Accident No. 78.-This accident occurred to a man working behind a mechanically driven coal-cutter. The deceased's duty was to clear dirt away from the cutter bar as it progressed along the coal face. The machine had undercut about 40 yards, and as it travelled along the face, bars for supporting the roof were set about five feet apart, but in this case a delay occurred in setting the timber, and the shaking of the machine probably caused a bad piece of the roof to fall.

Accident No. 141.-This caused the death of a pony driver who had finished his work, and was preparing to proceed to the shaft, when a bar gave way and let the roof fall upon him. At the inquest a fellow driver gave evidence that he had called the attention of an official to the unsafe condition of the bar, and another boy, who worked with deceased, stated that he had noticed that the bar was tilted some days before the accident, but he did not tell anyone about it. There was a chalked cross on one of the props supporting the bar, which the boy said he "thought meant that the props required taking out and re-setting."

The official referred to was closely questioned as to the boy's evidence, but he denied all knowledge of a tilted bar, or having his attention drawn to it by one of the drivers. The evidence was unsatisfactory, but I was inclined to believe the statements of the two boys, for the manner in which they gave their evidence impressed me that they were telling the truth. The Coroner's jury evidently accepted the boys' evidence in preference to that given by the official of the mine, for they returned a verdict of "Accidental Death,' and added, "If the bar had been re-legged it would have prevented the accident."

Accident No. 216.—This death occurred under peculiar circumstances. The deceased and another man were engaged in withdrawing steel props from an abandoned working place. The wooden props were being left standing, and the steel props were being taken out by means of the ringer-and-chain. Every care appears to have been used, and the work was being carried out according to rule. Two props had been withdrawn and a third was being set loose, when a large fall of roof occurred. The deceased got clear of the fall, but in escaping he ran his head against two steel props at the gate end, with such force as to cause his death. He escaped injury from the fall only to be killed by running into

the props.

Accident No. 248.-In this case the deceased was the certificated manager of a small mine. He appears to have made an inspection of the mine before the men went to work, early on a Monday morning, and while either examining the roof of the entrance to a working place where a fault existed, or clearing up a small fall, as a shovel was found near to him, the roof fell and buried him. He was in the mine alone, and had examined the stall near where his body was found, for his initials and the word "safe were found on a shovel, placed where the workmen could see it when they examined the working place. The time also, " 5.30," was written on the shovel. Deceased was found at about 7.15 a.m. when the workmen entered the mine, after waiting some time for his return, they became anxious, and went in search of him.

Accident No. 326.-This occurred in a working stall where the coal is undercut or holed by machinery, and for the purpose of protection during holing and afterwards, the men set bars to support the roof. One end of a bar is supported by a prop, the other end being let into the coal face, resting in a hole cut at the top of the seam. This method of timbering is necessary for the passing of the machine, as props at the face side cannot be set until after the machine cutter has passed under each bar. Deceased was a stallman, and he and the loader were filling the last tub of coal for the day, but found they had not sufficient coal down to complete the filling of the tub at the proper loading place; the tub was pushed towards the gate end, and deceased used a pick for getting more coal. This liberated the support upon which the end of the bars rested, when two of them gave way allowing the roof to fall and fatally injure the deceased. The loader said to him "I should be careful not to liberate those bars," when the reply was "Ah, I must," but, unfortunately, he went on pulling the coal and brought about his own injury. The deceased was considered to be a careful workman, but his error of judgment was fatal.

Accident No. 419.-Two men were killed by this accident, both being over 68 years old, and experienced workmen. They had been sent to build a pack at a junction of two roads, where a newly driven road crossed an old road that had been abandoned some years previously. The official in charge gave the deceased instructions to set some timber, as a precautionary measure for safety, which appeared to be necessary, for some of the props supporting the bars were out of the perpendicular. He left them setting the timber, and had not gone many yards when he heard a crash. Upon returning to see

if the men were safe he found both of them buried beneath about twenty tons of material that had given way from above the timber. It was five hours later before the bodies. were recovered.

Accident No. 440.-The deceased was in charge of a working place, and appears to have been knocking a prop out by using a hammer, instead of by means of a ringer-andchain, as provided by the Special Rules. There was a ringer-and-chain in the working place which the deceased neglected to use. Many accidents have occurred to men who, after setting a prop to support the roof, knowing that the roof is settling upon it, go under the roof and deliberately knock the prop out with a hammer, whereas it could be got out while standing at a safe distance, if the proper apparatus were used. Deceased was seriously to blame in what he did, and his neglect cost him his life.

Accident No. 620.-This accident occurred in the working face, and under conditions. which showed gross neglect on the part of those whose duty it was to set the timber. The men had broken the coal down for some distance at the gate end, and had loaded nearly all of it without setting any timber, when the roof fell and killed the loader. The accompanying sketch shows the large area of roof that fell, and a circle marks the position of each prop set, and also the four props which should have been set to comply with the timbering rules. The men had continued filling coal in a reckless manner, hoping to have all loaded up and sent away before commencing to set the necessary timber, whereas the roof should have been supported as the loading progressed. One man was fatally injured and another seriously crushed by the fall. At the inquest one of the men admitted that "If the four props had been set properly the fall would have been prevented." He could not give any excuse why they were not set, "it would not have interfered whatever with the filling," and "it was not a very good roof, as it was damp, with many slips." Previous to the accident the men had talked the matter over, and knew that the place was too wide, and that more timber was required, but the haste to get the coal loaded made them blind to rule and danger. The Coroner's jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death," and added "that the stallmen were guilty of a breach of the rules in not properly and safely timbering the roof of the working place."

