RUFFORD COLLIERY DISASTER. (Hansard, 14 February 1913)

§ Sir A. MARKHAM

A terrible disaster occurred at the Rufford Colliery on Saturday last, resulting in the loss of fourteen lives, and the bodies of the men were recovered yesterday. It would not be in order, as the Home Secretary has very properly decided to hold a special inquiry into the case of this calamity, to say anything as to what occasioned the accident, but I should be in order, and I think it would be my duty, in view of the wide powers the Home Secretary possesses, to say what, in toy opinion, would be a means of preventing accidents of this kind in the future. On this occasion a hoppet broke 1484 through the headgear of the colliery, and a barrel containing some tons of water was precipitated down the shaft on to some men who were working at the bottom. The weight of the barrel falling a distance of 180 yards, there was no escape for the men. When the barrel came down it naturally carried in front of it the scaffold, and all the men working on the scaffold were precipitated down into the water, there being at the time 208 gallons a minute running into the shaft. When a diver recovered the bodies, not a single man was found to have been killed by having been struck by the hoppet in its descent. Every life which was lost was due to drowning only. I do not think in the whole history of mining a similar case has occurred in which inspection by mining people has ever led to a suggestion which would have saved the lives of these men. When the hoppet came down, all the lights in the shaft were put out. In the first place, if electric lamps had been used, the men would have had light to enable them to make some struggle in the water to escape the inevitable death waiting for them. In my experience, and having on one occasion had something to do with the sinking of a shaft from which no less than 7,000 gallons a minute were being taken, the thought struck me that, in the event of anything happening to the working gear, if there were rope ladders down to the bottom of the sump the men might escape by these ladders. If, therefore, in a case of this colliery, where the accident happened on Saturday night, and of which I believe the management is second to no colliery in the country—I lay no blame on any person or persons—electric lamps had been provided, I feel certain that a majority, if not all, of the men would have been rescued alive. If the Home Secretary, in the exercise of the powers vested in him, after due consideration, and after receiving the advice of his experts, will take the course of issuing a memorandum to all the colliery proprietors in the country, calling attention to the method I have suggested, I am certain that would have beneficial results. The suggestion I have made now was never present to the minds of the Royal Commissioners, nor was it present to my mind during the passing of the Coal Mines Act. Although the Committee accepted many amendments, neither I nor anyone else made that suggestion. I would respectfully urge my right hon. Friend to take the advice of his 1485 experts on the matter, believing that if the suggestion were carried out it would be the means of saving life.