REPORT UNDER THE METALLIFEROUS MINES ACTS.

SECTION I.

PERSONS EMPLOYED.

The total number of persons employed in and about the mines, under the Metalliferous Mines Act, as will be seen from the table below, was 618 persons. Of these, 252 were employed below and 366 aboveground. Compared with the previous year there is a decrease of 92 belowground and 160 aboveground, or a total of 252 persons. There is also a decrease of seven in the mines at work to be reported.

The table below shows the output of the various kinds of mineral from Metalliferous Mines during the year. From a glance at it it will be observed that, with the exception of a small increase of 6 tons in the quantity of lead ore obtained, there are large decreases in sandstone, sand, and raddle, to be recorded, and that the net decrease is 14,164 tons as compared with the year 1905.

SECTION III.

ACCIDENTS.

during the year. Both were non-fatal and caused

Two accidents were reported during the year. injury to two persons.

One of them was of a simple character-a miner was assisting to set timber to support the roof when a baulk he was raising fell and bruised his hand. The other, however, was of an extraordinary description. It occurred at Longroyd Stone Mines in a sinking shaft, which was eight feet in diameter and, at the time, 28 yards deep. A man was being sent to the surface in a hoppit to the outside of which there attached two chains with hooks at the ends. The injured man was steadying the hoppit as it started when one of these hooks caught in his waistcoat and in that way hauled him up the shaft until he nearly reached the surface. The buttons, however, gave way, one by one, and he fell to the bottom of the shaft and sustained a compound fracture of the right leg and severe bruises to his back. A boy was employed at the surface for the sole purpose of giving signals between the sinkers and the crane driver. He stated that he was within a yard of the shaft top but never heard a sound after the signal to wind up was received from the bottom, and the crane driver also said that he heard nothing. The man in the hoppit and another who was left in the bottom of the shaft said they shouted so that they could be heard a considerable distance. I fear the boy was not at his post at the time. The noise of the machinery might prevent the crane driver hearing the shouting.

It is difficult to understand why the injured man did not cling to the chain or hook with his hands, for if he had done so it is probable he would have reached the surface in safety.

Hooks and chains attached to the bottom or sides of hoppits are most dangerous and should not be allowed under any circumstances.

SECTION IV.
PROSECUTIONS.

There were no prosecutions of Owners on your behalf during the year, nor have I received any notices of proceeding having been taken, by owners, against workmen.

SECTION V.

ABANDONED MINES.

A plan of the abandoned workings at Longroyd Stone Mines, owned by Messrs. Bentley and Kaye, of Longroyd Quarries, Brighouse, was deposited at the Home Office in May last.

EXPLOSIVES.

From returns which the owners have been good enough to supply me with I find that 14,797 lbs. of Explosives were used at the mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act. The kinds and quantities were:

Ammonal

980 lbs.
5

1,350 3,562,

Trade, during the year, in the mineral produced at Metalliferous Mines, especially Sandstone, was dull. I hope I may be able to report a better condition next year.

REPORT UNDER THE QUARRIES ACT.

SECTION I.

PERSONS EMPLOYED.

The total number of persons employed in and about the quarries during the year under notice was 9,192. Of these 4,415 were employed inside and 4,777 outside the quarries. Compared with 1905 this is a decrease of 38 inside and 347 outside, or a total decrease of 385 persons.

There were occasionally employed 193 persons inside and 52 outside the quarries, but as the period of employment was of short duration and intermittent, they are not included in the figures given above.

The outside workers are principally principally engaged in stone-dressing, in the majority of cases within short distances of the quarries.

The number of quarries at work was 700, or 15 less than in the previous year.

The total quantity of mineral raised was 4,595,527 tons as compared with 4,335,186 tons in 1905, or an increase of 260,341 tons. This increase is solely due to one of the ironstone quarries in Lincolnshire having become more than 20 feet in depth, and the ironstone and sand worked at it being, therefore, for the first time, included in the output under the Quarries Act. In addition to the 1,794,219 tons of ironstone obtained from quarries more than 20 feet in depth, in Lincolnshire, 491,544 tons worked at quarries a little under that depth, but as these quarries do not come under the provisions of the Quarries Act, this quantity is not included in the figures given in the table below:

SECTION III.
ACCIDENTS.

Eight fatal accidents, causing the death of eight persons, occurred in and about the quarries as compared as compared with 10 fatal accidents and 11 deaths in the previous year, or a decrease of two in the number of accidents and of three in the deaths resulting therefrom. Six persons were killed inside and two outside the quarries by the same number of accidents. This is the most favourable record, as far as this district is concerned, since the Quarries Act came into force in 1895.

The non-fatal accidents and persons injured numbered 73 and 74 respectively inside and 35 outside the quarries, making a total of 108 accidents and 109 persons injured thereby in and about the quarries, which is a decrease of 8 in the number of accidents and of 11 in the number of persons injured.

The death-rate per 1,000 persons employed inside the quarries is 1.36 as compared with 1.80 in 1905.

All the accidents are classified in Table No. 22, and a complete list of the fatal accidents and deaths, and brief summary of the circumstances of each accident is given in Appendix 1. A perusal of these summaries will show that, as usual, many of the accidents were of a simple character and purely accidental, but with more care and better supervision others would, in all probability, have been prevented.

INSIDE THE QUARRIES.

Falls of Ground.

