July 24, 1914

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

XX

Supplement to THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

of the cappings now in use. At most mines where the
main haulage from the shaft exceeds l,OOOyds., an
efficient telephone system has been installed, but a few
mines are still awaiting delivery. The provision of
sanitary conveniences is fairly well carried out at the
majority of mines, but at a few mines the supply is not
quite complete. Ambulance boxes, sometimes of a more
elaborate character than required by the Regulations,
and also suitable stretchers have been provided, and are
kept in each fireman’s district and on the surface at all
mines. The number of persons in possession of
ambulance certificates is on the increase, and there are
many instances where excellent first-aid services have
________
been rendered. -

V.—South Wales Division.

Dr. W. N. Atkinson states that during the year
2,722 official visits to mines were made by the inspectors,
2,556 of which included underground inspections,
including 226 by the inspector of horses, and 660 visits
were made to quarries.

Persons Employed.—The following table shows the
number of mines worked, and the number of persons
employed, divided according to age and sex, at mines
under the Coal Mines Act, in the South Wales division,
during 1913 :—

Mines

Persons employed.
f-------—k----------Below

Above ground. and

Below ,--------K-----above

ground.	Fe- ground.

Males. lv±ales’ males.

County.	at

work.

Brecon .......... 25	... 3,053	... 653	...	5	... 3,711

Carmarthen......	65	... 9.454	... 2,525	...	2	... 11,981

Glamorgan ...... 392	...133,371	...23,213	...	91	...156,675

..........

Monmouth ...... 120	...	51,843	...	8,338	...	50	...	60,231

Pembroke........	6	...	396	..	128	...	4	...	528

Radnor ............ 1	...	6	...	2	...	—	...	8

______	______

Total in 1913 ... 609 ...198,123 34,859 ... 152 ...233,134

Total in 1912 ... 622 ...191.581 ...33,792 ... 162 ...225,535

Output of Minerals.—The next table shows the output
and value of minerals :—

County.	Coal.		Fireclay.		Ironstone.		Other minerals.		Total.	
Brecon 	  Carmarthen 	  Glamorgan 	  Monmouth	  Pembroke 	  Radnor	  Total in 1913 	  Total in 1912 		To s.  778,385 2,589,389 38,033,080 15,374,173 55,045	Value.  447,587  1,564,591  22,656,539 9,033,897 41,588	Tons.  13,324 56,913 86,260	Value. <£  4,138  9,845  20,666	Tons.  8,937  10,659	Value.  3,614  3,997	Tons.  1,191  1,694	Value. £  268  338	Tons.  778,385 2,602,713 38,100,121 15,472,786 55,045	Value. £ 447,587 1,568,729 22,670,266 9,058,898 41,588
	56,830,072  50,116,264  I	33,744,202 27,891,043  I	156,497  157,372	34,649  31,760	19,596  20,258	7,611  6,752	2,885 10,088	606  1,866	57,009,050  50,303,983	33,787,068  27,931,421

Of coal classed as anthracite the output was
4,833,159 tons, being an increase of 480,149 tons. The
output of mineral per person employed below ground
was 287*7 tons; and above and below ground 244*5 tons.
The following are particulars of coal-cutting machines :

Non-fatal All non-fatal
Fatal accidents accidents
acci- reported disabling for
dents. to more than
inspector.* 7 days.

Place and cause.	<D	Q Pl	* i  ns  <D	<D Pl		 >  ns <D
	S o -g  CO	P	'c6rS  ® 01 CZ2	to f-l Pl pi O-r-» 02 M  CD  PM	40 ® OS 7S M  CO	to $ Pl O Pl 02 •<"<  <D
Explosions of fire-					
damp or coal dust	5... 451..	. 17..	. 48..	17..	46
Falls in mines 		150... 161.,	.. 557..	. 574..	.15,717..	.15,772
Shaft accidents 		13... 13.	.. 24..	. 61.	.. 155..	. 197
Miscellaneous under-					
ground		118... 122.	.. 444..	. 459...16,529...16,545		

Total underground 286.. 747..1,042.. 1,142.. 32,418...32,560
On surface........ 35... 35... 145... 149... 2,762... 2,768

Gross total in 1913 321... 782..1,187..1,291...35,180...35,328
Total in 1912..... 293... 306..1,087.. 1,151...28,419...28,526

* and f S‘'e footnotes on page iii.

The above machines were used in 41 mines. The figures
show an increase of one coal cutter, and an increase
of 47,190 tons of mineral cut from the preceding year.
There was an increase of 14 conveyors, the present
number being 61.

