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| Sign indicating Site of Kuranui Battery - photo C R Ball 2010 |
Currently in New Zealand, the Health and Safety Reform
Bill, introduced in June 2015, is being tracked through Parliament . One of
the contributing reasons for this reform was the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy
of 2010. Another piece of Health and Safety Legislation - 140 + years after one
of the first legislation pieces introduced in NZ. Then it was the outcome of another mining disaster
- on the not long opened Thames
Goldfields. Campbell in 1987 was to
write the following:
“However in 1874 the Inspection of Machinery Act was passed,
it no doubt stimulated by a fatal boiler explosion that had occurred on the
Thames gold field”. (Campbell, 1987, p.13)
This was what came to be known as the Kuranui Boiler
disaster which occurred at the Kuranui Company in one of the battery machines.
The Kuranui Battery was close to the Shotover Mine - this Mine famous for the
first major official discovery of gold on the Thames Goldfields. Both mining
sites were close to the shoreline.
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| The Shotover on Kuranui or Shotover Creek - Photo in
Grainger, John Thomas. The Amazing Thames. The
story of the town and the famous goldfield from which it grew. Wellington:
A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1951.
|
According to the
Thames Miners Guide, one of the first crushing machine's was purchased, it was
said , for £1500 from the firm
of Fraser & Tinne by the Kuranui Company and erected in those early Thames
Goldfields Days about November 1867. The Thames Miner's Guide wrote outlining
Machinery on the Thames Goldfields: -
Kurunui Battery (late Fraser and Tinne's) of six
stampers, and a one stamper specimen battery with Berdans at the end of tables
to grind the tailings. The battery has three stampers in each box, double cams,
quicksilver placed in battery boxes, grating perpendicular, with round holes.
The copper-plate tables are about 12ft. long by 5ft. wide, and raised about
14in. above the blanket boards; a slide dividing them is raised about l 1/2 in.
at the bottom. The blankets extend about 10ft. They appear to be ordinary grey
blankets of a very inferior description. There is no appliance for saving the
tailings, the sluice being only 10ft. long, terminated by a small tub. There
are no amalgamators connected with this battery. The engine is powerful, and
reflects credit upon the engineers, Messrs. Fraser & Tinne. Nevertheless,
there is room for much improvement, to render the saving of the finer particles
of gold complete." ( Thames Miners Guide, 1868)
The diagrams below shows what two stampers used to crush quartz rock looked like.
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Stamp Mills in Johnson, J.C.F. Getting Gold A Gold-Mining Handbook
for Practical Men.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43027/43027-h/43027-h.htm, 2013.
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The disaster
occurred on 24 January 1874, causing the serious loss of three lives. The Daily Southern Cross,
after the accident, and after some of the evidence given in the inquest
reported
“The cause of the accident is briefly this, so, far,
as it can be understood: The boiler had 'been repaired and cleaved about a week ago, land has only
been at work five days. It was discovered today that a thick coating of saline deposit had
crusted the iron in the crown of the boiler to a thickness of half an inch. This prevented the water
from coming in contact with the iron, consequently the latter became red hot over the
furnace, and owing to the pressure of the steam it collapsed, as much as the tension of the iron
allowed, but when the utmost extent of its expansion - was" reached the iron rent along the seam."
The consequence was that the steam and water together burst into the furnace and rushed through
the flues, carrying death to the poor fellows.”( DSC 26/01/1874, p.3)
The three lives lost
were those of Alfred Cook, Amalgamator, Kuranui Company. Richard Watson, crushing supervisor,
Queen of Beauty Company. Matthew Paul, crushing supervisor, Crown Prince Company. In the
aftermath of the disaster, the inquest with recommendations at its conclusion
and concern for the safety of machinery on goldfields, rose in several quarters
before, there were calls for action. Amongst these was that of Mr. John
Sheehan, MHR. The Wellington Independent
reported that a Royal Commission appointed would be appointed to investigate
the accident causes and to make recommendations.
(Wellington Independent, 11/02/1874, p 2)
Members appointed to
the Royal Commission were Joseph Nancarrow, James Stewart and Charles O’Neill. All three
had both practical and technical knowledge of boilers and steam machinery, Nancarrow being
Colonial Chief Inspector Steamers and Stewart Inspector of Steamers Auckland – both with the then
Marine Department. O’Neill formerly mining surveyor for the Thames goldfield and
engineer-in-chief of railways, tramways and wharves and elected MHR
representing Thames 1871 – 1875.
