihca' by Jane neat. The
electric telegraph is lwi 1111 (14wn:tho'wholl kirth of
Chic hoe, and front Glo::#aftr to Sw.tesen it has been .nr arty
de:stud . the cornmsia.ptiter;nllt resels as, far as Carmar-
then.