The Glasgow Herald in concluding its report of the explosion at Udston colliery Lanarkshire says “ The fact that pick locks, by which the lamps could be opened have been found on several of the bodies recovered from the pit seems to point to a source of danger which should not be over-looked in any new legislation. It is well enough known that by many mining authorities the clause in Home Secretary Matthew’s Bill on the subject, is looked upon as far from stringent enough, and the Government ought to consider the ad visableness of accepting some of the amendments that have been proposed in regard to it. Another point of import ance is the distance that ought to separate the pit shafts. At Udston the distance between the two shafts in about forty yards. This, as was proved on Saturday, is little enough to ensure safety. But what, under these circumstances, is to be said about the extraordinary proposal in the Govern ment Bill that the outlets “ must not at any point be nearer to one another than ten feet 1” If only this interval separated the shafts at Udston the probability is that not a single man would have been got out of the pit alive. It is satisfactory to know that Mr Stephen Mason, with a true appreciation of the situation, has proposed as an amendment that fifty yards, instead of ten feet, should separate the one shaft from the other. In the interests, then, of the mine owners as well as of the miners it may be hoped that this dreadful event will stir up greater interest in the country and in Parliament, on the whole subject of security of life in collier ies. What is the use of appointing com missions, who spend years in collecting important facts and carrying out costly experiments, unless practical|usejis made

SOUTH CANTERBURY TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 1887.