Accidents.—The total number of accidents reported
was 1,508, of which 321 accidents caused the deaths
of 782 persons; four of these fatal accidents (with four
deaths) occurred in 1912, the deaths resulting after the
statistics for that year were closed. The terrible explo-
sion at Senghenydd Colliery on October 14, 1913,
whereby 439 lives were lost, is the most disastrous
accident in the annals of British mining. In addition
to the Senghenydd explosion, there was an unusual
number of accidents resulting in more than one death
each, as follows :—An explosion of firedamp caused
eight deaths; a fall of roof caused four deaths; a fall
of side in a sinking shaft caused four deaths; a fall
of roof caused three deaths; an underground fire caused
three deaths; an explosion of firedamp caused two
deaths; three falls of roof each caused two deaths;
runaway trams caused two deaths; and fumes from a
petrol engine caused two deaths. The remainder were
all single fatalities.

The following is a summary of fatal and non-fatal
accidents, classified according to place and cause :—

Number driven by Statute ton? cut by

Description.	Elec- tricity.	Com- pressed air.	Elec- tricity.	Com- pressed air.
Disc 		...	2 ..	3 ...	15,730 ..	' 18,258
Bar 		... 31 ..	..	54 ...	200,336 ..	351.718
Chain 		...	3 ..	3 ...	26,912 ..	8.916
Percussive		... — ..	..	19 ...	—	17,849
Total		... 36 ..	.	79 ...	242,978 ..	396,741

The death rates were as follows :—Per 1,000 persons
employed above. ground, 0*999; per 1,000 persons em-
ployed below ground, 3*770; per 1,000 persons employed
above and below ground, 3*354.

Twenty-two explosions or ignitions of firedamp and
coal dust resulting in 451 deaths and injuries to 48
persons were reported during the year, being an increase
of one accident, 438 deaths and a decrease of eight
persons injured, as compared with the preceding year.
As the Senghenydd explosion has been the subject of

n__

xxxxxxx

Shofm an and
a collier:

Shot wh/ch caused
the explosion

Brattice sheers shown-

Venti/ahon -----------

Fig. 18.—Plan of Workings at Glynea
Colliery.



a formal investigation under section 83 of the Coal
Mines Act, 1911, it is not referred to in detail. At the
Glynea Colliery, Carm., on October 18, at 10.30 a.m.,
an explosion of firedamp caused by a blown-out shot
of Swalite burned nine persons so severely that eight
of them succumbed to their injuries in the course of a
fortnight. The explosion occurred ip the Fiery seam,
which is 4 ft. in thickness, and worked at a distance
of 1,200 yds. from the shaft. The heading face, and
a top-hole which had been commenced within 5 yds.
of the face, were not ventilated by any current of air.

The accident occurred at the new top hole, about
4 ft. to the rise near the heading face, and was brought
about in the following manner : A shot hole 3 ft. to 3 ft.
6 in. deep had been bored in the coal face about 6 in.
below the roof and 6 in. away from the right-hand coal
rib. The hole was directed rather to the solid than
over the holing beneath the coal, which had been under-
cut about 3 ft. 6 in. along the floor of the top hole
for its entire width of 4 ft. 7 in. The hole was stated
to have been charged with two or three cartridges of
Swalite, and stemmed, it was said, by clay. One of the
deceased, a certified fireman and an authorised shot-

B

Fireclay
hock
hashes

H

Figs. 19 to 21.—Sections and Plan of
Llewelyn Pit.

man, fired the shot electrically, from outbye of the
brattice near the airway top hole, and the collier who
worked in the top hole was at his side. The firing of
the shot was immediately followed by an explosion of
firedamp, which burned the nine men who were out
on the heading, seven of whom were thought to be
eating their food at the time, having left their respec-
tive working places for that purpose. Two men
remained at work in the third top hole, and were not
injured. The explosion did not traverse any of the top
holes, its effects were limited to about 150 yds. of the

