The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-10 00:00:00


NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, JAN. 9.
The adjourned inquest on the 23 men and lads
killed in Hetton Colliery on the 20th December,
was resumed at that village yesterday.
Mr. Dickinson, inspector of coal mines for the
Manchester district, said he had been requested
by the Secretary of State, in conjunction with his
colleague, Mr. Dunn, to assist Mr. Atkinson, the
Government inspector of mines of this district, in
the investigation of this matter.
George Lowden, examined, said—I live at Hetton
Colliery, and am an overman. I was employed in
the West Minor Pit on the day of the explosion.
It was my duty to examine the workings before the
men commenced operations. I went down on that
day at 20 minutes past two in the morning, accom-
panied by my son, who is assistant lamp-keeper.
I had minutely examined the places where the men
were placed, and there was no gas. In coming out
of the pit I found the return all right, and free from
gas. I cannot form an opinion as to the cause of
the explosion, except that it went from the flues.
I had not seen gas for some four months before the
explosion. The ventilation was going all right at
the time of the explosion. The men were working
with Davy lamps, and not with candles. At the
time I left, the place was in such a state that I had
no fear of them working with naked candles. I
cannot say what part of the flues the explosion
commenced in. _ _

Thomas Smith examined, said he resided a'
Easington-lane, and was shifter, under Hall
He went down the east mine pit on the evening
of the explosion, about half-past five, and ex-
amined the lamps of every man working in the
pit that night, and found all under his care per-
fect, and at that time there was no indication of
gas in that portion of the pit. I cannot say what
quantity of air circulated at the time of the
explosion, but I think the air was good. I had
no fear at the time the explosion took place. In
my opinion, the explosion first made the blast
at the crossing of the north waggon-way—it is
the first place where the injury took place. I can-
not tell exactly where the gas first exploded. I
cannot form any opinion as to the cause of the ex-
plosion. It would require the explosion of a large
quantity of gas to cause so extensive an injury as I
observed. I cannot form an opinion as to where
the gas came from. I do not think so large a
quantity could have accumulated from the " in-by"
working of the pit.
John Currie—I live in Easington-lane, and am a
furnace-man. When the explosion took place I
had charge of the east furnace in the east mine
pit. When I took charge there was no appearance
of gas. I had observed nothing previous to the
explosion to lead me to think there was danger. I
had a good fire on at the time, and had supplied it
with coals about five or ten minutes previous to the
explosion. After the explosion took place, the air
came back from the furnace, instead of going
through it. As soon as I found the wind I made
the best of my way to the first door coming out of
the downcast shaft. The force of explosion was
very strong before I got through the first door, but
appeared to cease after I got past it. I can form
no opinion as to where the explosion took place.
The force of the explosion came from the direction
of the upcast shaft.
Thomas Smith recalled, said—We take in gun-
powder in quantities of about Vbs. in two bottles.
The two men on the north waggon-way had come
up on the night of explosion. The supply from
which the men got what they needed was kept
above bank. There were about two or three lbs. in
each of the men's bottles. After I gave the men
the powder, which weighed about a pound, it was
left in my cabin.
By Mr. Dickinson—That powder has since been
found unexploded.
Job Laverick, a master-waterman at Eppleton
Pit, and residing at Down's-lane, thought the ex-
plosion commenced at the flues.
The inquiry is still proceeding.

