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> y f » • THE BOOM IN BOXING.…

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION IN…

ELECTORAL REFORM

NEW COMPENSATION POINTi APPEAL.

SOCIALIST UNITY IN GREAT BRITAIN

[No title]

THE MINERS' GREAT TASK

ISENGHENYDD.

GOB FIRES IN MINES

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

GOB FIRES IN MINES "NOT MUCH CAUSE FOR ANXIETY IN S. WALES" The first report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Home Secre- tary upon the question of spontaneous combustion in mines has. been issued. The report states that during the. last twenty years 177 persons have lost their lives through accidents caused by spon- taneous combustion throughout, the United Kingdom, though doubt. is ex- pressed if all the cases of incipient fire were actually reported. "GOB STINK." The Committee expressed the opinion that notification should be sent to the in- spector of mines when gob-stink, smoke, or any other sign of combustion was ob- served when the temperature of the air in any accessible part of a, mine was 20deg. Fahr. above the normal tempera- ture, or where the temperature at such pkce attained to 110 degrees Fahr. when any flash had been observed coming from any pack or waste, and that as soon as any work was commenced for the purpose of discovering or combating a fire the inspector should be notified of the fact. After carefully weighing all the evi- dence as to the question of the with- drawal of workmen from mines on the outbreak of fire or during the operations of dealing with the fire, the Committee express the opinion that in mines in which safety lamps were used or in, mines in which i per cent. of inflammable gas ha,d been found in the return airway of any ventilating district of the mine on any occasion-when smoke or other signs indicative of a fire occur in any such mine—the whole of their workmen should be withdrawn from the ventilating dis- trict affected, and before they were re- admitted the manager and two representa- tives of the workmen (if the workmen elected to appoint two such represent.a- tives) should make an inspection, the re- sult of which should be entered in a book to be kept at the mine for the pur- pose, and should be signed by the parties making the inspection. The men should not be re-admitted to that part of the mines unless fuch report stated that it was safe to do so. In the event of a fire being dammed off the whole of the men should be with- drawn from the mine until the work was wpl.,d..Etd should not be re admitted until ah inspection had been made in the i rinannrer recommended, and the conditionf reported safe. The only special reference in the re- port to South Wales is as follows :— Fires duo to spontaneous combustion are reported to have occurred at thirteen col- lieries (it is doubtful, however, whether one of the cases was due to spontaneous combustion, and it is interesting to note that the coal worked at this colliery is anthracite). One occurred last year at a ste-im coal colliery, "in which," says Dr. Atkinson (the divisional inspector) "cases of spontaneous combustion are ex- tremely rare. The seams most liable are the Victoria and the Swansea Five- feet or Llanelly Four-feet. Mr J. Dyer Lewis senior inspector of mines in the South Wales Division) reports that "spontaneous combustion has not been in the past a cause for much anxiety in the South Wales coalfield. The most serious case occured at Court Herbert Colliery on June 1, 1906, when a gob fire brought about an explosion of fire-damp, resulting in the lass of five live,- and causing injury to four persons." In view of the references made at the Senghenydd inquiries to the use of inr combustible dust in fiery mines, it is im. portant to also note the memorandum signed by four out of the five members of the committee (of whom Mr R. A. S. Redmayne, his Majesty's Chief Inspec- tor, is one), as follows :— "We are of opinion that one of the means which might and should be adopted as effective in stopping an ex- plosion of coal dust is the use of. incom- bustible dust, and we are in agréement in thinking that the necessity for the withdrawal of the workmen from the ventilating districts other than that in which the fire occurs would cease to exist if such other districts in the seam or seams worked from the same level were adequately protected by incombustible dust on the roads of such districts, the dusting being in the proportion of at lea.st two parts of incombustible dust to one of- coal dust; and we are further of opinion that in whatever part of the mine a fire oociirrs, all accessible parts of the mine immediately contiguous to the fire should be dusted in the proportion of at least four parts of incombustible dust to one of coal dust. Our reason for suggesting a higher proportion of incom- bustible dust that that put forward as a minimum in the Fifth Report of the Ex- plosions in Mines Committee is that, having regard to the fact that mines sub- ject to spontaneous combustion are more prone to dangerous conditions, a higher scale should be insisted upon.

ELECTORAL REFORM

THE MINERS' GREAT TASK

SOCIALIST UNITY IN GREAT BRITAIN