Maltby Pit Disaster of 1923

Tribute To Director's Bravery

On 27th September, Mr. Thomas H. Mottram, the Chief Inspector of Mines, continued his inquiry at Sheffleld, as to the causes of the Maltby Main Colliery explosion.

On the Monday Mr. Butler, manager of the Colliery, had spoken of cross purposes in conferences with Mr. Joseph Humble, the consulting engineer, and other experts as to the methods to be adopted in fighting the gob fire before the explosion, and had alleged that the management was taken out of his hands.

Mr. Humble was asked by Mr. Herbert Smith, President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, whether Mr. Butler had offered any objection to his advice that a regulator door should be placed in the return airway.

His reply was: 'Mr. Butler hung fire like a gun with damp powder in it.' He added that he meant that Mr. Butler did not 'come in with a rush.'

Mr. Smith: And I think Mr. Butler was a wise man in that.

Replying to Mr. Tom Richards of the Miners' Federation, the witness declared that he never issued instructions at Maltby but later he added, 'My advice has not been followed at Maltby.'

Who turned it down asked Mr. Richards? 'Those who thought they knew better than me', was the reply.

The regulator door, said the witness, took only six minutes to put up, and was quite a flimsy thing.

Mr. Richards: To put such a door in the return airway seems a very peculiar idea of dealing with ventilation, whether by experts or novices. Was this explosion due to divided counsels of management? I think it was an act of God to straighten us all up.

Questioned by Mr. Arthur Neal, for the manager: With regard to the latter's view that the flooding of the affected area was the only effective way of extinguishing the fire, the witness admitted having expressed the opinion that in no circumstances ought water to be put on fire in a pit, and stated that this was still his opinion.

Mr. Neal: Your suggestion was the North Staffordshire method of letting CH4 gas settle on the fire and extinguish it ? - Yes, I have employed that method so many times.

Mr. W. B. M. Jackson, managing director of Maltby Main Colliery Company, in reply to Mr. Herbert Smith, said that it was doubtless true that during the conference on methods of fighting gob fires he observed that he would rather lose the pit than that one man's life should be sacrificed. That indeed would always be his attitude.

Mr. Smith: Can you justify the keeping of the men at work in more then two and a half per cent of firedamp?

The witness: I say there are conditions in which it is absolutely necessary to work under conditions that you would not ordinarily work under, and that they were safe in working in more than two and a half per cent of gas.

Was there necessity for them to work in more than two and a half per cent if the ventilation had been regulated properly? No, I don’t think there was. If he had known the state of the mine on July 27th and 28th, with 4 per cent and 6 per cent, of gas present at certain hours in the air current, he would not have allowed the men to work there.

Mr. Smith: I do not suggest you shirked your responsibility. I congratulate you on the way you acted on the day of the explosion. Everybody stood aghast when I said I was going down the pit, and you said 'I am coming with you.'

Assuming that you were responsible, and that you had known the contents of the reports of the deputies, or to the conditions in the mine on July 27th and 28th, would you have hesitated to have withdrawn the men?

The witness: I should have withdrawn them with all possible speed.

The inquest was adjourned. continued »