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Sir,

From exhaustive written particulars supplied by Mr, J. B. Atkinson, relative to two Colliery Explosions which occurred in his District last year, incidentally mentioned in his Annual Report, viz.: the Benwell Colliery Explosion which happened on Tuesday, 19th March, 1907; and the Whitehaven Colliery Explosion which occurred on Tuesday, the 26th November, 1907, I have taken what seems to me to be of importance, and in this edited form have the honour to submit the reports as follows :—

THE BENWELL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

This explosion occurred at 5.40 p.m. in the Brockwell seam of the Charlotte pit, situated in the City of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and owned by Messrs. Cochrane Carr, Ltd., and caused the death of four persons.

At the adjourned inquest held on the 4th of April at the Central Police Court, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, eight witnesses were examined, including Mr. E. T. Ornsby, the manager of the colliery, Mr. Abbott, and Mr. J. B. Atkinson, who gave expert evidence of the explosion, and Dr. G. H. V. Appleby, who gave medical evidence as to cause of deaths.

The jury returned the following verdict with reference to Archibald Robson: "That deceased died from carbon monoxide poisoning produced or resulting from an explosion of fire damp and coal dust in that part of the North Flat Fenham District of the Brockwell seam, Benwell Colliery, where he was working when he met his death, which said fire damp and coal dust were ignited by the light from a safety lamp taken by deceased from the caution board in the said district and used by him for the purposes of his work. The deceased on substituting the red glass of the lamp for a white glass, having inadvertently caused the gauze inside the lamp to slip or otherwise become detached from the said lamp and fall to the ground thus causing the light therein to become a naked one, and igniting the said fire-damp and coal dust, and the jury are of opinion there has been no negligence on the part of the management of the colliery."

Similar verdicts with respect to the other victims of the explosion were afterwards returned.

The only seam being worked in the colliery at the time of the accident was the Brockwell which at the downcast (and coal drawing) shaft is 252 yards from the surface and lies nearly level. The daily output from the pit was 430 tons. The seam, which worked on the bord and pillar system, is moderately gaseous, and though locked safety lamps were used in the workings both in the formation and extraction of the pillars, the use of naked lights was permitted on the intake air roads up to the caution boards, the positions of which are marked on the plan.

Single gauze shielded Clanny safety lamps with red glasses were hung at the boards during the time the hewers were in the pit.

The safety lamps used by the hewers were the Protector type with double gauzes, the deputies, drivers, putters, etc., having the Donals lamp.

The explosion was confined to two adjoining districts known as the Fenham North and Fenham West (see Plan 1). It was given in evidence at the inquest that the deputies had not reported gas in these two districts that year, although the manager had about six weeks prior to the explosion detected it on venturing some distance into the goaf.

About the time of the explosion there was little variation in the atmospheric pressure.

The air current ventilating the districts amounted to 12,000 cubic feet per minute, and was circulated by a Capell fan exhausting from the top of the upcast shaft, which, at the time of the explosion, was running at its usual speed. The direction of the air current was as follows :— On leaving the endless rope haulage road it passed to the junction where it divided, one portion going to the face of the Fenham North and passing round the goaf edge returned to the air crossing over the horse road leading to the Fenham West district. The remainder passed under the air crossing, went up the first working headways where it split, one portion passing eastward, and over the air crossing, the remainder westward round the goaf edge and so out-bye to the main return where it joined the air coming over the air-crossing.

The coal of this seam is at Benwell of a friable nature, and a moderate amount of coal dust is produced in the working of it and in its transportation where there is sufficient dryness. The presence of coked dust on the timber, etc., over practically the whole area traversed by the explosion, the blackening of surfaces, and of the bodies of the victims, and the general appearance of the districts showed that coal dust was present in some quantity before the explosion.

No explosives were used for getting the coal in the extraction of the pillars and rarely when taking up the bottom stone, which work was mostly done with picks, and there was no evidence that any shot had been fired at the moment of the explosion.

On the day of the explosion the districts had been examined by the two fore shift deputies in the usual way both before the entry of the hewers and during the course of the shift, and they reported all the working places free from gas ; and between 12 and 1 p.m., the back overman had been round the districts and also found them free from gas.

When the explosion occurred there were about 30 persons underground, none of whom, except the deceased, suffered any injury. There were but four persons in the Fenham North and West districts, namely the deceased, the others having ceased work at about 4.30 p.m. Some men working at the endless rope road, about 300 yards in-bye from the horse road into the district, felt a rapid movement of the air, and coming out of the shaft raised the alarm. The manager, under-manager, and other officials were summoned and exploration made, and little difficulty being experienced from after-damp the Fenham North district was quickly reached, and the bodies of Robson and Johnson discovered. Robson was found on the main road about 25 yards from the entrance of a "jud."

It should be mentioned that Robson and Kirk were back-shift deputies and had remained after their ordinary shift to draw timber from three completed "juds," one in the Fenham North, and two, opposite each other, in the Fenham district and two lads (Johnson and Conelly) remained with to assist them in removing the drawn timber and rails. Robson was lying on his face with his head out-bye, and was severely burned and blackened with dust; 6 yards inbye from his body a locked extinguished safety lamp was found lying on its side.

Johnson's (one of the lads) body was lying beside a tram partly loaded with timber and rails at the entrance to the "jud," on his back with head out-bye and badly burned. On the day after the explosion a locked safety lamp (No. 105) was found by Mr. Abbott lying on its side near to where Johnson's body had been. Another safety lamp was also found by Mr. Abbott standing on its bottom on the floor about half way up the "jud."

Owing to difficulties due to the presence of fire-damp the bodies of Kirk and Conelly (the other lad), were not discovered until 4 a.m. on the 20th. Both were in the left hand "jud." Kirk was lying under a timber train and Conelly was a few yards nearer the face of the "jud." Three safety lamps were found here, one of which, a shielded Clanny, had the glass broken and the lamp otherwise damaged.