The Mines Commission.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 32, 13 October 1911, Page 6

The Mines Commission.

KAITANGATA EVIDENCE.

The Mine* Commission, visited Kai-t-tngata c.'i' September '27, and after visiting tho nurics, te-ok evidence. Inspector -Grtbcs, Messrs Ridd, Crow, Nicholas, I-loatd, Shallish, McKenzie, Clark, Lee and Ridley gave evidence. ■ A noticeable- feabuio of th-.* evidence Avas the straightfonvnrd manner in Avhich the men spoke of- the state of conditions prevailing in Kaitangata. mines. -Mr. E. R. Green (Inspector of Minos) handed in a list of fatal accidents in. the Kaitangata and Castle Hill mines from 1900 up to date, also the barometric and thermometer readings, and measurements and analysis of the air in the Kaitangata mine. The first witness Avas William Crow, who said he had had 20 practical experience, mostly in the Kaitangata mine. He said the present system of pillars and headings was not consistent with safety. When they worked a section they drove their ends through, and at the end of the section they started shooting the tops down, and as they got out it began to get dangerous. He would suggest the driving of narroAV workings, and after the bords were driven to leave the section. In time the roof and floor Avould be brought Avell together, and then they could go back to it again. If they Avere going to extract pillars and tops, let them drive their levels and then take a strip back. To the Chairman: Accidents had taken place in the mine, but not in his presence. It Avas not the accidents, hoAvever, that impressed them, but the narroAV squeaks that took place. The Chairman': You consider that you have to be constantly on the alert to prevent accidents? Witness: My AA-ord, Aye have. What we want is cover of some sort so that we can prop tho roof. Continuing, witness said that Avorking in the high stone places they could never depend on them. The height of the pillar derided on the thickness of the coal, might be 20 feet or more. They had no sanitary appliances in the mine, but he found nothing objectionable in the present practice. To Mr. DoAvgray: He thought there should be a maximum height for pil-lars-—about 15 feet or a little higher if the coal was hard. Tho highest props they ever put in Avere about 12 feet, and the highest face in his experience was about 24 feet. He considered the safest method of testing the roof was by tapping it. In regard "to explosives, feliey had been in the habit of taking them doAvn Avith them and leaving them doAvn back from Avhere they were working until they required them. He thought there should be a box provided in each working rdace for the shots. When working in a hot place they were sometimes al-ioAved off a little before the end of the shift, but they_ had to work very hard for the concession. Mr. DoAvgray: I heard a remark in the mine to-day that the men aa-ouM rather work at pillars than at head places. Which do you prefer? Witness: I have been working at pillars for 15 j'ears, and am trying to get on to something else. There is not such a strain on a man Avhen he is working on the solid. If a man on pillar Avork Avho has had no experience is not on the look out he might get caught. Mr. Fletcher : Do you advocate larger pillars than you have here ? Witness: It would be better, I think. Mr. Cochrane: Do you lea A re unused gelignite in the mine'overnight?—That has been the method up till lately. Mr. Cochrane: Were the management aAvare of that practice? —Oh, yes, it has been the practice for years. To Mr. Reed: They took their explosives into the mine in canisters. He had left as many as. four shots in tlie mine overnight. About a week ago a new method Avas brought inte vogue by Avhich they took the balance of their ammunition out of the mine at the end of the shift. Mr. Reed: Are you sure that the management, knew that the shots Avere left in the mine overnight? Be careful, for it is an infringement of the laAv. Mr.. DoAvgray: I object to that question, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman said they were there with a vieAV to inquiry into practices whioh could be remedied, but not prosecuted for. Mr. Reod: I would like to be absolutely positive about this. Witness: It has been the practice for 20 years, and I can. only assume that the management Avas aAvare of it. In ansAver to a further question by Mr. DoAvgray, Avitness said he believed that the distance betAveen the stentons Avas 60 feet. Tho company ahvays kept the stoppings as aa-cII as it could. When its lamps went out it sent them back to be relit, and sometimes it Avas half a shift or a whole shift before a lamp camo back. A iiro station should be established further in tho mine. He had seen a trial of an emergency escape Avinding apparatus at the Castle Hill mine some four years ago. The Miners' Executive did not approve of it. Ono or tAVO men wont down in it as a trial, but were half dead Avith flnioke and Avater and one thing and another. It Avas 1 not everybody aa'lio oould find it in any case. They should ihavo more finger-posts in the mine. Robert Nicholas Ridd, secretary of the Coal Miners' Union of Employees, '■■ which has a total strength approximately, of 500 iv Otago and Southland, with from 210 to 250 members in Kaitangata, said ho would speak to a certain extent from personal experience ,-and on behalf of tho union. He had had seven or eight years' experience as a miner, but not at _ Kaitangata. He was the workmen's inpector, and his duties somo tiroes took him into tho mine. His experience ivas that in the present state of the Act an inspector's position Avas only a farce. 'The Act .ailoAved them to inspect tlie mine once a ..-month,... but die thought he should

have the privilege ol going down at any time, the same as a Government inspector. Further than that, they should have increased, powers. As it 'was noiv, they made a report and sent it to the mine manager, who, if it was very serious, sent it to the Inspector of Mines, and that was the last of. it.

To the Chairman: He cottld ..not say what the qualifications of i an inspector should be, but it was- only right that he should- have siiiTicieut experience to warrant 'those powers"--being, conferred upon hint. It av&s the opinion of. his union .that -.the-.Avorkmen's inspectors, seeing that they were currying out an important duty, should be paid by the Government. The Chairman: 1 do not know that that comes Avithin tho scope of our inquiry. Witness, continuing," said, a general meeting of the union had passed a motion condemning the present system of working pillars. "Previous witnesses had voiced the opinion of the union as they Aye re .representative Avorkers and experienced miners.

To Mr. 'Dowgray : On one occasion his executive Avas talking Avith the management about dangerous places. Avhen the manager said that if any men said the places were dangerous he Avould have no alternative but to dismiss them. Later he toned the statement down, and said it only referred to the past when its seriousness was pointed out to him. The'''men often told him that when they complained that a place Avas unsafe they Aye re ridiculed. When differences of that sort took place ihe men went home, and on tAvo occasions to his knoAvlcdge the place had been closed up before the next shift. On a visit of inspection they mostly tested for gases, but did not take the temperatures'.- Sometimes they had inpected a place and found it passable, and an hour or two later the same place Avas so bad that the men had had to go home. The screens had been manipulated during a visit to make the place seem all right.

To Mr. Cochrane: He Avould suggest that an inspector should have poAver to stop a place if he thought it unsafe. He did not consider that that would be -taking any responsibility off the shoulders of the management. Witness handed in the-workmen's inspectors' reports on tAvo fatal accidents that had occurred in the Kaitangata mine this year. The evidence of other witnesses substantiated in detail that of these Avitnesses. The mine manager declfned to give evidence.