§ 42. Mr. HARDIEasked the Secretary for Mines how many pints of water are pumped per day to the surface from the workings at No. 23 Redding pit.
§ 43. Mr. HARDIEasked the Secretary for Mines if he is aware that before the last disaster at Redding it was the expressed belief of the owners that a great barrier separated the men from the water that drowned them; can he state who took the present measurements; and has the thickness of the fault to Meadow-bank pit been proved?
§ Mr. SHINWELLAbout 4½ million pints of water are pumped daily from No. 23 Redding pit, or, in more usual terms, about 400 gallons per minute. It is a fact that the owners were under the impression, before the disaster, that there was a substantial barrier between the workings of No. 23 pit at the old workings on the south side of the Universal Dyke. As to the distance between the present Redding Ball workings and the Blairlodge fault which separates Redding Colliery from the old Meadowbank workings, this was measured by the Inspector of Mines from the plans, and found to be 500 feet. I am informed that this fault has not been proved. If my hon. friend still feels any difficulty about the position, I hope that he will furnish me with any information that is in his possession.
§ Mr. HARDIEIs the hon. Gentleman aware that it was he, in answer to a previous question, who introduced the public-house measurement to pints? I did not use pints at all: it was he. Men who know always talk in gallons. May I ask, further, whether the hon. Gentleman is aware, from reading the Report of the Inquiry into the last disaster, that it was clearly proved there that the barrier had not been measured, while now he tells us that this barrier is not proved? Is he aware—[Interruption]—this concerns men's lives. Is he aware that the character of any fault is not continuous, and that if he reads and understands the Report of the last drowning he will see that where they expected to find a fault it was toothed out in two or three lines not even the height of the coal seam; will he give an undertaking that, if it is necessary to pump some water from the Meadowband seam, it shall all be taken off; and can he say whether the men are working on the same horizon as the water in the Meadowbank seam?
§ Mr. SPEAKERI think the hon. Member should instruct the Minister in private.
§ Mr. HARDIEI beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter at the first opportunity on the Motion for the Adjournment of the House.