PROTECTING HEALTH OF MINERS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 59, 2 December 1937, Page 3

PROTECTING HEALTH OF MINERS

-Pregg Association.)

Bill Commended by All ' Parties SAFETY PR0VISI0NS

'Bj Telearapb-

WELLINGTON, Last Night. Moving the eommital of tke Mining Amendment Bill, the Minister of Mines (Hon. P. Webb) said he had adopted the same procedure in framing this legislation as had been the case with the Coal Mines Bill. He had connected all the interested parties and had asked for suggestions that might be helpful. When the Bill had been framed, another conference of all the interested parties had been held, and the measure was discussed by it. The principle which should guide any Government in making provisions suc'h as those contained in the Bill, should be the safety of the men. Everything possible had been done in this direction by the Government, but up to the present, science had not been able .to devise a scheme Tvhich would make quartz mining 100 per cent. safe. The Government had made the preservation of human life its main objective in the Bill. Dealing with the question of Miners' pensions, the Minister stated they had over 1000 . miners xeceiving pensions. There were only 13S7 miners employed permanently in the quartz mines. The total number of miners' pensions granted since the Act began in 1915 till 1987 was 2736. Many miners, he added, had been enabled to get the pension through the amending legislation, and had the same liberal provisions applied since 1915, the number of pensions probably would have been. doubled over the period since the Act came into operation. An average of 190 miners a year were receiving pensions. This was a very serious matter and required atteytion. He said he would not worry a bit if no one ever wen't down a quartz mine. He knew the damage done to the men's health in these mines. Young, robust men worked hard in these mines and by the age of 35 were practically finished men. A Matter for tke Puture. In conclusion, Mr. Webb said there * were several mafters he would have liked to have seen in the Bill. One was a, l'eduction in the men's working time underground, but this would have to be faced. up to by the Government in the Euture. He wished to express his thanks to all mining interests for their helpfulaess and assistance in framing the present legislation. Mr. W. A. Bodkin stated that, in the main, the Bill was a good one. With reference to the gold export tax of 12s 6d per ounce, he stated such tax placed a grea't burden on the industry. A total of £108,793 had been paid in tax last year. The mining companies had paid thousands of pounds to the Consolidatcd Fund in tax, olthough in some cases they had bfeen unable to pay dividends to their shareholders. No industry employed more men in proportion than the mining industry, and to him it seemed unwiae to do anything to prevent the investment of overseas capital in the industry in the Dominion, He urged the Minister to give consideration to the early remission of the gold tax. The Leadex of the Opposition, Hon A. Hamilton) commended the measurt generally, and expressed approval oi the Minister 's methods of bringing th« interested parties together beforehand Ref erring to the safety provisions, he mentioned that last year there were only eight fatal accidents out of more than 5000 employed in the industry, which indicated that working in a mine was no more dangerous than walking in the streets. However, the incidence of miners' phthisis was disturbing. He objected to the Government deducting 10 per cent. from the coliection expenses of xevenues that were passed to 'local bodies, and spoke of the desirability of retaining highly qualiiied New Zealand mining engineers in the country. He considered that tho present conditions in New Zealand would not encourage such men to stay here. "There are'vcry fev men with grey hairs in quartz mines; they are all in the cemetery or receiving the pension," said the Minister of Publie Works (Hon. B. Semple). "The man who gets "phthisis is better dead; he is in perpetual misery from the day when his lungs give way until he dies." He added that the incidence of the disease was not so bad in New Zealand as in other countries, due to the fact that New Zealand was the only country in the world where it was compulsory ,to use dust-killing machinery. Mr. H. E. Herring said he would not congratulate the Minister so much on the introduction of such a Bill as he would congratulate New Zealand on having such a Minister. 1 Gold-Mining Companies. Mr. J. Thorji said it would be observed that the number of men engaged in quartz-mining was declining. Personally he had always found himself contrasting what the miner got out of the industry with what the mineshareholder received for the investment of his capital. The shareholders in the famous Waihi mine Jiad received somc £6,000,000 by way of dividends, whereas some hundreds. of miners had met their deaths' through miners' phthisis. He said he would heartily support any measure which tended to promote honesty in mining, and he thought clause 40 of the Bill, which prevented "salting" of. mines, would achieve this objective. In this connection it was interesting to study the number of mining companies which had returned dividends in New Zealand. The number of gold-mining compan:.j in New Zealand this year was 179. Many of these companies mined their gold on | the stock exchange and| not underj ground. The" number of companies which had never produced gold was 77, and the number which had paid a dividend was 41. Only oue in four of them had paid a dividend, He said the '* which hid *ever |MUd ' fe

! dividend was 138. The efLct of the jBOl would be an improvement in fhe conditions of the men and a betterment jof the health of those engaged in this lindustry. Should Have Been Law Years Ago. Mr, J. O'Brien said that, if people, jknew of the number of men who had' iContracted miners' phthisis, and the jcircumstances of .their deaths, they jwould close every mine in New Zealand where dust aceumulated in sufficient quantities to cause the disease. He welcomed the amendments to .the present legislation contained in the Bill. There were many of them ,that should have been on the statute books many years ago. The Minister of Mines, in reply, said he was quite prepared to discuss with his colleagues the question of reducing to 5 per cent. the proposed charge of 10 per cent. for the coliection expenses of the Government of revenues passed to Jocal bodies. He assured Mr. Hamilton they were doing everything they could to retain mining students in the Dominion, but he stressed the importance of these young men having praetical as well as theoretical experience. The motiOn for committal was carried, and the House proceeded with consideration of the committee stages of the Bill. The Bill passed through the committee stages in little over half an hour without amendment, was read a third time, and passed. Moving the second Teading of the Mortgagors and Lessees Rehabilitation Amendment Bill, the Attomey-General (Hon. H. G. R. Mason) briefly explained the provisions of the Bill on similar lines to his first Teading explanation. Two Bills — a further amendment to the Mortgagors and Lessees R-ehabilita-tion Amendment Bill and the Primary Products Marketing Act Amendment Bill — were introduced by GovernorGeneral's message. The Attorney-General, introducing four amendments to the Mortgagors and Lessees ' Rehabilitation Amendment Bill, said the first amendment dealt with the reduction of debts. By the original Act, debts were reduced on a date to be specified in the order made. Some orders did not specify that date, and the amendment set out how that date was deemed to be fixed. Another amendment provided that any specified adjustable debts were to be deemed to be discharged if a man had express knowledge of an existing debt, so that the creditor had no chance of knowing anything about it. A recent judgment. of the Court of Review had made clearer the position xegarding liabilities' for rates, and it was apparent that some' of the decisions previously given were not xeally in accordance with the intention of the Act, as the time for appeal against such decisions had run out. Another amendment really amounted to the provisions of the right of appeal against some .of the orders made. The fourth and last amendment was a clause making reservations concerning the question of re-opening the problem of a gdarantor if he was prejudiced under the clause of the Bill referring to guarantors. The Amendments were read 'a first time and referred lo the committee on the Bill. ■ The debate on the second reading of the Bill was adjourned and will be continued to-morrow. The House rose at 10.10 p.m/ 1 !