The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-04 00:00:00

ACCIDENTS IN MINES.

ABSTRACT OF A REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE
appointed by the HOUSE OF COMMONS, " to in-
quire into the Nature, Causes, and Extent of those
lamentable Catastrophes which have occurred in the
Mines of Great Britain, with the view of ascertaining
and suggesting the Means of Preventing the Recurrence
of similar Fatal Accidents."
The Committee state that they called before them wit-
nesses connected with all the great mining districts of the
kingdom, and also examined plans, diagrams, and a great
variety of lamps ; that they had ample opportuities of multi-
plying proofs of the calamities which have occurred in the
mines of the kingdom by sudden explosions of fire-damp,
foul air, or sulphur, all which terms arc locally applied to
carburetted hydrogen gas, so copiously evolved in many of
those mines. Few collieries being entirely free from fire-
damp ; but, in many, the quantity emitted being so large
that in spite of skill and unremitting attention, the risk is
constant -and imminent.
The following is given as a summary of the returns made
in the last session by the Clerks of the Peace, of inquests
held by the Coroners on parties who had met with untimely
deaths in the mines of England and Wales, during the last
twenty-five years. They give a total of 945 persons who
had perished during that period ; but they are stated to be
exceedingly defective, as, from some counties, the required
information could not be obtained, and in others the nature
of the accidents reported was not mentioned :
Chester, lives lost by fire-damp and choke damp
Cumberland, ditto
Derby, ditto
~,
Gloucester, ditto
Monmouth, ditto
Nottingham, ditto
Salop, ditto
Somerset, ditto
Stafford (one district), ditto.—
Warwick, ditto
York (North Riding), ditto 29
(West Riding), by choke-damp 23

7
140

89

104

1337 fire-damp . 93

by other accidents, not specified 230

Brecon, ditto .
by explosion
Flint, by choke-damp and fire-damp 39!
Lancashire (no returns for several districts), ditto 1351

954
In these Returns the counties of Durham and Northum-
berland are omitted ; but the lists of accidents published by
Mr. Sykes of Newcastle—and which extend to a very early
period—supply the deficiency.
It appears by Mr. Sykes's lists, that since the year 1710
there have perished on the banks of the rivers Tyne and
Wear alone—
By explosion of fire-damp
By inundations
By other casualties

1,479
84
37

Total since 1710
Of these 1,125 lives have been lost since 1810, which, add-
ed to the returns already alluded to, gives the number of
fatal accidents during the last 25 years at 2,076.
The Committee state that one striking fact requires to
be particularly pointed out. If the year 1816 is assumed
as the period when Sir Humphrey Davy's lamp came into use,
a term of 18 years since 1816, and a similar term prior to
1816 being taken, it will be seep that in the 18 years prior
to the introduction of the lamp, 447 persons lost their lives
in the counties of Durham and Northumberland, whilst in
the 18
_years since its introduction, the fatal accidents
amounted to 538. To account for this increase the Com-
mittee observe that the quantity of coal raised in those
counties has greatly increased, while seams of coal, so fiery
as to have lain unwrought, have been approached and
worked by the aid of the safety lamp, and many dangerous
mines were successfully carried on, though in a most inflam-
mable state, and without injury to the health of the people
employed ; and they advert to the prevalence of the notion,
that on the introduction of that lamp the necessity for fer-
mer precautions and vigilance in a great measure ceased.
The next question arises, how are such accidents to be
prevented for the future ? ,And whilst they acknowledge
the anxious care taken to diminish the risk of accident, a
strong opinion is expressed upon the paramount claims of
humanity, to any considerations of pecuniary interest, whe-
ther personal or national. The Committee allude to the
melancholy catastrophe that occurred at Wallsend colliery
immediately after their cppointment, where, though no rea-
sonable precaution appeared to have been omitted, an ex-
plosion took place, by which 101 men and boys were in-
stantly killed.
The Committee here observe, that without questioning
the zealous and faithful discharge of their duties by the
local Coroners and Juries, it will be well to consider how
far it is necessary to provide that the earliest information
of every accident, attended with death to a large number
of his Majesty's subjects, should be transmitted to the
Secretary of State for the Home Department, and that he
or the Chief Justice of England, his Majesty's Coroner,
should, at his or their direction, direct the attendance of
some fit and proper person or persons, by them to be ap-
pointed, to assist the local Coroner and Jury in their inves-
tigations. It is observed, that from such a proceeding re-
sults the most valuable to science and humanity might be
obtained ; the aim of justice would be still better secured,
and to the public (particularly the relations of the deceased),
the verdict would be delivered under the best possible re-
commendations, and with the highest sanction.
The Committee observe, upon the frequent presence of
carbonic acid gas, or choke-damp, by which innumerable
accidents have happened ; and also notice the existence of
other noxious gases in certain mines, as furnishing addi-
tional subjects for chemical investigation. Another source
of destruction in mines is inundation by water ; and they
observe that a long list of casualties still remains, some
wholly beyond human contest, and inseparable from mining
pursuits, but the fatal results of which are often justly at-
tributable to ignorance or a wanton neglect of ordinary
caution, and a recklessness of danger, in defiance of common
discretion.
The Committee next proceed to comment upon the
various means of prevention which were investigated by
them in the course of their inquiries, and which may be ar-
ranged under the following heads :
" 1. Ventilation, by which is meant an adequate supply of
atmospherical air, sufficient as an active agent to displace
deleterious gases, or so to adulterate those gases as to leave
them no longer explosive, or as in the case of carbonic acid
gas, no longer fatal to vitality. On ventilation, and the
daily, unceasing, strict discharge of duty by every person en-
gaged about the mines, from the scientific, professional viewer,
through all grades, the under-viewer, the wasteman, the
overman, the deputy, the lamp-keeper, the pitman, down to
the trapper (often a. boy too young and thoughtless, who
manages the air-doors), depends the safety of hundreds of
men and boys, from minute to minute ; one act of omission of
assigned duty, one solitary, momentary neglect, may cause
the instant destruction of life and property to an indefinite
extent.

