§ MR. J. E. ELLIS (Nottingham, Rushcliffe)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he can now state the result of the investigations into the circumstances mentioned in the following paragraph from The Times of 19th July:—
Before the Bolton County Magistrates yesterday, the manager at the Poggs Collieries, Darcy Lever, was summoned at the instance of Mr. Dickinson, Chief Inspector of Mines, for a breach of 'The Mines Regulation Act, 1872,' for not supplying sufficient ventilation;On the 16th of May a fireman, named Hay-dock, reported gas to the manager in one of the working places. He continued to report it until the 24th, when he went into the place and was suffocated. The defendant was fined £10 and costs?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)I have had a full and careful inquiry and Reports from the Inspector. The manager was prosecuted and convicted for not having brought the ventilation of the mine into an adequate condition with sufficient promptitude; hut this neglect can hardly be regarded as the cause of Haydock's death. Haydock had daily visited and reported on a working place where an eruption of gas had taken place, and from which workmen were properly excluded while endeavours were made to drain off the gas. On the 24th Haydock, in visiting the place, very imprudently went to a point in the working place at which there was too much gas present for his lamp to burn, leaving his lamp on the ground behind him. His object appears to have been to pull down some brattice, and thereby to facilitate the escape of the gas. This was an error of judgment on his part, and his action brought upon him the gas which suffocated him. The manager is an old and thoroughly experienced practical collier, and I do not think the circumstances call for any further proceedings against him.