RISCA COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

RISCA, JAN. 9,

The official inquiry into the causes of this acci-
dent commenced to-day at Risca, before Mr. Brewer,
deputy-coroner. The colliery company were repre-
sented by Mr. Llewellyn •, Mr. Owen, of Newport,
appeared on behalf of the relations of several of
the sufferers. Mr. L. Brough, the Government in-
spector for the district, and Mr. Evans, the inspec-
tor for Glamorganshire, were also present.
The explosion, it will be remembered, took place
on the 1st December,killing142 men and boys. All
the bodies have been recovered except one.
The first witness called was Mr. Chas. A, Harri-
son, the viewer and underground manager of the
Risca Colliery, who described the state of the pit
on the morning of the accident. At 6 o'clock he
had descended the pit, and had visited in turn the
r different in-take and return air courses on each side
of the pit, trying them all with his lamp. At every
trial he found the air perfectly good. On the east side
he met the overman, who reported to him that all
was right, and having measured the air at the main
in-take, he ascended the pit to breakfast. According
to the measurement be then took 37,500 cubic feet of
air was entering the pit per minute. After breakfast
Mr. Harrison visited the Rock Vein Pit (another
colliery belonging to the same company), and while
there he was informed by the banker of the Black
Vein that the sulphur had fired in the pit. His
answer was, " It can't be ; it couldn't happen."
Running to the top of the down-cast shaft he pro-
cured a lamp and immediately descended. His first
act was to examine the west side of the separation
doors ; they were all right; then the east side sepa-
ration doors, and they were all right also. He then
went to the top of the stope and examined the
separation doors on the first west level, and found
them all right. The regulator through the separa-
tion doors was perfectly uninjured. In the second
east level he found his own son, who was still alive.
He lifted him up so that he might catch the fresh
air, and went forward. In a very few yards he
found one or two bodies, and was soon stopped by
the "falls"—that is, the ruins which had been made
by the explosions. In attempting to penetrate into
different parts of the working he was stopped by
similar obstacles. After that he returned up the
stope and assisted in recovering bodies.
Mr. Harrison was cross-examined by the Coroner
and by the Government inspector, and in answer to
questions put by them he stated that the air in the
return courses was particularly good. 37,500 cubic
feet per minute was quite sufficient air to make the
pit sweet and clean, and quite sufficient for the safe
working of the pit. Occasionally 42,000 cubic feet
per minute were passed through the pit, but the
average quantity was from 37,000 to 38,000 cubic
feet per minute. The ventilator was Struve's
aerometer, or ventilating pump with cylinder of 18
feet diameter, a six feet stroke and eight strokes
per minute. About 51,000 cubic feet per minute
ought to be produced by eight strokes a minute,
and the only way in which he could account
for the difference between that amount and
the amount actually produced was by attri-
buting it to leakage. He did not think the drag,
i. e., the resistance to the current caused by friction
(a cause suggested by the Government inspector)
had anything to do with it. The stalls and levels,
i. e., the places where the coal is worked, were
always bratticed close up to the faces, the air was
brought up within six yards of the faces, sometimes
within four yards. If a safety lamp were acci-
dentally extinguished in the pit, it would have to
be brought to the head of the stope at the bottom
of the downcast. There was no other means of
relighting them. By the 42d rule naked lights
were only to he used at the bottom of the downcast
pit, and in those level headings along which the in-
take air passes. That was on the recommendation
of Mr. Mackworth. the former Government inspec-
tor, at a time when the ventilation was but 16,000
cubic feet the minute. In answer to a very pointed
question from the Government inspector, Mr.
Brough, Mr. Harrison stated most positively that
no worker had ever complaiaed to him of danger or
shown any indisposition to go down to work. The
witness was also questioned closely by Mr. Brough
as to the expediency of establishing a supplemen-
tary furnace at the bottom of a third shaft used at
present solely for pumping, but he objected to it
on the ground that it had closed or fallen in at the
side, and that, even if it were fenced in, its effect
would be overcome by the superior power of the
ventilator, and the air would be drawn down in-
stead of drawn up. A furnace had been suggested
in place of the ventilator, and he believed it had
been tried some years ago, but the effect was only
to prodace about 10,000 cubic feet of air.
When questioned as to the possibility of increas-
ing the number of splits e., divisions of the cur-
rent of air entering the pit, so as to carry it into
different districts) on the east side, where the explo •
sion oceurred, Mr. Harrison said he did not consider
it necessary, and in consequence of the badness of
the roof and the bottom it was not possible to carry
more air courses or bridges through the first east
level. In the levels there were treble doors, two of
woodwere o
d andd oo
closedr so. nbe oyrr boys,
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av
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etalhsf
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ther
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liery that no man should go through a door with-
out seeing it closed after him. 43,000 cubic feet
was the largest quantity of air he had ever measured
passing through the pit since the ventilating ma-