One man was killed by a fall of clay from the face of Darfield Clay Works Quarry, at a slip, when he was filling clay which had been got by a quarryman. The quarryman cut across the slip and should have seen it, but he was most positive in his assertion that he did not do so. If the slip had been known to be present, the deceased man should not have been allowed to be working where he was as it was leaning towards him. Some old drains run through the part of the quarry in which the fall occurred, and, owing to the water having percolated through the "backs" and "slips," made the ground very treacherous.

Sixteen persons were injured by 16 non-fatal accidents by falls of ground.

By Blasting.

There were, I am pleased to report, no fatal accidents, but seven persons were injured by six accidents from this cause.

Gunpowder was being used in connection with five, and ammonal with the sixth. Two were due to illegal practices, viz. :-(1) the carrying of gunpowder in a cotton bag, and (2), a shot being unrammed after it had missed. Two occurred when shot holes were being charged-in which charges had been previously exploded-owing to sparks or smouldering fuse igniting the explosive, although in each case more than the time stipulated by the Special Rules had elapsed between the firing of the shots and the subsequent charges being inserted. One was caused by a spark from a lighted fuse igniting a small quantity of powder in a defective canister, and two men were injured by the sixth one owing to their returning too soon to a shot they were firing; they heard a report and thought it was from their shot, but it probably was caused by another in the vicinity of it.

During Ascent or Descent.

No accident of any kind was reported to me during the year which comes under this head. This, considering the number of persons who are raised and lowered by machinery -or use footpaths, ladders, &c., in travelling to and from their work in quarries of, in some instances, great depth-is an excellent record.

Miscellaneous.

Five fatal accidents caused the death of five persons and 51 non-fatal accidents injured the same number of persons. In 1905, the numbers were four fatal accidents and deaths, and 73 non-fatal accidents, and persons injured, so there is an increase of one in the number of fatal accidents and deaths and a decrease of 22 in the non-fatal and the number of persons injured thereby.

Railway, Tramways, or Sidings.

One fatal accident, causing the death of a quarryman, and four non-fatal accidents, injuring four persons, occurred. The fatal accident occurred at Melton Ross Quarry, on November 12th, and was the result of want of care on the part of a man who when getting into a railway waggon took one of the pins, which secured the side door, without seeing that the second was in position. It had not been, and in moving the bar used to carry the waterproof sheet from one side of the wagon to the other he caused the door to fall on to the head and neck of the deceased, who was at the time placing a trestle into position to carry the door when it was lowered.

Falling from Ledges.

No one was killed and only four persons were injured from this cause.

Sundries.

There were four fatal accidents and deaths, and 43 persons were injured by 43 accidents in quarries under this heading.

Of the fatal accidents, one was caused by a quarryman when wheeling a barrow over an 11 feet by 9 feet 3 inches plank slipping and falling to the bottom of the quarry; in the second, a labourer, in jumping out of the way of some falling stone, broke his ankle, and died from the effects twenty-four days afterwards; the third was caused by a large piece of clay, which had fallen three weeks previously, overcoming a clay getter when he was attempting to liberate it; and the fourth occurred to a fitter's labourer, who, in carrying a pipe to put into a railway wagon by some means fell over the side of the planks between a ledge in the quarry and the wagon, and the pipe falling after him hit his head and caused fatal injuries.

The planked way was 2 feet 5 inches in width, 8 feet long, 8 feet from the ground, and in good condition.

The majority of the non-fatal cases were simple cases, and many of them need not have been reported. They consisted of crushed fingers, caused by men dropping large pieces of stone against other pieces of stone or wagon sides before their hands were clear; by pieces of stone which were being lifted breaking and falling on to the men's toes and feet; standing on loose stone and when it moved falling on to it; and other causes too numerous to mention.

Outside the Quarries.

Two fatal accidents, from miscellaneous causes, occurred outside the quarries and caused the death of two persons.

Thirty persons were also injured by the same number of accidents, four were by machinery, and one occurred on a tramway, and 30 were due to miscellaneous causes. No. 10 on the list occurred at Scar Quarry, owned by Mr. John Best, on February 4th, and caused the death of a carpenter.

The stone is sent from this quarry in trucks or tip waggons down a self-acting incline. The drum was 5 feet 6 inches diameter, 10 feet wide, divided into halves. Deceased and others were relagging this drum and had completed one side of it, and he attached a waggon to the end of the wire rope to draw it, by running down the incline, off the other side and allow the down rope to be brought up empty on to the half which was finished. After he had seen the waggon start away he went some distance behind a crane and lighted his pipe. He returned to the top of the incline and was looking at the brakesman just as the empty rope landed. As the As the rope end came over the top or "kip" it bounded to one side and struck him on the head causing such injuries that he died within a few hours.

The brakesman was watching the drum and did not notice the deceased until he fell. No one seemed to know why this man, who was a careful and experienced workman, walked where he did. Had he thought for a moment he would have realised it was dangerous to do so.

The other was No. 93 on the list and occurred at Marsh Lane Quarry, on September 24th, and caused the death of the son of the owner. He was stepping upon a large stone and it rolled against the quarry fence, which was a wall about 2 feet 3 inches high, he lost his balance and fell over the wall and to the bottom of the quarry, a distance of 42 feet.

The wall at the place could not very well be made higher as the jib of the crane swings over it. Stone dressing, however, was carried on much too near to it, and this,