at Wallsend Colliery, June, 1835. 371 



Moralee, and the boy Middleton, stated that the rumble proceeded from 

 the west, and the direction which the blast had taken through the outlets 

 from the two unventilated districts (magazines) L M was distinctly shewn 

 by the incineration of the props, and coal wall, on their sides, opposed to its 

 line of direction, while the opposite sides of the props remained compara- 

 tively clean. The props in some places too, where they were not broken 

 or blown out, were found leaning over at the top, shewing clearly the direc- 

 tion in which the blast had gone. The doors which stood in the stenting 

 were shattered to pieces, and the bricks of the jambs of the doors, and the 

 adjoining stoppings, were all shivered to atoms. 



It is probable, that the fire in its course along the first and second pair 

 of north-west winning headways, N O, might ignite some partial lodgments 

 of gas in the fallen parts of the roof of the seam, and thus gain strength in its 

 progress. But it had not ignited the gas in the un ventilated part of the 

 third south-east district in the C Pit, where the. pillars were being worked, 

 otherwise the strength of the explosion would have been greatly increased. 

 As in that case the accumulated gas in the first and second south-east dis- 

 tricts, P Q, and the first south-west district, R, would most likely have 

 been ignited also, in which case a tremendous explosion must have taken 

 place at the C Pit. 



The gas from the first south-east and first south-west districts was, and 

 is still carried off to the surface by a four-inch cast-iron pipe, and is not 

 allowed to mix with the current of air underground. The quantity of gas 

 discharged from these two districts is eleven hogsheads per minute. 



On the 15th of July, a consultation of viewers was held, on the practica- 

 bility of restoring the colliery to a safe working state. — (See their Report, 

 Appendix, No. II.) 



On the 19th of August, the measures recommended for restoring the 

 ventilation were completed, when a view was called (see Appendix, No. 

 III). The viewers found the ventilation of the G Pit in a state to admit 

 of the B Pit furnace being lit, but the water-fall on the C Pit had not 

 been able to reduce the circulating current below the firing point. For 

 although the utmost effort of the water-fall had been applied for sixty 

 hours, the return current of air from the working districts was explosive at 