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| Two of the Members Appointed to the Royal Commission |
By mid - March the work of the Commission had begun with the
Daily Southern Cross reporting the official opening of the Royal Commission ,
Charles O’Neill Chairman of the Commission.
In what could be said to be a relatively short time for
reports of this nature to emerge, the Daily Southern Cross in July 1874 (four
months later) reported the result of “The Steam Boiler Commission” writing:-
“The Kurunui Boiler Accident Commission, in an
elaborate report, say they are of opinion that such accidents can be prevented by a carefully revised and
well balanced enactment. The Board of Trade system of marine inspection and tests for
engineers they consider unsuitable. Rules for the examination ought to possess an elasticity which
would be respectfully applicable to the goldfields as inapplicable to the Marine Engineer tests should
be based on the nature of the work they have to perform.” (DSC, 04/07/1874, p 3)
In the Royal Commission Report to both Assemblies of
the house the Commission's members concluded:-
"All the evidence points to sufficient water
being in the boiler, and there is no reason for doubt on this point. The
incrustation, then, we are assured, was the immediate cause of the collapse;
and we have as little doubt that the incrustation was only the effect of undue
saltness of the water in the boiler. This even those in immediate charge admit,
although they state that they are unable to account for it. But the fact is
incontestable, in our opinion ; and a careful study of the evidence, and an
actual testing of the salinometer in use, together with calculations relating
to the evaporation, feed, and blow-off of the boiler, lead, not to wonder that
the salting took place, but to astonishment that it did not work its effect
long ago." ( AJHR 1874 I,
H-06)
Outlined also in the
report were recommendations for an
Inspectorate system - their skills base, personal character qualities and work
procedures in the field - duties. By
September 1874 the Inspection of Machinery Act was passed, providing one of the
first pieces of New Zealand Occupational Health and Safety Legislation. The
Star reported on the new Machinery Act.
“The Inspection of Machinery Bill passed through the
Assembly during its last session is a valuable measure, supplying, as it does, a want that had for a
long time/existed. The Act is in five principal parts. (Star, 04/09/1874, p 2)
The first Inspection
of Machinery Act 1874 while it covered other “land based “did not cover steamers and their
machinery. This was covered by the already implemented Steam Navigation Act, 1866, administered
by the Marine Department and their Inspectors of Steamers. A role that both Nancarrow and
Stewart had been undertaking for the Marine Department since this act’s
inception. Likewise engines or
machinery under Government Railway control were also exempt. There was also an innovative
provision that prohibited children under the age of 10 to work with or assist
with the running of
machinery.
The passing of the
Machinery Act 1874 was followed shortly after by the Regulation and Inspection of Mines Act which
also carried provisions for safety. By December the
first Chief Inspector of Machinery for the colony was appointed. This was
Joseph Nancarrow.
Into 1875 Thames goldfields saw the Machinery
Act 1874 in place – and even though there were detractors, this was a first
step in health and safety in the workplace and towards prevention of likes of a
recurrence of such as the “Kuranui Boiler Disaster.”
Reference Sources:
- Campbell, I.B,. Legislating for Workplace Hazards in New Zealand. Palmerston North: Stylex Printer, Massey University, 1987.
- Thames Miners Guide, 1868 - Machinery - 0n ENZB ( Early New Zealand Books)
- NZ Gazette 10 Dec 1874
- Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1874 Session I, H-06 Report. BOILER ACCIDENT AT THE KURUNUI BATTERY, THAMES GOLD FIELD, (ROYAL COMMISSION TO INQUIRE INTO THE, AND INTO THE MACHINERY AND BOILERS ON THE FIELD GENERALLY).
- Archives NZ: ACFM 8180 15 935/74) Notice of appointment of a Royal Commission to enquire into state of quartz crushing machines on goldfield
- New Zealand Legislation Health and Safety Reform Bill
- C. J. Foley, 'O'Neill, Charles Gordon (1828–1900)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oneill-charles-gordon-4333/text7033, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 16 July 2015.
- Wellington Independent, 11/02/1874, p 2
- Daily Southern Cross, 20/03/1874, p. 3
- Daily Southern Cross, 04/07/1874, p 3 RESULT OF THE STEAM BOILER COMMISSION
- Star, 04/09/1874, p 2
- THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1874., p 2
