The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-06 00:00:00

boat. It was about five m Linutes before the explo-
sion that he saw the me n, and they were then
pumping. He did not th ink the cakes of powder
were being removed when ithe expllosion took place.
William Rose deposed iihat he, worked at Mr.
Curtis's powder mills. He always considered the
press to work easily and properly. He never
thought there was any danger in working it, and
he could assign no cause for the explosion.
By_ the Coroner—He thought of leaving the
works, as he considered the press and other houses
were too near to each other. :He had no other
cause. He would suggest that the buildings should
for safety be further apart.
By Mr. Sergeant Ballantine_The two houses
destroyed were about 20 yards apart, but one was
not used at all for the powder, having been con-
demned as unfit.
had seen as much as 50 barrels
By a Juror—Ho
of powder in the press house.
The General Manager said he was unable to
assign a cause for the accident. It was now pro-
posed not to erect another large press, but to work
one smaller, which 'was at present ou/the premises.
That held about lt9 barrels. He 'was not aware
that there was any law as tow much powder
should be kept on the premisae.hfi It was against
the rules to have as much as 50 barrels of powder
in a press house at one time. The whole of the
men had to change their clothes from head to foot,
and none were allowed to enter the buildings with-
out they did so.
By the Coroner—Ms opinion was that the ex-
plosion did not originate at the press. He had made
an examination, and wits confident that the screw
had not been used. He meant by that that the
powder was not removed from the press or being
removed. He was satisfied that no pressure would
explode gunpowder. All the men in the press
house were paid by the duty and not by the work
they did. They marinfactured about 400 barrels
a week. Messrs. Curtis supplied the Government
with powder during the wht de of the Crimean war.
If the powder had too much pressure upon it it
would become unfit for Goss ernment purposes. It
was most important from the ,t cause that too much
pressure should not be used.
Thomas Robert Rouse, the: foreman of the men,
stated that sometimes ther a were 50 barrels of
powder in the presshouse • but he could not state
how much they held. He was perfecty satisfied
with the working of the preset, and would not mind
working at a similar one. In fact, he should prefer
it. He could form no opinioli of the cause of the
accident.

Thomas Cooper, who was examined on the pre-
vious occasion, was recalled, end said that he was
confident that the explosion did not take place
through any fault in the maci tine.
Dr. Thompson said there was one question which
he wished to ask from some competent person, and
that was, if some grit got accidentally mixed with
the powder before it was placed in the press,
would the pressure then cause an explosion ?
Mr. Ashbee said that it would not have that
effect.
After some remarks from flue Coroner, the inquiry
was adjourned for a fortnight, that Professor Fara-
day and Dr. Thompson might try if science could
throw any light on the cause of the explosion.

COUNTRY KAREBTB.