The occurrence of the present accident following so soon after the Redding Disaster whereby on 25th September, 1923, forty persons lost their lives also through an inrush of water from neighbouring old workings (See Report by Sir Thomas Mottram, C.B.E., H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines, 1924, Cmd. 2136) naturally causes anxiety as to the adequacy of the existing safeguards against such perils. The danger of such occurrences is liable to increase. It is essential that every precaution should be taken against the risks involved.

Between operations on the surface and operations underground there is all the difference between working in the light and working in the dark. Above ground everything is open to inspection, and the results of a minute survey of the whole surface of our land have been recorded in the Ordnance Survey. Of the conditions obtaining below ground the means of knowledge are very much more restricted. They may be said to be limited to (1) the excellent maps and memoirs of the Geological Survey which are progressively increasing our knowledge of the underground structure of the country, but the information in which must necessarily be of a general character; (2) information obtainable by borings from the surface; (3) information contained in the plans and records of existing and former mineral workings; (4) information obtainable by the actual exploration of old mines and by borings in advance of workings; and (5) traditional local information.

As a means of protection against water dangers the third and fourth of these sources of information are plainly the most important. I do not propose to deal here with the fourth head, which involves the much debated question of the efficacy of the requirements of Section 68 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911. The disaster which I have been investigating did not raise any question under that section. The persons engaged in working the coal at the place where the inrush took place were, as I have already indicated, entirely ignorant that they were approaching a place likely to contain an accumulation of water and it consequently did not occur to anyone to take the precautions enjoined by Section 68. It is proper to point out that the lessees of the Montagu Colliery were quite alive to the duties which that section imposed upon them, for at another point in their leasehold where they were aware of the vicinity of water they were observing the prescribed precautions. The topic of the adequacy of Section 63 is at present under the consideration of the Departmental Committee on Water Dangers which you have appointed. I heard no evidence on the subject and I therefore leave it with the observation that the method of protection with which the section deals is plainly so important that nothing should be left undone to render it as effective and as widely applicable as possible in view of the experience which has been acquired since the section was enacted.

I pass to the consideration of the protection against water dangers which can be afforded by information derivable from plans and records of present and former workings. It is on this subject that my Inquiry has proved so instructive. The witnesses representative of all interests who gave evidence before me were unanimous regarding the desirability of greater facilities for the acquisition of such information.

It will be convenient to give here an outline of the course of legislation on the subject. The existing law is contained in the Coal Mines Act, 1911², which deals separately with (1) the plans of going mines and (2) the plans of abandoned mines.

(1) Plans of Going Mines.

A consideration of the legislation affecting going mines is not irrelevant to the present purpose, although of only secondary importance. A scrutiny of the plans of workings actually in progress across the boundary in a neighbouring mine may be useful by disclosing the conditions existing on the other side of the boundary and possible risks of working up to the boundary. If the working plan in use by William Cochran Carr, Limited, between 1911 and 1913, showing as it did the old workings in the Brockwell Seam cut off at the boundary, had been seen and examined by the lessees of the Montagu Colliery, a valuable warning would have been obtained. A neighbour's working plans may show headings temporarily or permanently shut off in which water may have been allowed to accumulate so as to constitute a danger at the boundary.

In 1850 colliery owners were for the first time placed under a statutory obligation to keep working plans of their mines. The Inspection of Coal Mines Act, 1850³, which provided for the appointment of official inspectors, by Section 3 required the owner or agent of every mine to produce to the inspector a plan of the workings up to a date not more than six months previously, and authorised the inspector to require an accurate plan to be made and the workings up to date to be marked on it. It was expressly provided, however, that nothing in the Act should he "construed to authorise any inspector to make a copy of the whole or any part of a map or plan which shall be produced or made."

The Act of 1850 was repealed by the Coal Mines Inspection Act of 1855⁴, which in Section 8 re-enacted in terms Section 3 of the 1850 Act. In 1860 again the Mines Regulation and Inspection Act of that year⁵ repealed the Act of 1855, but by Section 18 re-enacted in terms Section 8 of the 1855 Act. The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872⁶, repealed, but by Section 47 substantially re-enacted, Section 18 of the 1860 Act. The Act of 1872 was in turn repealed by the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887⁷, which in re-enacting by Section 34 the provisions of Section 47 of the 1872 Act altered the law by requiring the plan of the workings to be not more than three months behind and by providing for the first time that the inspector should be entitled, for official purposes only, to make a copy of any part thereof.