"2. Safety-lamps • by the aid of which the miner is en-
able to commence and continue his operations in situations
where no naked light could be used, and at other times as a
precaution against apprehended sudden changes in the atmos-
phere which surrounds him.
" 3. Maps or plans, accurately defining not only the mode
of conducting the air-courses, but the entire of the workings;
pointing out also the position of adjacent abandoned mines,
which may have become reservoirs of gas or of water."
Upon these subjects, the Committee observe as follows :
" The various modes of ventilating mines already in use,
as well as those systems which have given place to improved
methods, will be found detailed by various witnesses, arid their
merits so fully canvassed, as to require no comment from
your Committee. To enter upon a review of every plan and
suggestion would compel your Committee to exceed the rea-
sonable limits of a report. They do not hesitate to express a
conviction, that whilst some mines equally foul are naturally
freed from large accumulations of gas, by the approximation
of the seams of coals to the surface of the earth, others, where
the seams lie horizontally, or nearly so, require more shafts,
additional opportunities for the injection of puro air and the
rejection of foul than are ordinarily afforded. A less parsimo-
nious system in this respect, in the original design of those
mines, and in their subsequent workings, would have rendered
easy otherwise difficult ventilation, and saved many valuable
lives. The absolute necessity of greater attention to this point
has been fully established.
" The practice of placing wooden partitions or brattices in
the ventilating shafts is deservedly reprobated : the slightest
explosion may remove them, thus the whole system of venti-
lation is destroyed, and no timely aid can be rendered to the
temporarily surviving sufferers. Your Committee have rea-
son to believe that this opinion is generally adopted in the
coal-mining districts. To this point they attach an import-
ance, inferior only to the provision of a sufficient number of
up-cast and down-cast shafts. They consider that the evi-
dence justifies the suspicion that the foul and free air-courses
are frequently too near to each other, the communications not
adequately protected, and that the lengths of air-coursing are
excessive, giving opportunities for leakage, interruption, and
contamination. The temporary nature of the stoppings, often
boards imperfectly united, sometimes mere heaps of small coal,
and their frequent derangement, inevitably produce dangerous
consequences.
" Your Committee have endeavoured to investigate with
strict impartiality the merits of the different lamps which have
been brought under their notice. In the course of the evidence
many varieties will be found described. The invention claimed
by the late Sir Humphrey Davy, on principles demonstrated
by that able philosopher, may be considered as having essen-
tially served the mining interests of this kingdom, and through
them contributed largely to the sources of national as well as
individual wealth. Many invaluable seams of coal never could
have been worked without the aid of such an instrument;
and its long use throughout an extensive district, with the com-
paratively limited number of accidents, proves its claim to be
considered, under ordinary circumstances, a safety-lamp. The
principle of its construction appears to have been practically
known to the witnesses, Clanny and Stephenson, previously
to the period when Davy brought his powerful mind to bear

DIED.
On the 27th ult. in Edinburgh, Mrs. Blair, widow of Dr. Blair''
Prebendary of Westminster.
On the 2d inst., at Turnham-green, Jas. Fittler, Esq., A.R•A''
aged 79.
On the Ist inst., at Windsor, Berks, John Nash, Esq., in his 40
year.

On the Ist inst., at Brighton, Charles William Bynon, of Seal'
Bank, Regent's-park.
On the 30th ult., in Wilton-place, Mrs. Sophia Streatfeild, i°
her 81st year.
On the 29th ult., at Hastings, Charlotte, wife of W. Unvalif.,
Esq., of Putney, Surrey, in her 26th year.
On the 27th ult., Benjamin Hutton, Esq., aged 62.
On the 30th ult., Mrs. Martha Stevenson, of Richmond, Surfeit,
in her 78th year.
On the Ist inst., at Camberwell, Mr. Thomas Harrison, in 1,19
58th year.
On the 30th ult., at Bath, in his 75th year, Thos. Brooke, Escl"
formerly of the Hon. East India Company's Bengal Civil Service. .-")
On the 24th uit., at Enfield, in his 71st year, Peter Hardy, Esit .
o'
one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county of 3/flu-A,
dlesex.
*4'
On the 2Sth ult., aged 84, Mr. Simon Payne, for 50 years s'
sheep salesman in Smithfield-market.
On the 23d ult., at Addington-house, Buckinghamshire, Maio 44
waring Davies, Esq., aged 91.

London : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, ofll2, Strand, at Me Sun Mice, No. 112, Strand, in the countY
of Middlesex.