374 Mr. Buddie's Narrative of the Explosion 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 



Wallsend Colliery, \9th June, 1835. 



To Messrs. Thos. Fen wick, Geo. Johnson, Nicholas Wood, Matts. Dunn, John 

 v Forster, and Thomas Morriss. 



Gentlemen, 



I have to request, on the part of the Owners of this Colliery, that you 

 will be so good as to examine the plan of the Workings of the Bensham Seam, and investi- 

 gate the system which has been pursued for ventilating the same, to enable you to pro- 

 nounce an opinion as to its adequacy, so far as depends on ventilation for the safe working 

 of the Colliery. 



You will also please to inquire into the nature of the mine, as to the heavy and regular 

 discharge of inflammable air, to which it is subject, and more especially as to the sudden 

 bags or bursts of that element, which are incidental to the working of the Bensham Seam, 

 and, finally, you are requested to investigate every circumstance relating to the unhappy 

 catastrophe of yesterday, and to state your opinion, without reserve, as to its probable cause, 

 and also the measures you would recommend to be pursued for recovering the dead bodies 

 of the sufferers. 



John Buddle. 



Newcastle, 2Qth June, 1835. 



In pursuance of the annexed request of Mr. Buddie, we, the undersigned, 

 have examined the Wallsend Colliery plan, and have heard the statements of Mr. Buddie 

 and Mr. Atkinson, as to the system of ventilating the colliery, which was pursued previous 

 to the accident ; the system that had been practised appears to us to have been to convey 

 all the air from the pillar workings into pipe drifts, and from thence up the shafts without 

 passing on the furnace ; and that the air from the workings in the whole mine only, passed 

 over the furnace; this system of ventilation, in our opinion, is very proper and judicious, 

 and well calculated, under all circumstances, to effect the desired object. 



We have also ascertained that the working places were frequently rendered dangerous 

 by the sudden eruption of gas, both from the coal and stone, and also from the pillar 

 working. » 



