The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-14 00:00:00

NEGLECT OF COAL MINES.

The following is a copy of a letter by Lord Kinnaird,
in reply to one received by him from the Rev. T. Griffiths,
Merthyr Tydvil, relative to the Ferndale explosion :
Rossie Priory, N.B.
Sir,—l am much obliged to you for sending me a copy
of your speech delivered at a public meeting at Merthyr
Tydvil on the 27th November. I am truly glad to see
that one who has twenty years' intimate acquaintance with
colliers agrees with me as to the urgent necessity for the
appointment of a new commission to inquire into the
cause of these frequent accidents and the mode of working
these pits. The blame, as you say, is too often put on the
poor colliers, who are said to be reckless, whereas, when
the men dare to speak out, as on an inquest, the evidence
proves the recklessness to rest rather with the men in
charge of the pit. The jury on the Ferndale accident
recommend, what I have long held to be essential, that a
daily record should be kept of the state of the several
workings. Thejjuryideserve the greatest credit for having
fearlessly given a verdict founded on the evidence brought
before them ; and, as the owners of the Ferndale pit Nvill
now be liable in heavy damages.—under Lord Campbell's
Act, as in the case of railways—to the relatives of the poor
men who lost their lives by the negligence of their ser-
vants, other colliery owners may think it worth their
while to pay more attention to the ventilation of their
pits ; but I am quite convinced that this unnece3sary
sacrifice of life must continue until some legislative
enactment is passed, founded on the report of a royal
commission. One well acquainted with the working of coal
pits in England and Wales states—and from the informa-
tion I have received at different times, to the effect " that
such and such a mine is miserably mismanaged, and in a
very dangerous state from bad ventilation," I am sure he
is correct—" that if 100 pits were selected at random, 90
per cent. would be found to be in a dangerous state," viz.,
bad return, airways, with accumulation of fire or
black damp, roof not properly timbered, no care taken
to examine ropes and chains, no safety cages and catches,
no strict and proper system of examination and
daily inspection of machinery : in short, nothing done with
either method or system, only just what cannot possibly be
left undone. There is also great neglect in regard to safety
lamps. In many pits where safety lamps arc used the
workpeople have to buy their own lamps ; hence, they buy
a cheap and inferior article, and the owners of the colliery
do not keep any men to clean the lamps. Therefore the
men take them home to clean them, and, in order to get the
dirt and oil from the wire gauzes, they put them in the
fire till they are red hot ; hence, when this has been done
a number of times, the wire becomes so brittle that it
breaks like glass. This may explain how explosions take
place in ill-ventilated pits from defective lamps. In well-
regulated pits masters provide the lamps, and keep men
and boys to clean them with flint-dust and brushes.
Each man gets his lamp, which is carefully examined
beforehand and after it is returned. This ought to
be made compulsory, with a daily report to the office.
The men are no doubt to some extent careless, having
little or no education, not mixing with any other class,
ignorant of all scientific principles of mining, and not
sufficiently alive to the danger of working in a fiery mine.
Schools should be established, and boys under 14 (none
under 12 being allowed to go below) should be obliged to
attend school so many hours per week, as in the case of
factories. Subjects connected with mining and engineer.
ing might be taught in the school. But all this requires
legislative enactment, and a royal commission would best
suggest what is necessary. Coal proprietors oppose every
inconvenience
or which is likely to cause the slightest
or expense to themselves, and do not consider the preser-
vation of human life sufficient reason for interfering with
KINNAIRD.
what they call " freedom of action."
I The Rev. T. Griffiths, Merthyr Tydvil.
uid

of Mr.
The Hampshire papers record the death
John Coupland, at the age of 70. He was until r ently
the proprietor of the Hampshire Adrerttser, the chief
Con-
servative journal in the south of England, and which he
established about fifty years since. Mr. Coupland was
originally a London printer.
Mr. Marcus Costello, one of the most prominent
members of the old Catholic Association, and a colleague
of O'Connell in the agitation which followed Catholic
Emancipation, has died at his lodgings in Upper Sack-
ville-street, Dublin. He held for a long time the office of
Attorney-General at Gibraltar, to which he was appointed
during during the viceroyalty of the Earl of Mulgrave,
when Lord Morpeth, afterwards Lord Carlisle, was Chief
Secretary for Ireland.

JEALOUSY AND REVENGE.—The Meridional gives
the details of an act of vengeance concur itted at Cucuron
(Vaucluse) by a young girl named Feld.° Pelicot, who had
been jilted by one Gasquet. The latter had contracted a
marriage with another woman, and on the wedding-day
was passing through a hall of the Maifie, after having
signed the necessary papers, when Felicie, dressed in male
attire, suddenly crossed his path and discharged a pistol at
his head, inflicting a wound near the right ear. She was
immediately arrested. The wounded man is expected to
wryly°.