It has been customary all along the outcrop to follow the coal right up to the surface deposits, and at several points subsidences of small area had taken place without any serious result. At the Inquiry it was stated that water collected in these subsidences, showing that the clay resting on the solid strata had not been broken through.

It will be noticed from the plans that a small tarn, or rather two small tarns, lay near the point where the inflow took place. These sheets of water were known as the Backstands Pond, and even in the driest summers always contained water. The maximum depth of the smaller tarn was stated by Mr. Croudace at the Inquiry to be about 2 feet 6 inches, but he bad not tested the depth of either tarn. The geological map, on the scale of one mile to the inch, shows that the tarns lay partly on a peat moss about 1,100 yards long by 330 yards wide, and the point of inflow was just clear of the moss as shown on the geological map.

The question of working the coal up to the outcrop in the neighbourhood of the point where the inflow took place had been considered by Mr. Croudace, and in the summer of 1907, five bore-holes, the position of which is shown on the plans, had been put down under the superintendence of Matthew Hilliard, one of the deceased men, who was an experienced borer, to check the accuracy of the surveys, and these boreholes indicated the nature of the surface deposits. The position of the only borehole which had passed through the coal seam, No. 5, was located underground, not by actually exposing the hole, but by hearing underground the noise of the rods when moved in it. The rods were left in it, and were there after the accident.

Consultations with Hilliard and the under-manager led Mr. Croudace to think it safe to work up to the outcrop, which was clear of the water in the tarns, and reliance was principally placed upon the thickness of clay, lying directly on the solid strata, to keep back any surface deposits.

The whin dyke could not be seen on the surface, although it is not improbable that it may stand up some little distance into the surface deposits above the solid strata. Where cut through in the mine at an approximate depth of 54 fathoms it was 11 yards thick, and consisted of a somewhat irregular mixture of basalt and sandstone. There were 35 yards of cinder coal next it on the Byron side, and then some yards of unsaleable coal devoid of the normal proportion of volatile matter. The whin dyke may have had some effect in confining the water in the tarns, it may indeed have been the cause of their existence, but nothing certain can be said as to its influence.

NARRATIVE OF THE ACCIDENT.

The two bords to the north of that in which the inflow took place had reached the clay, and the upper level from which they were driven had reached the partially carbonised coal which succeeded the cinder coal next the whin dyke, and was not to be prosecuted further. On 27th January a hewer named Christopher Pattinson worked the coal off right up to the clay, exposing it for 5 feet across the face from the right side, in the last bord to be driven from the level or that in which the inflow took place, and which will be called Pattinson's bord.

The place was examined by the master shifter, accompanied by Walter Bainbridge, a deputy, in the usual way, at 10.45 p.m. on the 27th; the clay was then bared, they both stated at the Inquiry that it was then in a safe condition and dry. The hewers were then changing shifts, and Henry Pattinson succeeded his brother Christopher; Henry stated at the Inquiry that he was never right up to the face, but was engaged filling the coal that had accumulated on the level at the bottom of the bord ; he further stated that from midnight to 2 a.m. on the 28th, he was somewhat alarmed by water and clay coming down the bord and had run out once. He put up some props to prevent the clay coming on to coal he was filling. From 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. the place was quiet, and he finished his shift.

Walter Bainbridge was succeeded by another deputy, John Bell, who examined the bord between 5 and 6 a.m., and found that clay and sand sufficient to fill two or three coal tubs had been washed down on to the level; he put up some more timber at the face, and sent for the undermanager, and accompanied him when he visited the place about 7 a.m. on the day of the accident. The undermanager found a fissure had been formed in the roof about 3 inches wide and a foot or so from the face, and soft clay had, prior to his visit, evidently been oozing through it. He told Bell he had done the right thing in putting in more timber, and seems to have thought the place was then safe.

About 11 a.m. the undermanager received another message from Bell to the effect that more clay was oozing through the fissure, and he arranged with Bell and another deputy, Richard Rushton, to stay half a shift overtime to put in some more timber.

These men went to the place between 11 a.m. and noon, and were about to commence work by putting in timber in the level at the bottom of the bord on the Byron side so as to completely close it off, as it will be noticed from the plans that there was no holing beyond.

They were alarmed by the quantity of clay, sand, and water coming down the bord and left the place, retiring to the top of the self-acting incline where they heard a noise like thunder. They spread the alarm in various directions; nearly all the persons employed on the Byron side of the whin dyke escaped without difficulty up No. 7 pit.

Seven persons went through the whin to the Roachburn side and spread the alarm there, and all, except three of the persons who had been engaged on that side of the whin, escaped by the Roachburn main level, the main dip, and the Roachburn shaft. All the ponies were got out except one on the Roachburn level.
At the time of the inflow there were 17 persons working in the Jubilee Winnings inbye of the bottom end of the endless rope incline.

These persons were warned by a lad from the bottom of the endless rope incline and by a putter, and all came out except the deceased, James William Wharton, who worked as a hewer in the main level.