heading. Coal dust did not appear to play any part in
the propagation, although some signs of blackening was
visible on the timbers. The explosion was caused by
the shot blowing out from the hole and igniting fire-
damp, which was present in the roof of the heading
at the mouth of the top hole, and also a train of gas
which lay along the upper side of the roadway to the
rippings near the face of the heading. The bottom coal
of the Rosey seam, which in this part of the mine is
found close above the Fiery and separated only by a
bed of shale 13 in. in thickness and then beds of friable
black shale called “ rashes,” 4 in. thick, had been ripped
on the heading, and, as this seam yields firedamp freely,
it produced the gas which caused the explosion. No
appreciable force was exerted by the blast and none
of the timbering was. displaced. The shotman could
not have made a careful inspection for gas before pro-
ceeding to fire the shot, and hence violated the
provisions, in that respect, of the Explosives in Mines
Order. The ventilation of the part affected could not
have been adequate. The quantity of air passing out
of the heading on the return side of the workings was
ascertained to be 1,890 cu. ft. per minute; a considerable
amount of the total leaked beneath the brattice sheet
referred to, which was found torn at the bottom, not
by the explosion, but by the passing in and out of the
tubs. Proceedings for breaches of rules in connection
with this explosion resulted in the defendants pleading
guilty and the imposition of a fine and costs.

The loss of life by falls was 19 more than in the pre-
ceding year, and the number of persons injured 89 more.
This increase may be accounted for by the fact that
there was a six weeks’ strike in the preceding year,
and that a greater number of persons were employed
in the year under review. Two accidents by falls each
caused four deaths, one accident caused three deaths
and three accidents each caused two deaths. At the
Britannic Colliery, Llewelyn Pit, Glam., on April 27,
at about 12.45 p.m., a fall from the side of the shaft,
which was in process of being bricked, caused the loss
of four lives and injuries to three others. The
Llewelyn Pit is 20 ft. in diameter within the bricking
and had been sunk to a depth of 511 yds., of which
481 yds. had been walled to the surface. The strata
passed through from 481 yds. to the bottom consisted
of coal, shale and fireclay in very disturbed condition, so
much so that a secure place for the fixing of a walling
curb had not been met with. In consequence of the
slanty nature of the contorted strata, the shaft was lined
during sinking with substantial rings of channel iron
at short and regular intervals, each ring connected to
the other by means of strong square iron hangers, the
first ring being supported by hangers from the last
walling curb. A few supplementary rings were fixed
in two or three places where additional strength was
found necessary. Polling boards were placed behind the
channel iron circles in contact with the strata round the
whole of the circumference of the shaft and were firmly
wedged to the rings. In this way the sinking had been
carried on until a depth of 511 yds. was reached. A
suitable and secure bed having been found, a curb was
laid and the bricking and the walling was continued
upwards, and the rings were taken out one by one as
the work proceeded. Ten yards of the shaft had been
completed from the bottom when the shift of men to
which the accident occurred commenced work. The
walling stage had been raised to the top of the then
level of the bricking and a block of brickwork built against
the strata where a fall of side had occurred in a previ-
ous shift. The work had been examined and instruc-
tions on the method of procedure given by the principal
officials of the company, who had been on the walling
stage about 10 minutes before the accident occurred.
The men were told to take away a small segment of the
polling boards and brick up the opening to the next ring
above, before proceeding with the next segment. It
appears this was being done when the pit side caved in,
involving a height of 21ft., a width of 12 ft. at the
centre of its triangular form, and about one-third of
the circumference of the shaft. The strata broke off at
two slants, forming a V-shaped cavity. The circular
rings collapsed from the eighth below the upper walling
curb. A huge mass of material, amongst which were
a few blocks some tons in weight, crushed through the
walling stage and precipitated the seven men who were
upon it into the water at the pit bottom. Three of the
men were rescued as stated, but the others were not
recovered until the shaft had been relined and made
secure.

Thirtv-nine persons were injured in four accidents by
overwinding. In three cases 38 persons in descending
cages were injured by the cages being dashed on to
bottom of the shaft, through mistakes of the winding
^nginemen. In one of these cases, which occurred after
July 1, the winding engine was fitted with an automatic
contrivance to prevent overwinding, but it failed to
prevent the accident. Two persons were killed by
falling out of cages during ascent or descent. In one
case the side of a cage in a staple pit caught the flange
of a pipe column, causing the fence to be displaced and
a boy in the cage to fall out. In the other case a bar
forming a fence at the end of the cage was said to have
been lifted by one of the men in the cage before it
reached the bottom of the shaft, and a young man
standing next the fence fell out of the cage and was
killed. The man who was believed to have lifted the
fence was proceeded against, but the evidence was
insufficient to secure a conviction.

By explosives there were four fatal accidents and
four deaths; 26 non-fatal accidents and 30 persons
injured. One fatal and six non-fatal acidents were due
to the use of naked lights in conjunction with explosives.
In four cases shot firers were proceeded against for
breaches of the Explosives Order in connection with the
electrical firing of shots.

At Blaenavon Big Pit, on April 7, Arthur Tucker, the
manager of an adjoining colliery, Joseph Jenkins, the