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1st April 1925
The Flooded Mine
Hope Abandoned
38 Men And Boys LostStatement In The Commons.
(From Our Special Correspondent.)
Newcastle-On-Tyne, March 31.
While operations were proceeding this afternoon for the rescue of the 38 men and boys imprisoned in the View Pit of the Montagu Colliery at Scotswood, the following official statement, confirming the worst fears, was given out by Mr. G. E. Spence, consulting engineer of the colliery company :—
I am afraid it must be told that there is no hope. Nothing short of a miracle could give us back any of these poor men and boys alive. We have come up against poisonous gases where the only possible chance was. We have had telegrams from various people asking why we did not send the divers in. That was a physical impossibility. If there had been any possibility at all, we would have had divers at once.
Thus the story of this colliery disaster is the story of the Redding Pit at Falkirk over again, but so far without the miracle which attended that flooding accident, and apparently without a reasonable hope of such a miracle.
All day men have been at work at the bottom of the pit shaft, erecting a staging for a high-powered pump which is to be installed. The View Pit is very old, and the pithead at the ground level is a cramped and enclosed place. The shaft allows of the usual upward and downward travelling cages, but the cages are small, with room for only four men at a time, and these in a crouching position.
Ten-inch iron pipes are being lowered, as well as parts of the pumping machinery, a derrick and lowering tackle being used, but the operation of getting one pipe down takes 20 minutes to half an hour. The pipes are about five yards long and it is intended to put down about 720 of them to cover a length of two miles. The line of pipes will, of course, require laborious jointing and calking operations. It is easy to conclude from these circumstances, though the officials cannot be prevailed on to put the fact into so many bald words, that the object of the pumping is mainly to get the pit eventually clear of water.
Water Still Rising.
The pump now being put down is said to be capable of raising a thousand gallons a minute, but the water level in the workings is still rising, and at about 4 o'clock the edge of the flood had advanced to within 600 yards of the pit shaft. The View Pit is one in which the workings descend very sharply, then run approximately level for a distance before dropping at a very steep gradient of 21/2ft. per yard, with rising gradients here and there. The workings extend in a horizontal direction for about a mile and a quarter from the pit shaft. They are separated at their further extremity by a natural barrier of about 80 yards from old abandoned colliery workings, so old that no exact details of their ramifications are available, and it is surmised that some heading from these old workings had been driven into the barrier, in the direction of what is now the View Pit, and that the present flood is due to a breach in the barrier at its thinnest.
The probable cause of the disaster is indicated by the incident reported by the putter, James Tracey, who says he heard a hewer say he had "holed." The fact that there was no time to deal with the onrush of water shows that this was the most likely cause of the flood, whether or not there were — as has been rumoured — unobserved tricklings at other places.
Names Of The Missing.
A typewritten list of the 38 missing men and boys supplied to me to-day shows several divergences from the list given in this morning's newspapers. Twenty-four hewers, six putters, one shifter, two deputies, one "backoverman" (the highest in authority among the lost), and four boys are included as follows :—
Boys — J. Salmon, Thomas Hatcham, D. G. Dixon, and John Fitzpatrick ; backoverman, Samuel Evans ; hewers — William Halliday, John Murthwaite, John Martin, senior, Matt. Errington, James Nixon and Joseph Nixon (father and son), Robert Heslop, Charles Simpson, Isaac Booth, J. T. Trewick, E. Jackson, J. W. Potts, John Thompson, Robert Thompson, Fred Dent, George Hetherington, Matt. Hetherington, Chris Batey, Thomas Batey, Ralph Carr, Robert Havelock, William Trewick, William Fowler, and John Lee ; deputies — William Thompson and William Johnson ; putters — William Lyons, Alec. Learmouth, James Steel, Richard Rodgers, W. Guthrie, and Thomas Danskin ; shifter, Charles Gray. All lived in the near neighbourhood.
The Bishop of Newcastle, who was at the colliery till late last evening, returned this afternoon and joined with the Vicar of Scotswood, other ministers, and Wesleyan Methodist and Salvation Army representatives in a short service at the pit head. A joint Protestant service is being held to-night in the Scotswood United Methodist Free Church, and at St. George's Catholic Chapel the Rosary is being recited.
The public and even the relatives of the missing men were kept behind a cordon to-day, so as not to hamper the work. Messages of sympathy are pouring in at the headquarters of the Miners' Association, Burt Hall, Newcastle, and a relief fund has been started with a donation of 100 guineas. The Montagu Colliery includes another pit, the Caroline, and about 1,500 men are employed. The Caroline was stopped to-day.
Three Weeks Pumping.
Later — The statement of Mr. Spence, the essential part of which I have already given, goes into details about the pumping. Three weeks work is anticipated, even when a second new pump, lifting 700 gallons a minute, is installed. It is not known certainly where the water that flooded the mine came from, but the statement confirms what I have stated, that probably the water is from some old workings of there is no record. The Brockwell seam, where the disaster occurred, is 60 fathoms down and is the bottom seam in the pit. It is incredible that anyone can be alive. The management are of opinion that death came very quickly, either through drowning or poisoning by gas. The place of the disaster was about fourteen hundred yards from the shaft. The men were working towards the "dip," and when the water came in above where they were working it sealed them up at once.
