THE RECENT MINE ACCIDENT.
[To THE Eorros 01 THE SPECTATOR:] have been for many years a constant reader of the Spectator, and I must confess that it was with great regret that I read the article in last week's number which referred to the recent colliery accident in *Wales. It appears to me that that article, if not intended, is certainly calculated to convey the im- pression that colliery proprietors are utterly regardless of the lives of the men whom they employ, and that in their anxiety to become rich they not only bid defiance to Acts of Parliament, but also refuse to avail themselves of the means which science has placed at their disposal for counteracting inevitable risks to which the miher is exposed. I cannot conceive it possible to bring a more serious charge against any class of men, but unless some such charge is intended to be conveyed, I am completely at a loss to know what is the meaning of the paragraph referring to accidents caused by explosions of gas and the use, or rather the disuse, of the Davy lamp. The writer, however, is not satisfied with casting a slur, and I believe, a most undeserved slur, on. the character of our colliery 'proprietors, but goes on to attack our mining engineers for not having invented a machine which could have performed the work more rapidly than was done by the arms of those brave men whose courage and endurance are now exciting the admiration of their fellow-countrymen. I believe I am right in saying that such machines do exist, but owing to the difficulty of obtaining power suitable for working them at the bottom of a mine, they have not yet become generally used, and consequently it surely ought not to be a matter of surprise that it was found impossible to provide such power at so short a notice.
My excuse for troubling you with these remarks must be that I have been for many years a member of a Mining Institute in this neighbourhood, which comprises a large number both of coal- owners and also of scientific engineers. One of the objects, I might say the main object of the Institute, is to discuss means for the prevention of accidents in mines ; and though accidents will still inevitably occur, I venture to think that the efforts of those who have turned their attention to such objects as improved ventilation in mines, better modes of signalling, prevention of over-winding; and many other similar questions, have not been altogether in vain.
Had the writer of the article to which I have referred been present when a discussion took place within the last fortnight on an improved safety-lamp, I feel confident he would have refrained from using such strong terms of censure.—I am, Sir, &c.
[Nothing was farther from our thoughts than to attack any- body, unless it were the public, for not urging on more eagerly scientific research in these directions.—En. Spectator.]
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