A terrible colliery disaster has occurred in the Aber Valley,
in South Wales. Early on the morning of Friday week, as the night shift had left the Universal Colliery, near Caerphilly, three violent explosions took place, wrecking the winding gearof the shaft and entombing eighty-three men who were working overtime. Rescue parties, though working with the utmost zeal and courage, were not able to penetrate the debris that blocked the pit bottom 540 yards from the surface until four hours later, and it was not till one o'clock, or eight hours after the explosion, that the first body was brought to bank. The hope of rescuing any of the men in the workings was soon aban- doned owing to the tremendous extent of the falls, but so far as can be judged many, if not most, of the victims were killed instantaneously by the explosion. Up to Friday sixty-seven bodies had been brought out of the pit, Harris, the sole survivor, having been found badly burned near the pit bottom, but hopes are entertained of his recovery. This terrible disaster, by which over fifty women have been widowed and one hundred and seventy children rendered fatherless, is the first serious mining disaster that has occurred in South Wales for several years,—the first also that has taken place since the passing of the Workmen's Compensation Act. The immediate cause of the accident is believed to have been the ignition of fine coaldust at several points, but it has not yet been possible to ascertain whether this was preceded by any shot-firing.
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