near Newcastle. An account of these ropes was given by Count Breuner, of Hungary, a chief director of mines, in a paper communicated to the British Association at the meeting held at Newcastle in 1838. The subject, it is stated, did not appear to attract the attention it deserved at the time, but within a few years afterwards iron-wire ropes had been introduced in various parts of the Great Northern coal-field, both in working inclines and in raising the coal in the shafts; being usually round in the former and flat in the latter case. Much opposition was made by the pitmen to the adoption of the new ropes for winding, and the dispute ultimately assumed the form of an assize trial at Durham, in July, 1844. This important trial-known as the Wingate Colliery Wire Rope Trial-decided the question, the evidence adduced fully demonstrating the superiority of the wire ropes to those made of hemp, and from this time the use of the latter rapidly declined.

CHAPTER XX.

INTERVENTION OF THE LEGISLATURE IN MINING

OPERATIONS.

FOR about twenty years after the Sunderland Society had ceased to exist, the subject of accidents in mines received little attention from the general public, and yet perhaps at no time were the collieries in a more unsatisfactory state. Notwithstanding the invention of the safety-lamp, the number of lives lost in the mines had become greater instead of less.

This arose from a variety of circumstances. The quantity of coal raised, and number of persons employed in the mines, had greatly increased. In all parts of the country the mines were becoming deeper and more fiery. Seams of coal which had previously lain unwrought, on account of their fiery character, had been opened out, and were now being worked by the aid of the safety-lamp. Large numbers of mines also continued to be worked, at considerable risk, with naked lights, either because the miners objected to use the

safety-lamp on account of the diminished light which it gave, or because its use was considered to be incompatible with the employment of gunpowder in getting the coal.

The fact that the efforts of private individuals to compass the safe and efficient working of coal and other mines required to be supplemented by aids of a more comprehensive character, had on several occasions been brought into public notice. As early as 1797 a far-seeing scheme had been suggested by Mr. Thomas, of Denton, for establishing an office at Newcastle-on-Tyne for the collection and registration of plans and sections of the various collieries in the district, one of the principal objects in view being the prevention of accidents in the future from coal workings unexpectedly encountering unknown and unsuspected excavations filled with water or noxious gases. The subject was revived by Mr. W. Chapman, in 1815, after the great inundation at Heaton Colliery, when seventy-five lives were lost, as already mentioned, by the bursting in of water from some old workings, no plan of which existed—a catastrophe which occurred notwithstanding that great precautions were taken to prevent it by a careful system of boring. The scheme suggested by Mr. Thomas only contemplated a voluntary registration of records in the Newcastle-on-Tyne district, but Mr. Chapman's proposal went much further, recommending that such a movement should

be initiated in all the coal-mining districts, and setting forth that the preservation of plans of abandoned or exhausted workings was a matter worthy of the attention of the Legislature, and should be made compulsory by Act of Parliament.

The above schemes were both brought forward in papers read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and, with a liberality and public spirit deserving of all praise, this society published both papers at its own expense in 1815, but the movement failed to elicit any response at the time,

The frequency with which explosions, and other accidents, continued to take place in the mines, at last had the effect of forcing the matter under the notice of Parliament; and on the motion of Mr. Pease, member for South Durham, a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed on the 2nd of June, 1835, "to inquire into the nature, cause, and extent of those lamentable catastrophes which have occurred in the mines of Great Britain, with the view of ascertaining and suggesting the means for preventing the recurrence of similar fatal accidents." The necessity for the step which had been taken was forcibly exemplified immediately afterwards by the occurrence of an explosion more disastrous than any that had yet taken place. This happened at Wallsend Colliery on the 18th of June, and occasioned the loss of 102 lives.

The committee commenced its labours on the 17th of June, and continued to hold investigations till the 30th of July. Many witnesses were examined, consisting of mining engineers from all the principal mining districts, scientific gentlemen, &c. It was before this committee that the security afforded by the Davy lamp was first publicly impugned, and one or two instances were adduced in which the lamp appeared to have given rise to explosion. Sir Humphry Davy himself, however, was well aware that under certain contingencies explosion might be communicated through the wire gauze, and warned the miners against exposing the lamp, in an unprotected condition, to a strong current of gas or explosive mixture.

An interesting account of an experiment made expressly to illustrate this source of danger was given by Mr. Buddle to the committee. It took place at one of the Earl of Durham's collieries, shortly after the invention of the lamp. The experiment was made in the presence of Sir H. Davy and a number of gentlemen. At this colliery the gas issuing from a strong blower in the shaft had been conveyed to the surface, where it discharged itself through a cast-iron pipe.

"We took a length of hose from an extinguishing engine," says Mr. Buddle, "with the jet-pipe upon it, and attached that to the blower-pipe at the top of the pit; it was held horizontally