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In No. I Dip Section the seam thinned, and pillaring commenced in May, with good extraction from the low seam. No. 2 Dip Section : The seam also thinned rapidly in the lower section of this dip, and pillar work on similar lines to No. 1 Dip commenced in January of this year, the seam at present being 6 ft. to 7 ft. in thickness, of good coal. No. 3 Rise Section : Development work has been porceeded with and eighteen pillars now formed. A rise to No. 1 West top workings is being driven, and this will furnish a second return air-course ami permit an ascensional ventilating system to be adopted. Fatal Accidents Three fatal accidents occurred during the year. On 9th April about midday, John Hodson, married, and fifty-seven years of age, manager of Shepherds' Creek Mine at Bannockburn, was seriously injured by a piece of coal from roof and rib of a small drive. Hodson was in Cromwell Hospital until the 19th, when complications developed, when he was conveyed to Dunedin Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the following evening at 8 p.m. Hodson's injuries consisted of nine fractured ribs. On Tuesday, 4th May, at approximately 3.30 p.m., John Mclnerney, a miner, single and twentyeight years of age, was killed by a fall of coal in the Wairaki No. 1 Mine. Deceased was working single, within a chain of his brother, the place being a top-coal one of a total height of 11 ft., the lift of top coal being 4 ft., and while trimming the lip by pick from inside he was evidently knocked down, and was struck on the head by a lump of coal approximately 3 cwt. and killed instantly. On Thursday, 30th September, at 10.30 a.m., John Johnstone, a single man twenty-two years of age, a miner, was killed by a fall of coal in the Star Mine. Deceased and mate had just returned to the place following " smoke-oh," and, as all coal had been filed away, intended to lift the short rails at the side of the jig prop, and had just stepped between the rails to lift them when a lump of coal approximately 10 cwt. fell from the lip and killed him instantly. The lump broke off immediately behind the jig prop and sprung the sprag-prop, which had been set to the lip. The place was only 6 ft. high with the top coal face 20 ft. to 25 ft. of very strong coal, and the fatality occurred just inside the low lip. Serious Non-fatal Accidents On 25th April William Hodson, manager of Cairnmuir Mine, Bannockburn, while installing a pump had his right leg fractured (simple) when a piece of coal he was pulling down fell back on him after striking the floor. On 12th June at 11 a.m., Leslie Allan Cruickshanks, married, with three children, a miner employed at Boghead Mine, Mataura, received severe burns to the back of the hands and arms, in an attempt to protect his face, when sparks from a lamp lit a small quantity of loose powder. Blasting-powder in cartridges is used, and the injured man was knocking off for the day when the acetylene lamp on his head bumped the rib and sparks entered the powder canister which he was preparing to take out, igniting some loose grains of powder or a small cartridge. On 28th June R. Moore, a miner employed in the Star Mine, while walking over a bench of coal, slipped and sustained a fracture of the left fibula. On 2nd July a miner, G. McDonald, employed in the Kaitangata Mine was struck on the back by a small piece of coal while filling a box and x-ray later revealed a fracture of the transverse process of the third lumbar vertebra. On 21st July Herbert Wilson, single, age thirty-five years, while filling coal into a lorry at Ota Creek Opencast Pit, Wyndham, was struck on the thigh by the end of a long lump of lignite which topped over, receiving a simple fracture of the femur just above the knee. Later complications developed and the leg had to be amputated owing to gangrene of the foot. On sth August M. D. Grant, while handling a carryall tire at the Wangaloa State Opencast, slipped and fell, striking his right ankle. An x-ray later revealed a fracture of a small bone in the ankle. On 4th November at 2.30 p.m., Walter Wild, sixty years of age, a miner employed in the No. 1 Linton Mine, suffered a fracture of the pelvis. The accident occured on a narrow section of the main haulage road, and Wild was found lying at the side of the road. The accident is of a suspicious nature, as the injured man should have travelled by the customary travelling road, and the answers to my inquiries were evasive. Dangerous Occurrences Mossbank Mine. —Heatings were reported on 26th April in area to the east of Aylwards Dip, and also on the 24th September in the dip workings, No. 2 Section, and on 15th March of this year in Aylwards Dip, all of which have been successfully sealed off. Star Mine. —Heatings were reported on two occasions and the goaf was effectively sealed off. On 27th August a heating was reported in the goaf in the Middle Section, and on 27th November the manager reported a heating in the goaf, Magee's Dip Section.

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