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Q: Were pit lamps used in any other portion of the mine? A: In No. 4 Incline, naked lights were used. Q: What was the condition of the mine the day of the explosion, wet or dry? A: It was wet around that section. Mr. Pooley:- Are both those lamps "A" and "C" locked? or were locked when found? A: They were both locked when found. Q: Was that hole in the roof that was referred to by Mr. Potts, there before or after the explosion? Was that big hole there before or after the explosion? A: Well, the one that he mentioned about the gas being in, and reported in the report book, was there before the explosion. Q: How big a hole was that? A: Probably about four feet wide and may be two and a half to 3 feet high. Q: In a dangerous place? A: No. Q: The roof after the explosion was about 25 feet high? A: Yes, but not in the same place. Mr. Hall:- Were those 7 Chinese burnt sometime ago, burnt on this same level? A: What do you mean about "some time ago"? Q: About six months ago? A: I couldn't tell. Mr. Matthews:- The were burnt on the north side. Mr. Hall:- Are you altogether sure that that hole was four feet wide? A: It is there to-day to be seen, and it is no higher now than it was the. Q: Don't you think the crack extended quite a distance above that? A: That I couldn't tell. Q: You could see it was larger? A: I couldn't say. If that cave was broke further up or not, it is a very shaly roof, and the slips may be in this direction. Q: It might be larger and you not know it? A: Yes. Q: About this exhibit "A". I think you said something like this, that that lamp in your opinion would have caused the explosion if there had been a volume of gas there? A: I said if the glass of that lamp had been broken before the accumulation of gas took place, then in my opinion that would have caused the explosion. I don't think it did cause it, although there was that likelihood that it would. Q: You don't say that that lamp did cause the explosion? A: I don't, but it might have done it. Q: How do you account for this Exhibit "A" being separated from the other part of the lamp? A: When we found that lamp first of all the other part if the lamp was there beside it. To-day it is not there, and where it is I can't tell you. Q: Would the man who had these lamps in charge give us any information with regard to that lamp, whether it went into the mine separately or apart? A: It never went down the mine like that; that's a certainty. By a Juror:- What is the usual procedure when gas is reported in a mine, the same as it is in that book? A: The usual procedure is, if the men are working with naked lights, they are given safety lamps. The fireman, when there is gas in a place where a man is working, doesn't fire any shots in that place, but tells the man to get out the coal with a pick. There has been times since I came on when shooting has been stopped and the men allowed extra yardage for taking the coal out with pick and wedge. Q: Is it contrary to the Act to have a naked light in the traveling way? A: No, I don't think so. Q: Is it customary for the Chinamen to take matches in there? A: The law says they should not.

BC Archives GR-0431 Box 6 File 3

BRITISH COLUMBIA. ATTORNEY GENERAL. Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia.