30^th April 1888

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Letters to the Editor

The Workington Colliery Explosion

Sir — I should be obliged if you could kindly publish the enclosed note, which the Lord Mayor has been good enough to write me in connexion with the disaster at the Workington Colliery, in West Cumberland, also with a subscription of £10 from himself. It will also be noted that those who wish to aid the fund have the Lord Mayor's permission to send their donations to the Mansion-house. I shall be glad also to receive any donations myself.

Yours obediently,

Wilfred Lawson.

House of Commons, April 27.

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"The Mansion-house, London, E.C., April 27.

"Dear Sir Wilfrid Lawson, — I understand you are taking steps to bring relief to the widows and orphans of the colliers who lost their lives in the recent distressing accident at Workington, in West Cumberland. If so, I shall be glad if you will add a donation from me. At the same time, if you think that an announcement that I shall be very happy to receive and to forward to the local committee any donations which the charitable public may like to remit to the Mansion-house would aid the fund, you are quite at liberty to say so. I observe that the necessity for a relief fund is the greater, inasmuch as the Cumberland miners are not so far advanced in the measures for insuring against these accidents which are now in successful operation in other mining communities. Should this be the case, the recent accident may possibly draw attention to the desirability of initiating the Lancashire and Welsh miners in the steps they take by means of their unions and provident funds to mitigate the distress when such sudden calamities arise.

"Yours truly,

" P. De Keyser, Lord Mayor.

"Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bart., M.P."