The Whitehaven Pit Disaster

The inquest on the bodies recovered from the Wellington Pit was adjourned yesterday until November 15. Mr. Redmayne, Chief Inspector on Mines, and Mr. Samuel Pope, barrister, represented the Home Office.

Mr. Redmayne said he wanted to go down the pit and see for himself, and it would only be with great good luck if the mine was safe to travel throughout in a fortnight.

Mr. Pope said that this disaster, following so soon after the West Stanley and the Maypole, roused the most profound concern in the Home Office and created the deepest sympathy with the people of Whitehaven at the deplorable loss of valuable lives. The Secretary of State felt that the fullest inquiry should be made into the cause of the disaster in order to ascertain whether any responsibility rested upon any one or upon any body of persons, or whether, on the other hand, it was one of those calamities which it was beyond human care and foresight to prevent. He took the opportunity, in the absence of Mr. Atkinson, to say that the devotion, zeal, and personal sacrifice which Mr. Atkinson had brought to the discharge of his duties in this case had been a very great lesson to him.

Mr. Richards, M.P., said that Mr. Herbert Smith, of Yorkshire, and he, in accordance with the usual practice of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, were appointed to attend the inquiry. They now heard, for the first time, that Mr. Redmayne was to sit with the Coroner and hold the inquiry under section 45 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act. That would greatly broaden the Coroner's inquiry and he thought broaden it to the great satisfaction of the mining community. They had always felt that there should be some technical adviser in cases like this. He thought that a fortnight was too short a time in which to do what was necessary to have the fullest inquiry.

Mr. Redmayne, Mr. Pope, Mr. Herbert Smith, and others subsequently explored part of the pit. There was no fresh development.