50 REPORT — 1869. 



others. Another took place at Leeds on the 27th of March, 1866, by which 

 two persons were killed, and six others injured. A third happened at Collj'- 

 hurst, Manchester, on the 23rd of December, 1867, by which six persons 

 were killed and four others injured. Cases of this class are so numerous that 

 they defy enumeration, and the working on of old worn-out boilers, that 

 should long since have been discarded altogether, is a prolific source of 

 explosions. 



Some explosions arise from neglect of the attendants, who have ignorantly 

 tampered with the safety-valves, or neglected the proper supply of water. 

 The number of explosions from this cause, however, is not by any means so 

 great in proportion to those that arise from malconstructed or worn-out 

 boilers, as is generally supposed ; and many more explosions arise from bad 

 boilers than from bad attendants, though it is often much to the convenience 

 of the steam-user to have the blame of an explosion thrown upon the atten- 

 dant rather than on the boiler. 



Such are some of the leading causes of steam-boiler explosions, all of 

 which, it will be seen, arc extremely simple ; and the Committee consider 

 that, as a rule, boilers burst simply because they are bad — bad either from 

 original malcoustruction, or from the condition into which they have been 

 allowed to fall ; while they wish to record their o})inion that these lamentable 

 catastrophes, by which so many persons arc annually killed, arc not acci- 

 dental, but that they might be prevented by the exercise of common Jcnow- 

 hclf/e and common care. 



III. The next point the Committee have to consider is, how far the pre- 

 sent inquiries conducted by coroners as to the cause of boiler-explosions 

 are satisfactor}\ 



On referring to the verdicts returned by coroners' juries on deaths occa- 

 sioned by boiler-explosions, it appears that the usual verdict is one of " acci- 

 dental death;" in fact this seems to be returned on nearly every occasion, 

 whatever the cause of the explosion may be, and even when it has resulted 

 from the use of an old worn-out boiler, reduced to the thickness of a sixpence. 

 Added to this, the evidence commonly given at these inquiries is anything 

 but of a reliable and instructive character. The most visionary theories are 

 advanced, and the attempt is frequently made to show that explosions are 

 unaccountable and inevitaljle. Thus no suitable information is given to the 

 public as to the cause of these sad disasters, and the consequence is that 

 boiler-makers can p;ilm oif on the public bad boilers, and steam-users employ 

 them TNith the certainty that if they exijlodc with fatal consequences, they 

 will, by the help of a coroner and his jury, be pubhcly absolved from all 

 responsibility, and the event proclaimed to be accidental. After the conclusion 

 the Committee have arrived at, that explosions are not accidental, but may 

 be prevented by the exercise of " common Icnowhdge and common care,^' they 

 cannot but consider that such evidence and such verdicts are eminently un- 

 satisfactory, and that they call for immediate attention. 



IV. In the fourth place, the Committee have to consider how far the pre- 

 sent unsatisfactory character of coroners' investigations can bo corrected. 



It has been proposed by the Manchester Steam-users' Association that 

 every coroner, when holding an inquiry on a steam-boiler explosion, should 

 be both empowered and instructed to avail himself of the assistance of two 

 competent engineers having no connexion with the works at which the 

 exjilosion occurred, and that these engineers should visit the scene of the 

 catastrophe, investigate the cause of the explosion, and attend the inquest in 

 order to assist the coroner in his examination of witnesses, as well as to give 



