1. At 11.15 p.m. on the night of the 25th April 1882, an explosion occurred at the Whitehaven Colliery, causing the deaths of four men, and seriously injuring another, who was working in the immediate vicinity of the place where the gas ignited. An inquest was opened by Mr. W. Lumb, the Coroner for the district, and adjourned until the 2nd June 1882, when the circumstances under which the explosion happened, and the state of the mine at the time when the fatal accident occurred, were gone into, and resulted in a verdict of the Jury to the effect :–

Mr. Willis and Mr. Bell, Her Majesty's Inspectors of Mines, attended the inquiry, and the men were represented by a Mr. Sharp, who put certain questions to the witnesses. I attended, in accordance with instructions from the Treasury, on behalf of the Secretary of State. No short-hand writer was present, so that I am unable to send the minutes of the evidence.

2. The Whitehaven Colliery is the property of the Earl of Lonsdale and situated close to the Bransty station; Whitehavan, and not more than 200 or 300 yards from the sea. The following are the principal seams that are worked :–

The Bannock Band, eight feet thick, at a depth of 80 fathoms from the surface.

The Main Band, 10 feet 6 inches thick, 100 fathoms from the surface.

The Six Quarter, 7 feet 6 inches thick, 140 fathoms from the surface.

The explosion occurred in the Main Band seam, which is worked by the William pit and the Henry Pit, the former of which was sunk in the year 1812, and the latter in 1875. The coal from the Main Band and from the Six Quarter are drawn from the Henry Pit, and the William Pit is now used as the upcast shaft for the Main Band seam. The Bannock Band is worked by drifts from the Main Band, but neither the Bannock Band nor the Six Quarter seam has been worked to any great extent. The Main Band has been worked over an extent of about 3,000 acres, the greater portion of the workings being under the sea, and extending in one direction to a distance of four miles from the shaft. The main intake extends in a north-westerly direction from the shaft for a distance of about two and a half miles. At a distance of two miles from the shaft a branch road travels northwards for two miles further, in a district called the Forster district ; 700 yards north of the junction of these two roads there is another branch in a westerly direction for about 800 yards, called Tait's Cross-cut. At this point there is a down-throw fault of 16 fathoms, and a stone drift, dipping at the rate of 1 in 6, was made to reach the level of the seam beyond. The district beyond the fault is called the Countess district, and it was in these workings that the explosion took place. A plan No. III. is appended to this Report, showing the workings in the Countess district, the position of the stone drift, and the air passages in the immediate neighbourhood.

3. The ventilation of the Main Band seam is obtained by means of a Guibal fan, 36 feet in diameter, and 12 feet in width, in connexion with the William Pit. The Six Quarter seam is ventilated by means of a furnace at an old shaft called the James Pit.

When the stone drift was made into what is now called the Countess district, ventilation had to be carried in by mean of brattice built up along the drift. The drift itself is 208 yards in length, 8 feet 6 inches wide, and 7 feet high, and is arched with brickwork for a length of 56 yards, on the side of the trouble, towards the shaft. The manner in which the drift connects the seam on the two sides of the trouble will be seen from the vertical section, plan No. I., and the cross vertical section of the arched part of the stone drift is shown plan No. II.

The brattice in the drift was built of single brick work, 4½ inches thick, strengthened by additional supports at intervals of the same thickness, but in the workings beyond the foot of the incline it was made of wood plastered over with cement.

4. It will be seen from plan No. III. that the workings extend for some distance beyond the lower end of the stone drift, in a westerly direction, and that a passage has been driven in the coal back towards the fault. This was done with the object of forming a connexion between the workings in the Countess district and the workings on the upper side of the fault, in addition to the connexion formed by the stone drift already mentioned, so as to have the advantage of a complete system of ventilation, without the necessity of using brattice, which should be avoided in all cases, unless absolutely necessary. The connexion at the end of the back drift was made by means of a steep slope driven down from the seam above ; and as soon as this was opened up, the brattice in the back drift was taken down. About two months before the accident, there was a heavy fall in the trouble at the point where the connection was made, which completely stopped up the passage for ventilation, and necessitated temporary recourse being had to the old system of ventilation by means of the brattice. It will be seen from plan No. III. that the air passing into the stone drift, for the ventilation of the Countess district, already having travelled a distance of 2½ miles, has to ventilate 416 yards before getting to the end of the brattice at the point where the fall took place. It has then to travel behind the brattice a distance of 300 yards to the small shaft, marked on the plan, up which it passes into the seam above, and so into the return air courses. Nothing appears to have been done during these two months in the way of re-opening up communication ; but it was stated by the agent, Mr. Liddell, that it was the intention of those in authority to have the original plan carried out. The state of this part of the workings, however, during this period was of so serious a character, as will be seen from the description given hereafter, that the delay of two months before anything was done to repair the injury cannot be viewed otherwise than as a grave mistake of judgment.

5. It was well known that a considerable amount of gas was to be met with in the Countess district, and a precaution against the danger arising from this fact "Geordie" lamps only were allowed to be used in the workings beyond the foot of the stone drift, whereas Davy lamps were in use in other parts of the colliery. Several of the men spoke to having seen gas in the Countess district ; but it was generally confined to the back drift, and to the return air course behind the brattice. Gas, however, was frequently seen as well in small quantities on the face of the coal in the working places. Not-withstanding that it appears to have been generally known that the gas was coming off from the neighbourhood of the fall, at the end of the back drift, the officials did not consider it necessary to examine the locality, or to take any means to prevent the increase of the accumulation, and from the time when the fall took place, until the date of the explosion, not only was the return air course never examined, but even the intake side of the back drift was merely looked into sufficiently to discover that it contained gas in considerable quantities, and was then left without any precaution being taken to avert danger.

Thomas Williamson, a deputy, whose duty it was to examine that part of the mine, said he had never examined the back drift after the time of the fall.

Martin and Shilton, two hewers, both admitted that they frequently saw gas on the face of the coal, but not in large quantities, and only in positions where it was cleared away by the air current.

The overman, John Rothery, who in the course of his inspections ought to have travelled the return air courses, so as to see that the ventilation was properly provided for, admitted he never did so in the Countess district, but stated that the air, on coming up the small shaft already mentioned into the seam above, was frequently so charged with gas as to be nearly up to the explosive point ; and this he stated to have been the case the last time he tested it, which was three or four days before the explosion occurred. He had found gas in the Countess district each day for some weeks before the 25th April, and had reported it in his book. Joseph Wilkinson, the master wasteman, whose special duty it was to examine the return air courses, stated that he did not in the Countess district travel the whole way behind the brattice, but that upon several occasions he found gas in the back drift; and that on the 16th April he had found the place full of gas.

William Harker, the certificated manager, admitted that "the intake in the back drift was foul some way down from the fall"; that "the gas had been forced half way down the intake in the back drift against the current of air"; and that on the 21st April "he had found the gas within 15 yards of the canvas door at the beginning of the back drift."

5. Notwithstanding these facts, and the general knowledge that existed that the mine was in this dangerous state, no precautions appear to have been taken, and the men were allowed to proceed with their work in the immediate neighbourhood of the place where the gas was known to exist in large quantities.