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Inspection. — The mine was worked by a succession of shifts, commencing for the purposes of inspection (except in the Little Main, Three Quarters and Six Feet Seams) with the night shift. The Deputy in each district descended, made his inspection and reported on all working places prior to the night shift commencing work. He also made the inspection during the shift and the inspection and report before the morning shift commenced work, and he then passed in the morning shift. The same procedure as to the two latter inspections was followed in the succeeding shifts. In the Little Main and other seams working one shift only, the Deputy descended before the men, made the inspection and passed in his own men.

Safety Lamps. — No naked lights were used in the mine. Flame safety lamps were used of the Prestwich Patent Protector type with lead rivet locks, and electric safety lamps of the "Ceag" type with magnetic locks; 1,194 flame lamps and 257 electric lamps were installed. It was a local rule of the colliery that there must be at least one flame lamp in every working place, and in the particular places immediately affected by the explosion there were no electric lamps in use at the time.

The lamps were numbered and each man received the same lamp daily, this forming part of the checking system. The workman handed in a numbered check and in return received a lamp bearing the same number; on returning the lamp at the end of the shift, he received his check back in exchange. A register was kept of all lamps issued, as well as a record of damaged lamps as required by Section 34 (1) (ii) of the Coal Mines Act, 1911. The lamps were examined at the meeting station by the deputies before the men proceeded inbye.

Searching. — As many men as possible were searched at the shaft bottom by persons appointed for the purpose in accordance with the Order, dated 21st May, 1912, in force under Section 35 (2) of the Act. At least 10 per cent. of the men were searched each day, and once a month a surprise search of all the workmen descending in a shift was made, in accordance with the system approved by the Inspector of the Division.

Ambulance Room. — A properly equipped ambulance room was provided at the surface in accordance with the General Regulations, and further ambulance requisites were kept at various places underground.

Workings affected by the Explosion. — The explosion occurred in the Ten Quarters Seam, which is one of the upper seams in the coalfield, and the workings in this seam are shown on Plan No. 1. Owing to a series of faults, the seam is entered from the Lickbank Level ; after following the Lickbank Seam for 384 yards, the haulage road cuts the Cannel Band through a fault, then follows the Cannel Band for 284 yards, to a point where the Ten Quarters Seam is reached by crossing another fault. The haulage, which is endless rope, extends for a further 300 yards in the Ten Quarters Seam. From this point there are 100 yards of level road with pony haulage, and then commences a series of four self-acting inclines, or brakes, in a north-westerly direction. The first, or No, 1 Brake, is 163 yards long. This is followed by another level stretch of 66 yards to the bottom of No, 2 Brake, which is 208 yards in length. No. 3 Brake is 200 yards long, and finally No. 4 Brake extends for 112 yards up. to Ditchburn's Level, leading to the section in which the explosion occurred. Ditchburn's Level is 2,017 yards from the shaft, and 179 yards in length from the incline top to the face.

Electric signalling was employed to the end of the endless rope, and ordinary mechanical signals on each of the inclines.. There was no electric power in use in the Ten Quarters Seam the nearest point at which electricity was used for power or lighting purposes was at the shaft siding, which is lighted by electricity.

Ventilation. — The ventilation of the mine was produced by a "Walker Indestructible Fan" working at a water gauge of 4 to 4.2 ins, and driven by a direct coupled steam engine. The air measurement book for the Downcast shaft shows on the 26th November, 1922, a total of 184,260 cubic feet of air passing through the mine, of which 26,800 cubic feet passed into the haulage road leading to the Ten Quarters. Here it was further split, 17,200 cubic feet going into the Ten Quarters Seam and the remainder passing into the Rattler Band and New Main Band Seams. The measurement within 100 yards of the first working place in the Ten Quarters Seam was 7,920 cubic feet. The air passed round the whole district in one current; there being no splits in the seam itself this matter will be referred to later in this report (vide page 14).

Method of Working. — A section of the Ten Quarters Seam is as follows :—

	Roof :—
		Light Blue Shale.
	Portion worked :—
		Rattler—6 ins.
		Coal—3 feet 0 ins.
		Dirt Band—4 ins.
		Coal (Coarse)—2 feet 2 ins.
		Black Metal—6 ins.
	Floor :—
		Fireclay and Shale.

The seam is worked on the stepped longwall system, with gateways 13 yards apart driven on the level course, and the main gates or brows 80 to 100 yards apart. The present face is under the sea bed just about low water mark, and is rising to the West or seawards at a gradient of 1 in 6 to 1 in 7.

Height is made in the gate roads partly by taking down the roof and partly by taking up the coarse coal at the bottom of the seam. The latter is left under the packs.

Two men generally work together in a working place and get and fill their own tubs, but the trailing or putting is done by pony drivers.

Firedamp. — An examination of the Deputies' Report Books for the three months prior to the explosion shows that gas was reported on many occasions. It is noticeable, however, that the percentage of gas reported was always either 2 per cent. or 3 per cent., and no other percentages were shown. This matter will also be discussed later (vide page 14).

The Withdrawal of Workmen Report Book shows that during the preceding 12 months one withdrawal on account of gas took place in the Ten Quarters No, 2 District with which we are concerned, and the place then in question was one of those which were affected by the explosion on the 17th October, 1922.

Coal Dust. — Stone-dusting was practised in the mine in order to neutralise the dangerous properties of the coal dust, but only where it was considered that the inert dust naturally produced and deposited was insufficient. This point will be discussed later under the head of General Observations (vide page 16).

Shot Firing. — As already mentioned, the deputies fired all the shots. Samsonite No. 3 and Tees Powder, both explosives of the "Permitted" class, were used in the coal as well as in stone. The shots were fired electrically with No. 6 detonators. Explosives and detonators were carried only by deputies, except that in stone drifts one man specially authorised was allowed to carry explosives.

From an examination of the Shotfirers' Book for the month preceding the accident, it appears that the average number of shots fired by each deputy in the district with which we are immediately concerned was 11-12 per shift. Shots in the coal usually consisted of one cartridge, and those in the stone of two or three cartridges, but the cartridges used might be 2, 4 or 5 ozs. in weight. Surface clay was used for stemming, being sent down the pit in tubs and taken into the workings by the hewers as required.