The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-22 00:00:00

the accourts showed a balance against adventurers of
2411. ; a call of 31. per share MIS made. At West Ter-
theliau meeting the accounts showed a balance against
adventurers o(1511. ; a call of 21. per share was made.
At East Boscean meeting the accounts showed a balance
against adventurers of 3501. ; a call of 11. per share was
made. At the Nant-ar-Nelle meeting the accounts
showed a balance of 351. against the adventurers. The
mine was increased to 2,560 shares, and a call of 2s. per
•
share was made."

With regard to foreign mining there is nothing
worthy of extract.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

SOUTH WALES ClRCUlT.—SuraersEa, MARCH 20.
W illiam Hopkins, described as a haulier, aged 21, was
indicted for feloniously killing and slaying one David
Meredith. The prisoner bore the marks of extensive
and recent injuries by fire, his head and hands being en-
veloped with bandages.
Mr. Grove, Q.C., and Mr. D. T. Evans conducted the
prosecution ; Mr. Giffard defended the prisoner.
This case was remarkable as an endeavour, under the
imperfect state of the law as it now exists, to protect
the lives of colliers and others working in coal-pit,, by
punishment of negligence, and with the purpose of in-
ducing greater care and caution amongst the workmen
than they exercise at present. It appeared by the evi-
dence that the prisoner was a haulier, in the employ of
Messrs. Wayne, the proprietor.; of the Cwin bath Col-
liery, near Aberdare, and the deceased was a miner
working in that colliery. On former occasions explo-
sions of fire-damp had occurred in the same pit, and it
clearly appeared that the ventilation was in a very un-
tatisfactory and insufficient state. On the morning of
the Bth of February last, the fireman, on going through
the under-ground workings, found that a considerable
quantity of fire-damp had accumulated at a spot called
" Hopkins's heading," and he set up a mandril, which
was a well-recognised sign denoting danger, to
notify to the men who would in due course have to
work there that day that they must be cautious. Pre-
vious to his descending- the pit in the morning, the fire-
man and a cutter severally warned the prisoner that-, as
he would have to work in the dangerous quarter, he
must use a Davy lamp, and be careful not to take off the
case or head of the lamp. A lamp was given to him, and
he made one journey for trains to the spot, in Hopkins's
heading, where the colliers were at work, without
accident. Oa his second journey for trains, just as he
reached the furthest stall in the dangerous heading, the
gas took fire, and an explosion followed, which killed
one Thomas Morgan (a boy who accompanied the pri-
soner to open and shut the doors used for ventilation),
and the deceased David Meredith, and severely burnt
several miners. as well as the prisoner himself. One of
the witnesses swore to having seen the fire flash from
the direction of the prisoner's lamp, and another proved
an admission by the prisoner that he fired it ; whilst a
policeman gave a statement made by the prisoner, that
" if he were to die that minute he could not say whether
the gas fired from his own lamp or from that of Thomas
Morgan, who accompanied him, and who was killed by
the explosion. The prisoner's lamp-top was found,
after the explosion, in his jacket-pocket, without the
lamp, from which an inference was offered that the pri-
soner's lamp wan unprotected by the wire sheath, which
insures safety, at the time of the accident. He stated
that he dropped the lamp in making his way to the
buttera of the shaft. The lamps of all the other persons
working at or near the spot were found to be secured in
proper condition. Evidence was given that the deceased
was seen with his clothes on fire, and that he died from
the injuries he received in the explosion.
The jury, without the summing of the judge, returned
a verdict of not guilty, accompanying it with severe cen-
sure upon the proprietors of the colliery for their cul-
pable negligence in not providing sufficient ventilation,
but permitting men to work from day to day in a
highly dangerous, and explosive, and unhealthy atmo-
sphere of fire-damp.
His lordship fully concurred both in the finding of the
jury and the censures passed upon the owners of the
colliery, and expressed an opinion that it should not be
left entirely to the poor workmen to take care of them-
selves, but that legislative provisions should be made to
corep.el colliery owners to provide ample security for the
valuabie lives engaged in their service. His lordship
added that he entirely approved of the institution of this
indictment ; it would have a good effect on the workmen,
though it had not succeeded ; it would inform them that
when, in the performance of their lawful duty, they
committed an act of criminal negligence whereby death
ensued, they would become liable to punishment on con-
viction of the offence.