--------------------------------------------------------------
| Causes of Death. | No. of | Proportion |
| | Deaths. | per cent. |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| Deaths resulting from fire-damp | | |
| explosions | 2019 | 20.36 |
| | | |
| Deaths resulting from falling | | |
| roofs and coals | 3953 | 39.87 |
| | | |
| Deaths resulting from shaft | | |
| accidents | 1710 | 17.24 |
| | | |
| Deaths resulting from miscellaneous | | |
| causes and above ground | 2234 | 22.53 |
| |------------|------------|
| | 9916 | 100.00 |
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Every reader of the daily papers is familiar with the harrowing accounts
which are there given of coal-mine explosions.

This kind of accident is one, which is, above all, associated in the
public mind with the dangers of the coal-pit. Yet the accidents arising
from this cause number but 20 per cent. of those recorded, and granted
there be proper inspection, and the use of naked lights be absolutely
abolished, this low percentage might still be considerably reduced.

A terrific explosion occurred at Whitwick Colliery, Leicestershire, in
1893, when two lads were killed, whilst a third was rescued after a very
narrow escape. The lads, it is stated, _were working with naked lights_,
when a sudden fall of coal released a quantity of gas, and an immediate
explosion was the natural result. Accidents had been so rare at this pit
that it was regarded as particularly safe, and it was alleged that the
use of naked lights was not uncommon.

This is an instance of that large number of accidents which are
undoubtedly preventable.

An interesting commentary on the careless manner in which miners risk
their lives was shown in the discoveries made after an explosion at a
colliery near Wrexham in 1889. Near the scene of the explosion an