The terrible mining disaster at Lens on March 10th has
had' a most astonishing sequel. Last Friday morning an exploring party discovered and rescued thirteen miners who had been entombed for three weeks. These men, who are described as resembling living corpses, had kept themselves alive on oats which they found in a stable, and on the flesh of a dead horse, but owed their deliverance chiefly to the indomitable spirit and intelligence of their leader Nemy, who insisted on his com- panions keeping on the move until, guided by the fresh air' driven into the mine, they reached the barrier formed by a fallen roof through which they were rescued. Nemy and another of his party have been decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honour for their heroism, and a similar honour is to be conferred on the chief of the German salvage corps, who lent valuable aid in the work of rescue. On Wednesday morning another man named Berton was rescued after twenty- five days' solitary confinement in the mine. The French Minister of the Interior, M. Barthou, has inaugurated a Com- mission of Inquiry by a personal inspection of the mine ; but the hostile attitude of the miners towards their employers in the Lena district continues, owing to the conviction that the disaster was directly attributable to the negligence of the mineowners. It was announced on Wednesday, however, that the delegates of the „mining companies had accepted the ' proposals made by the Government to bring the strike to an end,—viz., that 20 per cent. of the present so-called premium pay should be incorporated in the standard wage, which will now carry with it in addition a 17 per cent. "premium," these conditions to apply to underground and surface workers alike.
