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[j. YOUNG.

116. Did you discuss with him how deep it went into the place ?—He could see for himself. 117. He disagreed with you at times ?—There was an error of judgment on his part. He forgot I had left there three or four weeks. 118. What date was that ?—About a couple of months ago. 119. As a matter of fact, you wrote all Mr. Wear's reports ?—Yes. 120. And he signed them ?—Yes, after I had read them out to him. 121. You concurred in the report ?—I do not know ;he was the man in charge of the work. 122. You do not know whether you agreed with his reports ?—I do not know that I was responsible for the reports. 123. But you agreed that what you had written down was a fair account of what was seen ?— Yes, I think so. 124. Did Mr. Wear dictate the words to you ?—No, not necessarily so. 125. They were your own words ?—Probably I might refer to him as to where we found gas. It was read over to him. 126. You do not think you should have specially referred to the finding of gas in the book ?— No, when I report gas I always consider there is danger. 127. So that if gas had been found in very small quantities on ten occasions, and you reported it " Gas discovered," the management might be misled if they assumed that you had discovered it in smaller quantities ?—That would be the manager's business. 128. Always to go and assume the quantity when you reported it ?—I did not say that, but T consider that my duty ended there. 1.29. Without in any way testing the quantity % —Yes, we may have mentioned it verbally. 130. Do you suggest that you or Wear mentioned the quantity ?—No, the presence of gas in large quantity. 131. You say you considered the dustiest part of the mine was the haulage-road ?—No, I said the travelling-road. 132. And you said the reason for that was that the men walking up and down ground down the floor and made it dusty ?—That is so. 133. What is the floor ?—Fireclay and stone, and in some places coal. 134. How much stone floor is there, and how much fireclay ?—I could not say, only I remember places where there is more than 50 per cent, of stone. 135. You are aware that the central portion was watered ?—Yes. 136. In that part the traffic of the men would not make it dusty ?—No. 137. The men have told us that there was too much water —that it was slushy ?—Yes, that is so, to my knowledge. 138. Mr. Tunks.] When did you get this gas-testing ticket, Mr. Young ?—2oth December, 1913. 139. Where were you tested ?—At the Auckland Exhibition. 140. Who made the test ?—To the best of my knowledge, it was Mr. Reed. , 141. Were you shown a diagram before the test was made ?—Yes, I had all those instructions. 142. You mean, immediately before the test was made ?—You saw the diagram ; it illustrates the various heights and percentages. 143. And directly after that you were shown the lamp in its testing-place ?—Yes. 144. I suppose if I had been present and had been able to" see ;thejgas I could have got a certificate, too ?—I am not too sure about that. 145. Had you to answer any questions in regard to mining ?—No, I do not think so. 146. Now, you have told us that on two occasions you found a large quantity of gas—24th March and 14th April ?—I did not swear to the dates. 147. Which was the occasion on which the large quantity was discovered ?—TheyJ'wereJboth large quantities. 148. You cannot say those are the dates ?—No, but to the best ot my knowledge they are. 149. You had one in March and one in April ?—Yes, I think those were the dates. 150. Why did you not leave the mine, then, if they frightened you ?—Familiarity breeds contempt : I suppose that was the reason. 151. Did you report these accumulations to anybody else except the under-manager ?—No.. 152. You did not mention them to an} r of the men ?—-Not that lam aware of. One man says that I did, but I do not remember it. 153. You did not report them to any person connected with the union or anything of that sort' —No, certainly not. 154. Did Mr. Wear ever tell you what he put in the report-book ?—I could not say that he did, because each report is so similar. If you get gas you report it, if you do not get gas you say nothing about it: that is the difference. 155. You had a free hand as to what you should put in the report-book ?—No, T c< 'ild not pu< in anything I liked. 156. Did you have any argument as to what should go in ?—No. 157. You always agreed ?—Yes. 158. How long ago is it since you left the mine ?—About five or six weeks. 159. So, notwithstanding these large accumulations of gas, you remained in the mine from April until five or six weeks ago ?—That is so. 160. What are you doing now ?—I have not been doing anything particular for two or three weeks. 161. Nothing at all ?—A few days in the bar. 162. Have you previously worked in the bar while you were in the mine ? —Yes, in the evenings. 163. A fair amount of carbonic-acid gas there I —T do not know.