On 25 October 1966, after resolutions in both Houses of Parliament, the Secretary of State for Wales formally appointed a tribunal to inquire into the disaster. Before the tribunal began, Elwyn Jones, the Attorney General, cautioned the media that commenting on matters to be investigated by the tribunal could lay them open to the same consequences as contempt of court. Sitting alongside Lord Justice Davies on the inquiry were the civil engineer Harold Harding and Vernon Lawrence, the former Clerk to the Monmouthshire County Council. The inquiry had an initial public meeting on 2 November 1966 and took evidence in public for 76 days, spread over the next five months; during that time 136 witnesses testified. The tribunal report stated "much of the time of the Tribunal could have been saved if ... the National Coal Board had not stubbornly resisted every attempt to lay the blame where it so clearly must rest—at their door".