Abstract
SOON after the dangers due to the presence of coal dust began to be realised in this country, and, as a consequence, regulations regarding the composition and methods of employing explosives in dusty mines had been added to the Statute-book, the number of great explosions occurring within a given time underwent such a remarkable diminution that for several years it seemed almost as if they were about to cease altogether. But a partial recrudescence having set in later, it became apparent to those who were watching the course of events that complete immunity could not be attained until measures were adopted for dealing with the coal dust in the haulage roads, as well as at the points at which blasting shots were about to be fired. It was equally apparent that no far-reaching legislative action such as this could be taken unless the mining community, which had hitherto regarded the dangers of coal dust as more or less hypothetical, could be convinced of their reality, by ocular demonstration on a large and imposing scale. Accordingly, when called upon to give evidence before the Royal Commission on Mines some years ago, the present writer and others recommended the construction at Government expense, at an estimated cost of 10,000l., of a large apparatus to be used for this purpose. It is, perhaps, needless to remark that the Treasury declined to find the money, just as they had, some twenty-nine years ago, declined to find 5000l. for the construction of a similar gallery, 500 feet long by 6 feet in diameter, intended to be used for the same educative purpose, when asked to do so by the Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines, for one of the members of which (Sir W. Thomas Lewis) the present writer had obtained tenders.
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GALLOWAY, W. Experiments with Coal Dust in French Collieries . Nature 86, 223–226 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/086223b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/086223b0