The statutory provisions now in force are contained in Section 20 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911⁸, by which Act Section 34 of the Act of 1887 was repealed. The present requirement is that the owner, agent, or manager of every mine shall keep in the office of the mine an accurate plan of the workings up to a date not more than three months previously, showing inter alia the boundaries of the mine where possible, the position of the workings, the general direction and rate of dip of the strata, the position, direction and extent of every known fault, washout and intrusive dyke, and the depth of the shaft. The only outside person at present entitled to see these working plans is an inspector of mines. Subsection (4) of Section 20 requires the owner, agent or manager of the mine on the request at any time of an inspector to produce to him at the office of the mine the working plans of the mine and also on the like request to mark thereon the existing state of the workings. The inspector is authorised to examine the plans and, for official purposes only, to make a copy of any part thereof. The section goes on to impose penalties for failure to obey the statutory requirements.

(2) Plans of Abandoned Mines.

The legislation as to plans of abandoned mines is of later origin, and it was not until 1872 that provision was for the first time made for the preservation of the plans of abandoned mines. The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872⁹, by Section 40 required under penalty that notice should be given within two months to the district inspector of the abandonment of a shaft of any mine or the discontinuance of the working thereof. Section 42 enacted as follows :—

It will be observed that while this Section provided for the transmission to and preservation by the Department of the plans of abandoned mines it operated only as regards the future and therefore did not secure the transmission and preservation of any plans of mines abandoned before 1st January, 1873, when the Act came into operation for England and Scotland, or 1st January, 1874, when it came into operation for Ireland. In the next place no one other than an inspector was given the right to have access to these records without the consent of the owners of the mines until 10 years after the date of abandonment.

Further legislation followed in 1887 and 1896. The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887¹⁰, repealed the Act of 1872 but re-enacted its provisions on the subject with some amplification. Under Section 36 the requirement of a notice of abandonment was made applicable to the abandonment of a seam as well as of a shaft, and Section 38 which dealt with the transmission and preservation of plans of abandoned workings was likewise made applicable to both mines and seams. The plans were also required to show in addition to the boundaries of the workings "the position of the workings with regard to the surface and the general direction and rate of dip of the strata together with a section of the strata sunk through or, if that is not reasonably practicable, a statement of the depth of the shaft with a section of the seam." The provisions as to the preservation of and access to the transmitted records were the same as in Section 42 of the Act of 1872.

The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1896¹¹, Section 4 again amplified the requirements as to the particulars to be given in the deposited plans of abandoned mines or seams, the particulars being almost identical with those now required under Section 21 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, quoted below. By Section 4 of the Act of 1896 the right of access to the records in the custody of the Department was extended by providing that they might be seen, although ten years had not elapsed from the date of the abandonment, with the licence of a Secretary of State "provided that such licence shall not be granted unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the inspection of such plan is necessary in the 'interests of safety.' A further important innovation was made by the enactment in Section 4 (2), (in terms identical with Section 21 (8) of the Act of 1911 quoted below) of means for obtaining an Order of the Court for the production of any plan or section of an abandoned mine or seam.

Finally the provisions of the Acts of 1887 and 1896 were superseded by those of Section 21 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911; which came into force on 1st July, 1912, and now regulates the matter, viz :—

The present position is thus seen to be that as regards going mines progressive working plans have to be kept at the colliery but no outside party other than an inspector may examine them or copy any part of them ; while as regards abandoned mines no provision exists for the preservation of or access to plans of such mines abandoned before the coming into operation of the Act of 1872, but in the case of mines abandoned thereafter the law requires the transmission of plans to and their preservation by the Department, which has now come in place of the Secretary of State, but the accessibility of these records in the hands of the Department during the first ten years after the date of abandonment is strictly limited to inspectors, persons having the consent of the owner, or persons to whom the Department has given a licence in the interests of safety. There is also the provision whereby the Department may obtain from the Court an Order for the production of any plan or section of an abandoned mine or seam, which is not limited to plans or seams abandoned before the Act of 1872 came into operation.

The significant fact is that these existing statutory provisions were of no avail to prevent the disaster at the Montagu Colliery The old workings in the Brockwell Seam were abandoned in 1848, at which date there was no obligation to give a notice of abandonment and the legislation of and subsequent to 1872 had no application to the plan which in fact existed of these old workings. Even if this old plan had been transmitted to and preserved by the Department there was no express statutory obligation on either the lessors or the lessees of the Montagu Colliery to consult such records, and they might equally have remained in ignorance of it.

The question is whether this state, of affairs is susceptible of remedy. As regards the deposit of plans of abandoned workings with the Department three matters specially call for consideration, viz: (1) the means available to the Department for the collection of plans of mines and seams abandoned before the Act of 1872 came into operation; (2) the facilities available to the public for the inspection of the plans of abandoned workings in the possession of the Department; and (3) the desirability of imposing an obligation on the owners and lessees of mines to consult these records.

