C.—2.

ANNEXURE B.

STONE QUARRIES. SUMMARY OF REPORT BY INSPECTOR OF QUARRIES FOR THE NORTH ISLAND. (R. H. Sohoen.) The following is my report for the year ending 31st December, 1938, covering quarries and tunnels worked under the Stone Quarries Act, 1910, in the North Island District. The statement attached gives details of the number of quarries worked, men employed, output of various classes of stone, and value of stone at quarries. Quabeies and Tunnels worked and Men employed. Quarries. Three hundred and twenty-three quarries were worked during 1938, showing an increase of thirty-four over the number worked in the previous year, while the number of men employed increased bv 468, from 1,486 in 1937 to 1,954 in 1938. The increase in the number of quarries worked and men employed is probably due to the great activity noticeable throughout the year in roading contracts, particularly in secondary-roading work being carried out by North Auckland counties. Tho large fixed quarries with steady business do not seem to contribute much to variation in the number of men employed. In these cases the quarry itself is generally well organized for production, which can be increased by arranging for a better throughput at the plant. Work on city reserves involving quarrying in Auckland and Wellington has also increased the number of men employed. Tunnels. Wellington City Council.—A commencement was made early in February with a sewer tunnel extending from Drummond Street to Molesworth Street. At the last inspection fifty men were employed at the different faces and in lining work, 3,748 ft. having been driven. The tunnel is timbered when driven, the permanent lining of brick and concrete being put in as each length is completed. Good ventilation is provided by fans, and electric light is used. The work throughout is of a high standard. Birkenhead Borough Council.—A tunnel was driven 700 ft. by the contractor to the borough to provide an outfall at Brasßey Road for the borough's sewerage scheme. The tunnel was driven 3 ft. by 5 ft. in the Clear through sandstone and papa and was timbered throughout. Ventilation by fan. Eight men were employed in tunnelling. Output of Stone. The bulk of the output from quarries in the North Island district is used for roading purposes, and during 1938 continued expansion of this work has caused another large increase in output from the quarries used. The output for road use during 1938 was 1,110,078 tons, an increase of 232,280 tons on the 1937 total of 877,798 tons. Limestone quarried for the manufacture of agricultural lime, with a total of 181,008 tons, showed an increase of 16,519 tons over the 1937 total of 164,489 tons, while limestone for cement increased by 45,944 tons, from 173,174 tons in 1937 to 219,118 tons in 1938. Stone for miscellaneous purposes has been increased by 119,531 tons to a total of 180,263 tons for 1938. Nearly all of this increase can be accounted for by outputs from quarries on city reserves, the material being used largely for filling and reclamation work within the oity boundaries. The total tonnage of stone produced during the year was 1,697,057, valued at £325,952 at the quarry. The 1937 total was 1,298,199 tons, valued at £263,622. Accidents. The following accidents occurred in quarries during 1938 Fatalities. On 26th June, at Hunua Quarry, Papakura, Percival William Piggott, loader, aged twenty-six years, single, was struck by an empty iron truck running down a ramp from the crusher, and was fatally injured. On 29th June, at a quarry operated by the Bay of Islands County Council at Opahi, Henry Graydon Wright, quarryman, married, aged fifty-four years, while charging a hole with gelignite, received fatal injuries due to a premature explosion. On 27th September Frederick Charles Liddy, loader, married, aged forty-seven years, employed at Wellington City Corporation Moa Point Quarry, was struck on the head by a piece of stone from a shot fired 181 ft. away, and was fatally injured. Serious Accidents. On 2nd May Charles Weller, quarry foreman at H. Bray and Co.'s quarry, Bombay, was trucking stone and slipped under the front of a truck, sustaining a fracture of the right leg. On Bth June George Jones, quarryman at McCallum's Karamuramu Island Quarry, Kawakawa Bay, was charging a down hole with lithyte, when a premature explosion occurred. He slipped down face with broken rock. Injuries consisted of burns to face, injuries to eyes, and lacerations on left forearm. On 4th July T. A. Marshall, tunneller, employed at Wellington City Corporation sewer tunnels at Buckle Street north drive, was struck on the neck by precast concrete invert while assisting to put it into position, and .sustained a fracture of the spinous process of one of the neck vertebrae. On 19th July L. Turchi, popperman, employed at Auckland City Council quarry, Mount Eden, had two small bones broken in his right ankle when a stone slid 4 ft. down a heap of broken rock where he was Working. Magisterial Inquiry. A magisterial inquiry, as required by section 11 of the Stone Quarries Act, into the circumstances of the death of Frederick Charles Liddy at Moa Point Quarry, Wellington, was held before Mr. W. F. Stillwell, S.M., on Bth November, 1938. Tho Magistrate's finding was that no negligence in the performance of his obligations had been disclosed by the evidence against the quarry foreman. Prosecution. On 6th December a quarry foreman and contractor was proceeded against on two charges of breaches of explosive rules under the Stone Quarries Act, section 9, and one charge of breach of Regulation 51. He pleaded guilty, and was fined £2 10s., costs 10s.; £1, costs 10s.; convicted, costs £3, on the three charges.

52