The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-14 00:00:00

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far more secure from danger than he now does, if as Urea
that the state was not neglectful of his safety.
Though several collieries in particular districts Se;
sass good plans and sections of their workings,
‘1 c 4. of
inspection of such plans and sections afforelh It 3riug
the system of ventilation and general mode of '.rr'-ai,d
adopted, this is far from being the case genertil.
has been much regretted alike by the enlightmd :rot
owners and by the public. The importance of co,
plans and sections has been prominently pointed
both by the Committee of the House of Cornmans'
1835, and in the report of the South Shields Cominigr.,
of 1843; indeed, the necessity of them is sufficfwst'Y
obvious.
Should the suggestion of a system of judicious i nap d,+
tion be deemed worthy of considention, the xesii
access to proper plans and sections of collieries, brourir
up to given times, would necessarily form Ft part sf
general system of regulations. If correct (a3d pow! 4
ascertain that they were so would be esseretial), tbe
would at once disclose the system of working leutbe
lation adopted, and, with information respec tin& 10
police regulations, and an account of the kind .7f P,g he
employed, would at once afford a general view' toe
rbO
mode of conducting any particular colliery, and-' I°'
adjustment of the workings to conditions. „ Wised,
It being considered that safety lamps, prePeril,b
do effect much security in the working of coas . az"are
in so many cases explosions do take place when v•
not employed, it has often been suggested that": the ~et
gislature should cornFel the general use of sattsty
in coal mines. But, on the other hand, there .sre Ola
collieries in which fire damp never appears, and it sotti,
justly be considered a hardship in such cases tot\enle
precaution altogether unnecessary.
We would suggest that it could not be consider 'ed 111';
just for the Legislature to compel the use of safer:Ole
in all fiery collieries; and, in the present state -of
try
law of property, it m g'at even be prudent to ass -o
that all collieries in districts where explosions h Tor
frequent are fiery, putting the onus probandi tl 'sat t","
are not upon the owners of such collieries, if pr ovelleer
the satisfaction of inspectors that no reasonable tins
was to be apprehended in their collieries, lice:se. 01" ii,
be given for them to work with naked candles, Piis
ceme ceasing at short periods, but being renew sbf :0$
ascertaining that the condition of the mine had
alteCred re.
lions is
Careful investigations mt® the causes of explcbs
collieries, only part of which arrest public attewli'4l,ol
their magnitude, appear to have led to the very t',e°'„"oi
conclusion that the condition of our collieries is, °lvo
unequal. While in some localities there is so little
improve that it becomes subject of regret that to
examples should more generally be followed, in ow be
it becomes a matter of surprise how the works cs °tot
permitted to remain in so defective a state, seeissa'dot
the owners themselves suffer much loss tistreby. 1. of
such a state of things, and considering the nttisue) the
valuable lives annually lost by colliery explosions t,so
continw d risk to which so many arc daily cxpcso4:ass4
national injury sustained by the imprudent and cavrAls
mode of extracting coal in many localities one often
oppressively also by the parties engaged in colliertsp,
culations, and that the workings for coal must Dethey
justed to local conditions, we are led to consider o'ol,
mese evils might be at least mitigated by the Caro,
and judicious inspection of convenient districts by fro©
potent persons,_ the necessary funds to be rail eet_,a,
such districts by a very slight impost, not even 07,03
eeatiheav,atehres
ing one farthing on each ton of coal raised in it :ore t, of
humanitycwauouseldofbealikea'
btheelieCy we
benaenfidtetdhebinvt
considered legislative measure of this kind.
We have, &c.,
H. T. LB LA Bls cgs
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