602 Proceedings. 



Third Meeting : 12th August, 1896. 

 Mr. W. T. L. Travers, President, in the chair. 



Before the business of the meeting commenced feeling references 

 were made by the Chairman to the deaths of the Hon. Robert Pharazyn, 

 M.L.C., and Mr. Charles Rooking Carter. The former was secretary of 

 the Society twenty-five years ago, and remained an active member up to 

 the time of his death, contributing many papers. Mr. Carter, although 

 not a member of the Society, presented to the New Zealand Institute 

 books on New Zealand to the value of £600 or £700, and the collection 

 was the largest and finest in the colony, many of the books being now 

 out of print. 



Sir James Hector called attention to the fact that Mr. Carter 

 had also made provision for an observatory in Wellington ; and it was 

 proposed by the President, and seconded by Sir James Hector and 

 carried, that a record should be made in the minutes of the Society 

 expressing the deep regret felt by the members for the loss of these two 

 gentlemen. 



Paper. — " On the Brunner Mine Disaster," by Sir James 

 Hector. 



Before proceeding with his paper. Sir James Hector asked permis- 

 sion to invite Mr. Bishop, the manager of the Brunner Mine, who was 

 present, to say a few words on the subject, as Mr. Bishop was obliged 

 to leave the meeting early to catch a steamer south, and he could not 

 wait until the paper was read. 



Permission having been granted, Mr. Bishop said he regretted that 

 he had to leave in half an hour, and would not be present for the con- 

 clusion of the paper, which promised to be most interesting and instruc- 

 tive. He was, however, glad to be allowed an opportunity of saying 

 that he had read the report of the Commissioners, and thought they had 

 arrived at a just conclusion as to the cause of the lamentable disaster. 

 He agreed with the suggestions made in the report, and felt sure that 

 every mine-manager and miner in the country would loyally carry out 

 any legal provisions that were made to secure the safety of the working 

 miner. 



Abstract. 



Sir James Hector, in the course of his lecture, described the 

 geological structure of the West Coast districts, and went on to say that 

 Mr. Brunner, in 1846, was the discoverer of the Brunner Mine, finding a 

 seam of coal at the river-level. In 1863 the first attempt was made to 

 open the mine, but as recently as 1886 there was only a moderate extent 

 of excavation. After giving particulars of the present mode of working 

 the mine, and the incidents of the explosion and the recovery of the 

 miners' bodies, the lecturer stated, as evidence of the terrific effects 

 of the explosion, that the smoke from it came to the outlet against 

 the draught through the workings ; that the coal was charred over a 

 very large area to a depth of 4in. ; and that the body of one man was 

 driven up an incline of 300ft. and smashed up against a wall of coaL 

 At the top of the incline — at the motor-house— a man was smashed 

 to pulp and a boy stripped of every particle of his clothing without 

 being burned in the slightest degree. The explosion was, it was con- 

 clusively proved, not a fire-damp one, but an imperfect explosion of 

 coal-gas, leaving white damp, the most deadly of all damps, and | per 

 cent, of which would be fatal if continuously breathed. The cause of 

 the explosion was proved to be due to a miner having put in a big charge 



