The tamping bar showed there was 18in. at that time. I judged by the appearance of the bar that it was 18iu., but I did not see it measured. Rogers then put in the fuse. I held the cask when a second lot o£ powder was put in. Rogers put the tamping rod in, but he did not measure it with the tape-line. Rotten rock was put in on the top of the powder. I put it in, and Rogers was standing beside me. I filled the hole light to the top. Nothing was said whether there was too much powder in or, not. I did not know what Mr Barnes was doing while the powder was being put in. The blast sounded louder than usual. I did not " know that the blast had done any harm until I saw a lot of people about. We put on the usual quantity of scrub iv the usual way. Only one bundle of scrub was put on the slope of rock at the side of the bore, the rest being put on the top, where the ends projected over the bank. All the scrub was put on the top with the ex ception of one bundle which was standing on end leaning against the rock. It was not usual on previous occasions to put scrub against the side. II have never seen stones fly to the od posite side of the cutting. If there are any there it must be the result of the shot of the 17th. I would expect a large quantity of powder to make a great noise iv a hole of that kind. "I noticed Mr Barnes mark the tamping bar for the depth of the powder. Peter M'Kewen deposed: lam a labourer, and worked in the Dowling street cutting about two months. I was one of the men who assisted with the blasting operations. I had previous ex perience of the work in Scotland. I did the. same kind of work at Home that I was doing at Dowling street—drilling the hole. I do not know how many holes I put down in Dowliug street previous to this one, but I helped to put down every one that was put down while I was there. I always saw what preparations were made for putting the blast in,except on this last occasion. 