Ventilation.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 50, 23 February 1912, Page 8

Ventilation.

Trouble arose at the Blackball Colliery last'week through the management refusing to supply tho minora with sufficient ventilation. So acute diel the situation become that the men. had decided to "down tools" unless tlie matter was remedied by a given date. However, upon tho question being brought under the notice of the Minos Department by Federation officials, tho pig-headed management was apparently brought to a sense of duty. This brutal lefusal to supply workmen with the necessary amount of oxygen is nothing new for Blackball. Not so very long ago a request for air was met by blasphemy and insult from a swollcd-head official. Since then unionism lias strengthened, and sullen refusal to spend a few psltry shillings upon the necessary material is now usually met with. It is difficult to imagine a more callous, inhuman and brutish refusal than that to supply adequato ventilation, to men toiling and sweating in. tho humid atmosphere of a mine. A' radical and drastic amendment to the Mining Act is needed, making it k felony for any employer to compel men, under tho throat of dismissal, to' work underground without tho necessary amount of air. Tho life of tin miner depends upon the ventilation of the mine, and it is nothing short of cold-blooded and deliberate crime for some fiend in. human form who happens to have crawled into a position ol authority to deny that air. The neglect by the management of tho provisions of the Mining Act regarding ventilation should result ia summary treatment at the hands ot the oourfe.