The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-30 00:00:00

By Mr. Higson—lltd the pit been in full work
about 14 men, including officers, would have been
in the district where the explosion occurred, and
about 6,000 cubic feet of air per minufe would
have been entering the working. The only places
actually in working were along the straight
level. He had only had one report of
gas being found, and that was about the
middle of September last, when some brattice was
deranged by the fall of a stone from the roof. He
was down the_e workings a fent weeks before the
explosion, and everything was then going on in a
satithictory wanner. Ile thought the ventilation
at the time quite sutikieur. The furnace was
stopped for e!e.tr:ng a shc-rt-, time on the Suniay,
but the ought to Lave been quite right by
the time the men descAided o.t Mouthy morn-
ii)g. Chei:thatn was fireman iu the district, and
appeared to have fired a shot in the warrant.

All the men were required to pr3vide them-
selves with safety-lamps, which were alone used in
the mine, and these were locked by the fireman in
the pit. Blasting was
_allowed, but the shots were
fired by firemen only.
By Mr. Pickard—The return air had to traverse
a distance of about 4,100 yards, and along that
distance the average superficial area would, he be-
lieved, be about 25 feet. About 280 yards of brat-
tieing were in use.

The inquiry was adjourned until the Governtnen
.uspector has completed his examination.

7HE VICEROY OF INDIA AND 711 E SUEZ
CANAL.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
Lord Mayo's chief object for loitering in Egypt
was to see the Suez Canal, and ascertain for himself
its ixactical working and merits. With this view
we a:1 made a start on the afternoon of the 27th of
Novcmber for Ismailia, the present headquarters of
the Canal Company. Accompanied by Egyptian
and French officials, we made a very good run to
this place by rail, partly through the land of Goshen,
which hardly struck one as being a desirab:e loca-
lity for our friends the Israelites, although no doubt
the face of the country has greatly changed since
then.
At Ismailia we were received by M. de Lesseps
and others, who put us up and entertained us most
comfortably for the night. A char-a-bane, drawn
by four mules, conveyed Lord Mayo and Lord
Napier, and other carriages of various sorts the rest
of the party, from the station to M. de Lesseps'
house, where we found a large party assembled to
meet us, including several French naval officers and
the Russian Count and Countess de Jarbelle, tra-
velling en route to India.
On our arrival at Port Said we found all the ships
of the harbour dressed in honour of our visit.
Changed in eight years from a narrow bank of sand
wild and useless, it is now a flourishing town of
nearly 20,000 inhabitants, its commodious harbour,
protected by two largo breakwaters, being capable
of holding ships drawing 25 feet of water. Sand
has risen, however, on the western side, from the
interruption of the ordinary current and the ad-
vance of the line of coast, and it yet remains to be
seen whether the mouth of the harbour can, with-
out great expense, be kept sufficiently clear.
The first general results at which Lord Mayo has
arrived are that about two-thirds of the work are
completed, and that, unless some unforeseen mis-

fortune occurs, it will be finished early in 1870 ;
that ships for the present will be unable to pass
each other, and that the traffic will have to be
worked as in a single line of railway, with 'wider
places to act as sidings ; that the crumbling of sand
into the middle of the canal, caused by the wave
created by the passage of large vessels, will for the
present have to be met by dredging, although the
amount to which this will occur is at present very
uncertain ; that the difficulties to be anticipated
from the drifting sands are confined to a compara-
tively small portion of the works, and can be got
over by artificial means, such as planting and culti-
vating ; that the approaches by sea are already so
complete that no obstacle will be found in that di-
rection ; that the filling of the Bitter Lakes will be
accomplished, though the time it will take is very
uncertain.

With regard to the commercial success of the
project the tariff of charges is as yet quite uncertain
M. de Lesseps talks about £1 a ton, which he calcu-
lates will give them, the first year, a million and a
ha

of money. In this estimate, however, he in
eludes a large portion of trade now borne by sail
ing vessels.

The navigation of the Red Sea has hitherto been
confined to steamers alone, and it remains to be seen
whether in a narrow and difficult sea, of which the
normal state is that the wind blows always up or
down, and in a different direction, for half the dis-
tance, navigation will be profitable for ordinary
sailing ships. It is very probable that in course of
time, if the undertaking succeeds, a large quantity
of shipping with the auxiliary screw will bo con-
structed to meet the peculiar circumstances of the
voyage. The best means of towing sailing vessels
through the canal itself is as yet undecided—whe-
ther by traction engines from the bank, by an end-
less chain along the bottom of the canal, or by
ordinary tugboats. We heard no estimate what-

ever as to the cost of maintaining the works,
but if in course of time the commerce between
the west and east passes over its waters, there

s no doubt that a toll of less than £1 a ton

will be more than Eufficient to repay its con-
structors and maintain the works, even though
their cost be immense.

EARTHQUAKE WAVE.—In a recent discussion at
Melbourne, before tho Loyal Society, relating to the South
American earthquake, it was stated that the great wave
which rolled ou the coasts of New Zealand and all the
eastern and southern shores of Australia on the 15th of
August trust have rolled over the Pacific -Ocean in 18
hours, or at the rate of 383 miles on hour.

THE ,SECOND COLLIERY EXPLOSION
JVEAR JVIG.IN.

WIGAN, Tuesday.
No more additions have yet been made to the
number of persons who have lost their lives by the
explo3ion of fire-lamp at the Norley Colliery,
Pemberton, near Wigan, oa the 21st inst. ; but
two of the injured men are eo seriously hurt that it
is more than probable in a day or two they also
will be numbered among the dead. These are
Taylor and Sharrock, who, as already recorded,
were working in the tunnel at the time of the
explosion.

The inquest on the seven deceased, whose names
have already been published, was resumed this
morning at the Red Lion, Pemberton, by Mr. Drif-
field, district coroner. The Government inspector,
Mr. Iligson, was present, as well as Mr. Pickard,
miners' agent, and several of the proprietors of the
colliery, who were represented by Mr. Maskell
Peace, town clerk of Wigan. Evidence in identi-
fication of the bodies discovered since the inquest
was opened was first given, and then several of the
officials of the colliery were called. he evidence
of the manager is given below.
Mr. Joseph Thompson, manager of the colliery,
said—The district in which the explosion occurred
was reached by two tunnels, which were worked
pretty equally, and had between them a communi-
cation for ventilating purposes only. The explo-
sion appeared to have occurred at the further end
of the workings, along the direct level from the
pit. He was met on his way to the works,
about a quarter to nine o'clock, by a man, who
told him that something had occurred at
the pit. He found it impossible to descend
to No. 3 pit, where the casualty appeared
to have occurred, and consequently went down the
No. 2 shah to the yard coal, which he traversed as
far as the No. 3 shaft. From there he was able to
shout to persons at a mouthing below, and they in-
formed him that an explosion had occurred in the
lower tunnel ; that the cage was fast in the shaft ;
and that the signalling apparatus was out of order ;
and the latter having been put right a capstan was
put down, and a batch of injured men were sent up.
He subsequently went down, and remained until late
in the evening, in company with several gentlemen
from neighbouring collieries. In consequence of the
after-damp, the whole of the bodies could not be
recovered until the 24th ins.