chine was put up ; only 15,000 or 18,000 cubic feet
had been obtained by the furnace. The size of the
downcast pit was 16 feet by 10, the seam of coal on
the east side was 8 feet by 6 feet ; on the west side
it was 6 feet ; the level windways and the cross
headings were 6 feet. When asked his opinion as
to the cause of the accident Mr. Harrison said he
believed it to be caused by the blower, or sudden
eruption of gas in a certain portion of the workings
(technically called the third and fourth east level),
which he pointed out on the map, and the damp
was first fired down the fourth east level, among
the rippings. Probably the first explosion would
be increased as the fire went through the working,
in consequence of more gas being set loose by the
falls of the timber. No safety lamps had yet been
found in the ruins with the gauze cover taken off,
but four had been found unlocked, and one had been
found with a pick hole through the gauze just by
thel spot where in all probability the explosion
originated. Of the 142 men who had been killed
70 died from chokedamp with signs of burning,
three had since died from burns, and three had
their skulls fractured by the falls. He did not
believe that one single man had been burned to
death. In the goaves (or exhausted and closed-up
workings) he had never seen any signs of firedamp,
though there was blackdamp. He had not the
least suspicion that there was anything dangerous
in the state of the mine on the morning of the ac-
cident, nor should he have hesitated a moment to
go down.
Mr. Evans, the Government Inspector for Gla-
morganshire, was proceeding to put some questions
to the witness when our parcel left.

THE LAW OF MARRIAGE.