(1) It is well known that a great number of plans of old workings exist throughout the country in the offices of mining engineers and others. Since 1850 it has been obligatory to keep plans of all going collieries and plans must therefore at one time have existed of all mines which were abandoned between 1850 and 1873. But long before 1850 plans of mineral workings were in use to be prepared. It is in the highest degree desirable that all such plans should be transmitted to the Department for preservation. The ideal would be that the plans of all abandoned workings throughout the country should be available for inspection in the hands of the Department and the plans of all going workings should be available for inspection at the collieries. In the case of many abandoned pre-1872 workings, however, the plans have doubtless been lost or destroyed. In other cases their present custodiers are unknown. I do not think it would be feasible to enact compulsory legislation requiring all persons who may possess such old plans to search for them and transmit them to the Department. Legislation which is unenforceable is always undesirable. I understand that the Department have already endeavoured by public notification and circulars to induce the possessors of old plans to send them in voluntarily and that this appeal to goodwill has been attended with considerable success. I can only recommend a vigorous pursuance of this policy. The fact that a complete record cannot be attained is no reason for not endeavouring to achieve as complete a record as possible. I draw attention to the power which the Department already possess under Section 21 (8) of the Act of 1911 to compel by an Order of Court the production for copying purposes of any plan of an abandoned mine of whatever date when they know who has the custody or possession of it. A reference to this power would no doubt in general be sufficient to ensure compliance with a request from the Department. It may be necessary for the Department to have copies made where there is any good reason for the retention of the originals by their owners. The Department has already prepared and published a classified list of the Plans of Abandoned Mines deposited with them, which includes both plans transmitted under statutory obligations after 1872 and pre-1872 plans obtained from the late Mining Record Office.

(2) The plans of all abandoned workings received by the Department should be registered, catalogued and geographically classified under office regulations designed to secure their ready accessibility. The sketch given above of the progress of legislation shows that the facilities for the consultation of these records in the hands of the Department have been gradually extended. None of the witnesses at the inquiry who were competent to speak on the matter could suggest any reason for secrecy and I am disposed to think that such plans should be available at any time for inspection by anyone having a legitimate interest, and certainly by all persons having a duty in the interests of safety to inspect them.

(3) I have considered carefully the question of the imposition of a statutory duty on all owners and lessees of mines to ascertain by inspection of the Department's records whether any plans exist of old workings in their mineral field or within a prescribed zone in their vicinity and to examine such deposited plans as may be found to exist with a view to satisfying themselves as to the safety of their present workings. Without some such sanction I fear that the collection by the Department of even the most complete records of old workings may fail of its purpose. After all, the gathering together of these records is not an object in itself. The real object is that the information which they contain should reach the persons whom it concerns, I do not think that the duty to consult the records of old workings can properly be left as a mere moral obligation and I have reached the conclusion that a legal duty should be imposed to consult the Department's records, so that, if an accident occurs which could have been averted had advantage been taken of the means of information available in the Department, responsibility may be brought home to the proper quarter. Some such requirement is necessary to complete and render practically efficacious the legislation on abandoned mines, but I recognise that the actual terms in which this new duty should be formulated will require careful consideration. I may quote here the evidence given by Mr. R. F. Spence, the consulting, engineer of the Montagu Colliery, who has had a large experience extending over forty years, in answer to questions which I addressed to him on the subject :—

Passing to the question of the plans of going mines, I think it would be sufficient if it were provided that lessors should be required to communicate to their lessees, for incorporation in the working plans, all plans in their possession of old workings in or adjoining the area let and that in all cases where workings are in progress in adjoining mines in different hands each party should be entitled or preferably bound to see such part of his neighbour's plans as relates to either going workings or abandoned workings within 100 yards of the mutual boundary. I refer to the recommendations appended to this Report for the detailed working out of these proposals.

I may quote here a passage from the evidence of Mr. Henry Armstrong, under examination by Mr. Herbert Smith :—

Mr. Mitchell-Innes, K.C., in his address on behalf of the lessees of the Montagu Colliery stated that there seemed "to be a unanimity among almost all the witnesses with regard to the necessity of the exchange of plans between persons working on different sides of the same boundary."

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2 — 1 & 2 Geo. 5. ch. 50
3 — 13 & 14 Vict. ch. 100
4 — 18 & 19 Vict. ch. 108
5 — 23 & 24 Vict. ch 151
6 — 35 & 36 Vict. ch. 76
7 — 50 & 51 Vict. Ch. 58
8 — 2 Geo. 5. ch. 50
9 — 35 & 36 Vict. ch. 76
10 — 50 & 51 Vict. ch. 58
11 — 59 & 60 Vict. ch. 43