We deeply regret to record two colliery disasters, one at
Cwm, in Monmouthshire, and the other in Nottingham- shire, both of which by a strange coincidence occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning. • No fewer than 57 lives were lost through the Cwm explosion. As usual, the occasion was made memorable by calm and unstinting self- sacrifice. Miners, managers, and other members of the staff vied with one another in risking their lives in the work of rescue. When one contemplates this spectacle of human nobility one looks back at the long and bitter Oppositions of the coal dispute almost with incredulity. At the Bilsthorpe Colliery, near Mansfield, 14 lives were lost through the collapse of water pipes in a new shaft. These fell on some staging and dashed the men there to the bottom of the shaft. There was an unhappy incident at Cwm on Wednesday when Mr. Baldwin and Mrs. Baldwin visited the mine to express their sympathy. Some irresponsible persons insulted and threatened them. On behalf of the miners as a whole regret was afterwards expressed fully and feelingly as everyone knew it would be.
Previous page