The sequel to this accident occurred shortly afterwards, when the stallman was taken before the Magistrates, and charged with failing to see that the props in his working place were set not more than four feet six inches apart, according to the rules of the mine. The case was regarded as a serious one, not only because of its results, but because such results might be expected to follow such neglect. It seemed that something more than the necessity for the men's own safety was required to make them comply with the rules, and the defendant was fined two pounds.

Accident No. 703.-The deceased and other men were going to their work, and were in the habit of resting near to a large manhole on the side of the roadway, and at a place that was well timbered. On the morning of the accident they had rested only a short time, when a heavy fall occurred, breaking the timber. Three men were more or less buried by the fall, and when rescued it was found that one was dead, his body being under the heaviest part of the fall. It appeared that some time previously a large fall of roof had occurred at the same place, and this was the cause of the place being so well timbered, but unfortunately a large cavity of some height was left above the timbering, and the cause of the fall which killed deceased appeared to be due to a further fall from the side and top of this cavity, crashing down upon the timber, breaking some and pushing out other at the time the men were resting under it. There were largeironstone balls in the roof above the roadway, and it is probable that one or more of these fell from the cavity on to the timber, for two such balls were found over the deceased man.

It is always dangerous to leave open cavities above the timbering of a roadway, for material, falling from either the side or roof of such cavities, falls upon the timbering with more or less force, causing the breaking or pushing out of the timber. Such cavities are always dangerous as receptacles for the accumulation of gas. This accident, and others of a similar nature, to which I have previously called attention, should act as a warning to all officials when they are repairing roadways where large falls have occurred.

SHAFTS.

Accident No. 117.-The deceased was the onsetter at the shaft bottom, and having received a note for the under-manager, whom he saw on the opposite side of the shaft, he ran across the shaft bottom and delivered the note, but unfortunately he attempted to re-cross on the side the descending cage was approaching, and, when he had nearly got

ACCIDENT NO 620.

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over, the cage struck and killed him. The pit bottom was well lighted, and there was a tub road round the shaft, which should be used by all persons passing from one side to the other of the shaft bottom, and no one should know this better than the onsetter. The crossing of the sump boards was the nearest and easiest way, and deceased had been known to cross the shaft previously when the cages were running, which was a dangerous operation, and against the rule of the mine. The deceased, being the onsetter, should know upon which side the cage was descending, and it is difficult to explain why he should have selected the most dangerous side. The road round the shaft was full of empty tubs at the time, and he would have had to climb over them if he had gone that way, but this was neither excuse nor justification for his crossing the shaft while the cages were running, as he could have waited until the cage had landed and crossed through the empty cage. This would have delayed the winding a little, but this was of secondary importance when it might prevent a fatal or non-fatal accident.

Accident No. 367.-This was a mistaken signal. The deceased was engaged to pull off the empty tubs from the bottom deck of the cage when it arrived at the shaft bottoin. The onsetter, who was stationed on the top landing, thought he heard the deceased call "right" and signalled to the engineman to take up the cage. Immediately it started away he heard a shout as though the deceased was in pain, and he signalled to stop the cage. It was then found that deceased had been fatally injured. The onsetter could see, had he looked, whether deceased was right or not, but he trusted to the shouting. It was clear that one of the two men had made a mistake, but it was the onsetter's duty to see that all was right, for a signal by shouting in a pit bottom is always liable to be mistaken. In this case the onsetter was paid by contract, a method which may be questionable for men in such responsible positions as onsetters, banksmen and enginemen. At the inquest the question was asked "were you in a hurry to get coal away?" to which the onsetter replied "well, yes."

The signalling from one landing to the other, where two or more decks are used, should be by distinct and definite signals to the chargeman onsetter, such that cannot be mistaken for one of the many noises near a shaft top or bottom, and signals by shouting are always unreliable and indefinite methods of signalling, which have previously been the cause of accidents in the district.

Accident No. 605.-Deceased was the under-manager of the mine, and had occupied this position for many years. He was known to be suffering from heart disease, but continued to exercise his duty at the mine. On the morning of the accident, he left the underground office at about 9 a.m. for the purpose of measuring the ventilation, and should have returned by noon. As he had not returned at 2 p.m., his assistant and a deputy went in search of him, and found him lying at the bottom of a staple pit quite dead. From the entries made in the pocket-book he carried, he had measured the ventilation at the usual places, the last one being taken about eight yards from the top of the staple pit, where he had affixed his initials and the date in chalk, and to do this he must have climbed up the pit by the chain ladder. The pit is 14 yards deep, and it would require considerable exertion to climb from the bottom to the top on a chain ladder. He He appears to have been returning, and when nearing the bottom he probably fainted and fell from the ladder. The anemometer was found near him and his watch was going, but his safety-lamp was out.

Deceased had fallen in a faint at the main shaft bottom three years previously, and had recently been medically attended for heart disease, having been away from duty three weeks. The man's anxiety to retain his place and perform his duty led him to continue work when he should have retired, and followed some occupation where less physical exertion was required.

Non-fatal.

Acculent No. 492.-This was a serious case of overwinding. A cage load of seven men was descending the shaft for the day shift, when the finger of the indicator, showing the position of the load in the shaft, got out of order to the extent of about one revolution of the drum, with the result that the cage was dropped heavily into the pit bottom. The men were more or less seriously injured, and probably there would have been some fatalities but for the prompt action of the engineman, who pulled up so sharply as to stop the ascending cage before the safety-hook came into action. This, however, did not prevent the descending cage, with its load of men, striking the pit bottom with

considerable force.