The owner of the colliery is Mr. W. A. Benson, who has been almost without interruption at the pit since the accident. Mr. J. A. Gibson, managing director of the colliery company, Mr. Mills, chief of the colliery rescue brigade, and others who were present, concurred in Mr. Spence's opinion.
Water Rising Less Rapidly.
Col. Lane-Fox On Mine Accidents.
Westminster, Tuesday.
The tragedy of industry, brought home by the disaster at the Scotswood mine, was unrelieved by any gleam of hope in the bulletin of the Secretary of Mines at question time. Thirty-eight men were still entombed, the water was still rising. All old workings had been searched, without result. The House had to wait until the evening for further news ; but, as the Speaker said, its sympathy went out to those others waiting in more terrible anxiety round the pithead far away in Northumberland.
Mr. Harrison was able to give this sympathy a practical turn by surrendering his first place in the ballot to Mr. George Hirst, who had a motion down on this tragic subject. The latter unrolled the casualty list of the last five years — 5,554 killed and 811,298 wounded, a figure growing slowly but steadily from year to year.
There were two ways, he and his seconder, Mr. Grundy, thought, of saving some of these lives and limbs. First, by new legislation, to enforce, for example, the sinking of shafts closer together, so as to shorten underground roadways and lessen the danger of collapses ; or the keeping of more dirt and dust in the pit to prop up dangerous spots. Secondly, by the enforcement of old legislation, notably the Act of 1911. Old workings must be accurately mapped, and in their vicinity the regulations as to advance boring must be obeyed. There was a disquieting rumour that at Scotswood, a hewer had put his pick through the coal wall straight into an old working of which he had had no warning. Could the overmen give true reports without fear of dismissal ? Were inspectors chosen from men with practical experience of the coal face ?
Two Northumbrians, Mr. Warne and Major Clifton Brown, continued in the same tone of dignified moderation, the latter properly emphasizing the heavy responsibility of mineowners, and the sense of it possessed by the owners in this case.
The rain of questions and suggestions continued. Sir John Simon wanted to use for legislation the knowledge gathered since 1911 and to study foreign inspection methods. Mr. Smillie urged the Mines Department to call for and systematize all plans of old workings, and to take power to close dangerous mines. Why should the industry, miners or mineowners, pay for unwatering a coalfield for the benefit of the royalty owners ?
Lieutenant-Colonel Lane-Fox had, unhappily, no fresh news to give, save that the water was rising less rapidly. As for the general casualties, appalling as the British total was, it was the lowest in the world, and had fallen in 1924, as compared with 1923. Inspections were efficient, and averaged five per pit per year. The number of inspectors had also been increased. He thought that faith in legislation as a safeguard was fallacious. For example, he already had power to make new regulations under the 1911 Act, and was using it. All plans of workings since 1872 were lodged with his Department, and he was now issuing an appeal for plans of earlier workings. The secret of a change to greater security for the miner was really strenuous administration, research, and publicity of the results of research. Committees were working on the two great dangers of water and explosion, and on the question of timber supports.
This exhaustive speech did not, however, satisfy the Opposition. Mr. MacDonald rubbed in the lesson of the figures — one man out of six disabled for more than seven days every year and no substantial variation from year to year. There was ground, he thought, for the belief that long hours and low wages increased accidents, shorter hours and higher wages decreased them. This point should be studied. He could not dogmatise, but he could, and did, insist on the responsibility which these figures threw upon the House. That assembly showed its realization of this truth by passing Mr. Hirst's motion with a low and unanimous "Aye."
The Debate In The Commons.
Unionist Motion Withdrawn
Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes :—
At the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party yesterday reference was made to the disaster at the Montagu Colliery, and it was decided to send a message of sympathy to the friends and relatives of the entombed men.
Members of the party were deeply grateful to Mr. Harrison, the Conservative member for Bodmin, for his courtesy in helping them in their desire for a debate last night on the general question of accidents in mines. Mr. Harrison had won first place in the ballot, and had given notice to move a resolution on the state of the fishing industry. Mr. George Hirst, who had obtained the second place, had given notice of a resolution on the question of accidents in mines. At the Labour Party meeting it was agreed that an effort should be made to get time for a debate on Mr. Hirst's motion, and when the point was put to Mr. Harrison he at once agreed to withdraw his motion, an action which was deeply appreciated by every section of the house.
Condition Of The Coal Industry.
Our Labour Correspondent writes :—
In anticipation of the resumption of the joint investigation by the mineowners and the miners of the condition of the coal industry, the miners' representatives had a private meeting yesterday. The joint committee is to sit to-day and to-morrow. On Friday the men's representatives will report upon the progress made to the executive of the Miners' Federation. It is probable that the executive will also give consideration to the policy to be pursued in relation to wages, and will decide whether another delegate conference is to be held in the immediate future. It has been arranged that the executive shall have a further conference with representatives of the Transport Workers' Federation on Friday in regard to the proposed alliance for mutual aid.
