a—4.

56

r .T. MCINTYRE

15. Have you had any experience of trucking on those wet roads? —I have trucked on them, but it has never affected me. I found the roads fairly dry at the time I trucked. 16. As regards the timbering?— When I went round with Mr. Wallace we condemned the timbering in No. 1 drive. 17. There were no accidents on account of the lack of timber ?—Not to my knowledge. 18. Mr. Parry.] Did you work on the surface in Australia ?—Yes. 19. Have you worked in hot places in New Zealand ? —Yes. 20. What effect does working in those hot places have upon you ?—I find that one cannot eat one's food as one ought to. It is also impossible for a man to work at home in his leisure. I worked in No. 6 drive through the creep, and I have had to leave that place —I have had to go out into the fresh air. On one occasion Mr. Morgan, the manager, and his deputy found me lying down—the foul air had got the better of me. 21. You became fairly exhausted through working in the hot place ?—Yes, that is so. 22. You say you have worked on the surface in Australia. I want to know if it is more fatiguing working on the surface at a temperature of, say, 84° than it is working at the same temperature underground ? —lt is more fatiguing underground. ,23. Do you think that a maximum heat should be fixed for a six-hour place ? —Yes. 24. What temperature would you fix ? —Not over 75°. 25. Have you had any experience with the thermometer ? —No. 26. You do not know the difference between the wet and dry bulb ? —No. 27. You know what effect working in hot places has upon you ?—Yes. 28. Would it be any advantage to the miners to have proper change-houses and drying-apparatus ?— Yes, a great advantage. Last week I went home saturated with sweat as the result of working about those pillars. I might state that the management has done as much as possible to get the air there, but the fan does not do its duty to the mine. The brattice has been taken from the corner of the pillars, and the fan will not draw the air round the pillars. It is not being drawn through that section of the mine, though there is absolutely good air back from the face. 29. Do you think that change-houses would be of benefit even if the men were living handy ?—Yes. 30. What inconvenience are you put to in regard to sanitary appliances ? —From most parts of the Northern Mine it is a long way to walk to the surface, and a man is liable to miss his turn of skips. It takes him quite five minutes to walk each way, and from some sections it takes much longer, and it is outrageous to expect him to walk right outside. 31. What is the result ? —The smell of the filth is very offensive. 32. Do you ever feel sick at all as a result ?—No, I cannot say I do. 33. Would you not feel sick if you came into contact with a place of that description after having crib ? —lf you stopped amongst it ; but one must get away from it and avoid it. 34. And you think it would be a great advantage both to the companies and to the men if a maximum temperature were fixed ? —Yes, I think it would. 35. You say that you made complaints to the Mining Inspector and also to the management of the mine ? —Yes. 36. And no improvement has resulted ? —No, none at all. 37. Mr. Fletcher.'] You spoke about a door : do you pass through that door on your way to work ? —Yes. 38. Does the air go to the left or to the right to get to your section ?—To the left. 39. And you say that that door is often open ? —Yes. 40. Is there no trap-boy to attend to it ? —No. 41. The Chairman.] Are there any instructions issued by the management on the subject ? — Ido not know of any. 42. Mr. Fletcher.] Of course, it is to your advantage to have that door open ?—Ye.s. 43. The Chairman.] Can you say why it is not shut ? —I cannot say. 44. Do you know of anybody having been interfered with for shutting it ? —No. 45. Have you known of any one asking to have it shut ?—No. 46. Mr. Reed.] You have sworn that you have been working in mines for ten or eleven years in New South Wales and New Zealand ? —Yes. 47. How long have you been engaged as a hewer of coal ? —About nine years. 48. And the one year ? —Trucking. 49. You. referred to an occasion when you had bad air ?—Yes. 50. Is it a fact that the fan was drawing the air from the extraction pillars an abnormal condition ? —That is a different time altogether. 51. From where did your section get this air?— From the back of the mine. 52. Consequently the door referred to would have no effect no the condition of the air ?—No effect at all. 53. In that mine are hot places the rule —are most of the places hot? —No, not necessarily. 54. Is there a high proportion of the places hot ? —No, only in Nos. 5 and 6 sections. 55. Have you ever worked in a mine where there were no hot places ? —No. 56. There is good air in your place ? —Yes. 57. Have you ever left the mine on account of the heat ?—-No. 58. In regard to the bath-houses and change-houses: You stated that you had a long way to walk home. If you were living close to the mine, would you prefer to use the bath-house at the mine ? —Yes. 59. Do the Northern Company's officials keep the mine reasonably well timbered ? —Yes. they do. 60. In New where you were working, what sanitary arrangements were there?—There were none. We were allowed to use the retucn-air course,