The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-27 00:00:00

THE LUNDIIILL COLLIERY EXPLOSION

LIINDHILL, WEDNESDAY, 7 P. M.
The works at Lundhill were not visited by so
large a company as upon the previoui days, still
there was a considerable number present. The
temperature of the air shaft was about the same as
on Monday and Tuesday, ranging from 72 degrees
to 75 degrees. A Davy lamp was put down the
shaft, but was extinguished almost immediately on
its descending. About six o'clock this evening, on
Messrs. Webster and Maddison trying the tempera-
ture, in company with Mr. Morton; inspector, a crash
was heard in the vicinity of the cupola, which had
the effect of sending the people running to a con-
siderable distance, as it was believed that a second
explosion had taken place. The noise, however,
appears to have been caused by a fall of stone in
the cupola. Shortly before six o'clock, Messrs.
Maddison and Webster having reported as to their
proceedings with regard to' the colliery since the
last meeting, the same was taken into consideration
by the gentlemen present,—Mes3rs.. Nicholas
Wood, J. W. Day, Holt, Elliott, and Woodhouse.
After a lengthy consultation,
The Chairman (Mr. Nicholas Wood), in stating
the conclusion arrived at, alluded to what had been
done by Messrs. Webster and Maddisou, and
others, since the lest meeting ; a day or two after
which the following letter was addressed to Messrs.
Wood, Elliott, Woodhouse, and Hot
Gentlemen,—We, the proprietors of the Lund-

hill colliery-, request and authorise you to under-
take the entire direction and responsibility of re-
opening the pit and recovering the bodies therein ;
and you are hereby empowered to engage and in-
cur any expense in Our behalf.—Yours, &c.,
" W. TAYLOR, Jun., and Co."
On receiving the above application, although it
would cause them great inconvenience, yet they
thought it their duty to undertake the responsi-
bility. They would eugajte to procure an able,
efficient staff fur carrying out their intentions, so
that no time should be lost in carrying out such
measures as would tend to the opening of the pit
and the recovery of the bodies. With regrrd to
the measures already adopied, they did .not
consider them satisfactory ; so • that they
thought the only course now to be adopted was
to fill the pit with water. They hal opined the
down-cast shaft, which-had become, in fact, an up-
cast shalfr, showing that the water had already

stopped the communication between the two. The
up-cast shaft they found still open, the temperature
of which was 99 degrees at the bottom, which was
40 degrees more than it should be, a proof that the
fire was still raging. The going-down shaft was
rendered impracticable by the water filling to the
bottom of the downcast shaft. They were una-
nimously of opinion that any attempt, at pre-
sent, to get into the pit, would be attended with
great danger. They had under consideration
the filling of the pit with water, to extinguish the
burning matter. That, however, was open for dis-
cussion, and would be brought to a conclusion that
night—that is, whether it would be adopted or not.
Mr. Wood then Anstanced a case of a colliery with
which he was connected, which has only one star,
and having hem kept six weeks covered after a si-
milar occurrence fire still existed ; and it was not
till eight weeks after (making a total of 14 weeks),
that it could be safely opened. They considered
that it w told be a vast saving forthem to continue
the running of the water into the pit. They hal
under consideration the desirability of turning the
brook adjoining the works into the pit, se as to
fully qucnch the fire, as by drowning the pit you
may make sure ( f extingu.shing the fire. That,
however, was not decided on by the gen lemma who
bad undertaken the task of opening the pit.
Mr. Morton (inspector) expressed his concurrence
in all that had fallen from Mr. Wood; he
also concurred in the measure that had been
adopted, as also the change that had taken pl. ice
that day, in placing the management in such able
hands. The measures proposed fir the extinguish-
ing of the fire appeared to him to be the most likely
to effectually carry out that object and restore the
bodies of the men with the least possible risk to
those cm whom will devolve the duty of searching
for the bodies—thole will be the works of difficulty
and danger, and must be carried out in the most
skilful and ab!e manner, so as to preserve those who
undertake the painful duty.

TILE -UNEMPLOYED. - Yesterday afternoon another
meeting of the unemployed was held on the site of the
Smithfield-market, for the purpose of giving some infor-
mation relative to the system of poor law relief, and also
with regard to free emigration to the colonies. About
2,500 pereons were present.