It has often been a subject of wonder not un•
mingled with regret to those who are the best
because the most thoughtful friends of our consti•
tutional polity; that the condition of our Roya
Marriage Law should have been so long suffered
to remain where it was left by the unwise and un-
patriotic Parliament of 1772. In a fit of chagrin
at the marriage of his brother, the Duke of Cum-
berland, with the daughter of Lord Irnham,
and of the Duke of Gloucester with Lady Walde-
grave, George III. insisted upon the introduction of
the well-known Marriage Bill, and succeeded,
though not without considerable difficulty, in hav-
ing it carried through both the houses of the Legis-
lature. By its provisions any marriage, however
solemnised, is declared to be ipso facto void which
shall be contracted by any descendant of King
George II. without the consent of the Crown previ-
ously signified under the Great Seal ; save in the
case of a descendant who, being above the age of
twenty-five, shall give twelve months' notice to the
Privy Council, and shall not have been forbidden
during that time to enter into such contract by the
joint address of both Houses to the Throne. An act
was indeed passed during the present reign to pre-
vent the premature marriage of a King or Queen
during the period of minority ; but this was 30 uni-
versally acknowledged at the time to be a wise and
useful enactment, and is still regarded by all who
have ever thought about the matter as so manifestly
politic and just, that it may be omitted altogether
from any inquiry into the reasonableness of main-
taining the existing Law of Marriage as it affects
other members of the Royal Family. Two ques-
tions are involved in the prohibitory statute of 1772
—the one a question of moral equity, the other of
political prudence. They are essentially distinct,
and ought to be considered separately. Is it just to
a junior member of the Royal House to fetter arbi-
trarily his or her conjugal choice in a manner to
which the legal condition of other persons in the
community affords no sort of analogy ? And if just,
is it for the advantage of the Crown or of the realm
that such peculiar disability should subsist ? These
are questions which we should have hesitated to
discuss a few weeks ago, when the possibility of a
personal application of general remarks would have
embarrassed the liberty of the journalist. The
announcement of the engagement of the Princess
Alice and Prince Louis of Hesse, and the public
congratulations which have been tendered them on
the event, by obviating misconception of the ten-
dency of our remarks, restore our freedom.
The position of the younger sous of a constitu-
tional sovereign is no doubt in many respects
anomalous. As members of the House of Peers
they are called upon to exercise political duties
without the same presumption of independence, as
regards the monarch and the people, which is
required by the theory of a hereditary senate. They
are naturally supposed to have interests and feel-
ings not altogether unbiassed in favour of the
Crown ; and nobody expects it should be otherwise.
The instances in which Princes of the Blood have
signalised themselves in taking a prominent part in
parliamentary opposition are not for the most part
of au edifying character, though there are memorials
of manly and consistent conduct like that pursued
by the father of the present Queen when Duke of
Kent, and by the late Duke of Sussex, which the
popular mind still loves to look back upon with
affectionate regard. It cannot, however, be denied,
that the exigencies of their political and social
position render it peculiarly desirable that the
younger branches of the Royal Family should have
the solace, the sympathy, and the support of those
social connexions which may fitly tend to nationalise
and liberalise their thoughts and feelings. Ming-
ling, as they are certain to do, with the members
of the ancient and opulent aristocracy, they are
likely to form attachments of love or friendship as
other men do ; and about the best that could be
wished for them would be that such preferences
when disinterestedly formed should be hallowed by
the pure and ennobling sanctions that are invoked
by all other orders in a Christian State. Why
should their affections be statutably frozen, or
their inherent rights of choice and of coin•
panionship for life be subjected to the will of
others? Was it justifiable as a question of
morals to endeavour to prevent the late Duke of
Sussex from living happily with Lady Augusta
Murray as his true and lawful wife; or, failing
that, was it morally right for a series of years
solemnly to deny the marriage, and impute to a
faithful and affectionate wife—for wife in the
sight of God she undoubtedly was, as much as
any duchess in the land—the reproach of living in
concubinage ? It is vain to pretend that the sic nolo
sic jubco of Crown or Parliament can make wrong
to be right or change right into wrong. Public
opinion, it may confidently be said, never ratified
the Royal Marriage Act of George III. It was
attributed to narrow-minded prejudice and pride
on the part of that not very sagacious monarch,
and to party meanness on the part of his Ministers
and their majority in Parliament. The best man
in the realm protested against the measure at the
time; and the national feeling sought vent in a
long-continued rain of ridicule, pasquinade, and
caricature.
But is there no solid, or subtle motive of policy
in the restriction to compensate for its immoral
tendency ? There may be considerations, into which
we need not enter here, why an heir apparent or
an heir presumptive should be statutably bound not
to marry without the consent of his responsible
advisers of the Privy Council, or perhaps, of Par-
liament. We should be sorry to see the door opened
to intrigues and cabals, such as those by which, in
Tudor times, Northumberland endeavoured to clutch
the crown for his son, or those by which, in the
days of the subsequent dynasty, the daughter of
Clarendon was secretly wedded to the next heir to
the throne. But with regard to the junior branches
of the Royal Family, public opinion, we are per-
suaded, would heartily approve of material relaxa-
tions of the present law, if not of its abolition.
The nation recognises no advantage to itself in the
perpetuation of a system whereby all the Princes
and Princesses of the Blood are compelled to mate
with the members of foreign reigning houses. A
very strong impression exists, on the contrary, that
as the titled aristocracy instinctively seeks to recruit
its strength by intermarriage with eminent indivi-
duals of the Commons, and adds in no small degree
to its stability by so doing, so it were well if the
less prominent branches of Royalty were permitted
to unite with the sons and daughters of the princely
houses by which on all sides they are surrounded.
During the greater portion of the national history
they were so permitted. The restriction has
nothing of antiquity about it which could give it
in the eyes of any a claim to veneration ; and we
are certainly not aware of any particular good
that has ever been even pretended as the fruit of
our experience during the last ninety years. It
was notoriously set at nought by more than one of
the persons whose conduct it was intended to
regulate during the reign of the Sovereign who was
its author. In the childless reigns of the two suc-
ceeding monarchs the case did not arise ; and it is
only of late that during the present reign contin-
gencies of future royal marriages have bean recalled
practically to our recollection.— Daily News.

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