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the goaf burying quantities of saleable coal. All available eoal having been won from that section, it has been sealed off. Pillaring was also commenced in the No. 4 south section in July, and two pairs are working back the pillars. There is another pair on pillar-work in the No. 5 south section. A few solid places are being worked in No. 6 south. The main dip is now down 31 chains from the surface, and the back heading on the north side is 2\ chains ahead of the face of the main dip. Birchwood No. 2 Mine.—When 830 ft. down, the main dip heading proved a seam of resinous eoal 5J ft. thick, and the main seam was met at 930 ft. Soon after, papa intrusions were showing at the face. The seam was rather dirty when first met, but the main and back headings have been driven in clean coal since, and at about 20 chains in the seam was almost level. A pair of headings were then driven to the north and another pair to the south, and places worked off these headings. Seventeen single places are now being worked, five of them on double shift. Those to the south-east contain stony bands, but the others are in fairly clean coal. A small quantity of firedamp was reported in January in the back heading, and firedamp has been reported on many occasions since, so the mine is proving rather a gassy one. Wherever practicable the coal is being cut before blasting and shot-firers have been instructed that in all places the shots must be properly placed in relation to the work they have to do. An Ingersoll-Rand air-compressor, 12 in. by 10 in., was installed early in the year. Black Lion Mine.—All production during the past year was from the lower seam-workings in the east section. All places in the north section entered thin coal, so that section was stopped late in 1929. In the lower seam the coal is fairly clean. In the main south-east level a downthrow fault was struck when the place was about a chain away from the Morley Stream. When first met the fault was running north 30° east, but in places to the rise it is more to the northward and has cut off all places to the east. In the places going to the north a still lower seam from 4 ft. to 6 ft. thick was met, but the places rose steeply, and, as the coal is thinning rapidly, work will soon be confined to a small dip section south of the southeast level. Fatal Accidents. Roseneath Mine, Kurow. —On 23rd January Mrs. M. Matheson, the mine-owner, was suffocated by a fall of lignite about 24 ft. down from the mine-entrance. The miner in charge had informed her of danger there, but out of curiosity she went down at 3.30 p.m. to the defective place. Soon after she arrived there the sets collapsed and buried her, and her body was not recovered until 6 a.m. the next day. Waronui Mine.—On 18th September, at about 12.30 p.m., James Carruthers, the mine-manager, and Joseph Morris, miner, were suffocated by blackdamp when breaking through from a new auxiliary return-airway to the main return. Owing to the timber sets collapsing in the main return some days previously, blackdamp collected there. When chopping a lath above the sets in the main return Morris was overcome by the carbondioxide gas and fell to his waist through the hole made in the lath, his legs remaining above. Carruthers endeavoured to pull him up out of the hole and was also overcome. Other workmen made efforts to rescue them, Robert McDonald being also overcome by the gas and had to be taken to the hospital. The bodies could not be recovered until Mr. William Carson, equipped with a smoke helmet, arrived from Kaitangata about four hours after they were overcome. Serious Non-eatal Accidents. Birchwood No. 2 Mine. —On 21st January P. L. Magee, deputy and shot-firer, was struck by a piece of stone which ricochetted into the crosscut where he was standing, from a shot in the dip and over 60 ft. away. He sustained a fractured right fibula. Linton No. 2 Mine. —On 16th April Thomas Moore, trucker, sustained a fractured right humerus. While pushing a tub he overbalanced and fell on his shoulder, thus breaking his arm. Mossbank No. 1 Mine. —On sth August Thomas Wells, jun., had his right femur broken by a fall of top coal. It fell from a mucky "back" about 2ft. above the level of the top of the 7ft. props and on to Wells's shoulder or back, not actually striking the leg. Dangerous Occurrences notified under Regulation 82. Wairaki No. 1 Mine.—On 13th March an underground fire in the No. 1 west section crept through a stopping, so the men were withdrawn and the stopping reinforced. Later all stoppings in that district were doubled. Albury Mine. —On Bth April slight signs of heating were noticed at a fall in an old bord. Three stone stoppings were built to seal off the area. Jubilee Mine. —On 19th October the electrically driven pump was submerged by water from a small pillared section on the south side. Two other pumps were purchased and, to obtain storage room until the submerged pump was recovered, two concrete dams were put in the lower south levels. Prosecutions. There were twenty informations laid during the year and convictions obtained in all cases. On 24th February a mine-manager was fined £10 and costs for a working-place being insufficiently ventilated. For failing to appoint a proper shot-firer he was fined £5 and costs, and for three breaches of the regulations dealing with explosives he was convicted and ordered to pay costs. The same day an underviewer was fined £5 and costs for permitting shots to be fired in a place before it was examined by an authorized shot-firer, and he was also convicted and ordered to pay costs for two other breaches of the Explosives Regulations. On 24th February an underviewer was fined £1 and costs for failing to search the workmen employed underground in a safety-lamp mine, and a deputy was fined £1 and costs for failing to keep the detonators issued to him. Another deputy was fined £1 and costs for not making a proper inspection of a working-place before the men commenced work there, and a miner was fined £1 and costs for firing shots without being the holder of the necessary qualifications. On 15th April three miners were convicted and each lined 10s. and costs for entering a mine before it was inspected. Another miner was fined ss. and costs the same day for a similar offence. On 30th September a mine-manager was fined £3 and costs for not timbering a working-place in compliance with a notice from the Inspector. On the same day a farmer was fined £2 and costs for acting as a manager of an opencast pit without being qualified to do so. On 4th November a mine-manager was fined £1 and costs for failing to keep explosives in a secure ease or canister; and he was also fined £1 and costs for not providing a suitable thawing-pan for gelignite.

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