Show DANGER OF DUST IN MINES peril is po anted out on a paper by a noted ang neer at a recent n eating of mining en ginders held in leeds W H picker ing british miniie inspector deac a paper on the dust danger the im of dust as a factor in colliery ons was he blid now generally recognized and understood provis ions 1 ad been introduced in the coal mine regulation act regulating the use of explosives in dry and dusty places and the explosives in coal mines or der had been i sued by the home sec detary in a few mines dust was cally laid by watering but no wide spread effort had been made ti strike at the root of the danger permitted explosives were only relatively safe for each one of them was capable of initiating an explosion under certain condit and it could not be too often repeated and emphasized tha a cust explosion could be in other ays than by an explosive ignition of fire damp might result from a naked lamp or from a damaged or defective lump or from a spark from a pick or an electric spark and this might be magnified by dust into a great explosion dust also indrea ed the danger of underground fires obviously the only way of remedy ing the darger was to keep the mines free from coal dust by cutting off the supply or by other means As long as dusty roads were allowed in the mines the coal industry was under the dark shadow of a coming great disaster the looming danger was recognized by all and he submitted that this pe i nod of peace and immunity was the time to take practical steps to avoid the danger he believed a discussion would show that it was reasonably practicable to keep moist mines corn ively free from dust that was cangero is and this freedom would conduce to safety and to health and comfort as well |