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The development of this block, left by the previous owners, has extended the life of this minefor two or three years. No. 3 Mine : The level in the top seam has been extended to a point 10 chains from the main dip,. in order to drive a pair of headings to the surface for future haulage and ventilation requirements. The bottom part of the section has been sealed off with concrete stoppings. No. 5 Section -. The bottom level has been extended to a point 23 chains from the main dip in good-quality coal, and No. 2 rise panel when driven approximately 6 chains to the rise in the bottom split of the seam had to be stopped owing to difficulty in keeping the coal clean from stone mixing with it. No. 8 Section : I his has extended to a point 23 chains from the main dip, the coal being of excellent quality. No. 9 Section : The main roadway to the west side has been extended some 12 chains from the dip roadway in coal of excellent quality. The coal in parts of this mine is of a very proud nature, with bursting at the faces and roof-guttering very prominent. The mine development is well planned ahead, and is much in advance of present requirements. Star State Mine (J. Lewis (First Class), Manager).—The output has been obtained solely from pillar work, with three sections operating, the coal in the lower section being of a friable nature and prone to heating, but that in the mid and upper sections is of hard, bright quality. During the year heatings on two occasions were permanently sealed, while on three occasionsminor heatings were dealt with successfully. An electric pump installed at the foot of the main dip was a decided improvement on the former compressed-air unit. Birchwood State Mine (J. Lewis (First Class), Manager).—Development in No. 3 Section continued on the eastern side, where the seam is 17 ft. in thickness, but faulting to the rise has been met. and stone drift has been driven to improve haulage and ventilation. Pillar-extraction has been undertaken in No. 3 Section, with the height of coal 20 ft., and heating,, which was effectively sealed in August, gave only slight interruption to this work. A new Becander electric winch was installed to haul from No. 1 West Dip, and pneumatic drilling at the faces was introduced during the year. Development in No. 1 Section is being constantly hampered by stone bands irregularlv crossing the coal-seam in all directions. Accidents It is pleasing to report that there were no fatal accidents during the year. Serious Non-fatal Accidents On 13th January Norman Smith, a miner, forty-two years of age, married, with four children, received a simple fracture of the left tibia and fibula. Smith was engaged in forming a needle-hole preparatory to erecting a set of timber in a place 6 ft. wide by 4 ft. 8 in. in height, and while in a kneeling position a piece of damp friable sandstone the size of a loaf of bread fell on the back of the calf of his leg, causing the injury. On 28th January Boyd Bennie, a shiftman, aged sixty-three, employed in the Kaitangata Mine, at 4 p.m. received a simple fracture of the left leg adjacent to the ankle. Bennie and mate were engaged in floor-brushing the lay-bye immediately off the dip when a box, 8 cwt., which had been spragged in each set of wheels and with a short rail-stay against the buffers, ran back about 12 ft. on a grade of lin 5, forcing the injured man's leg against the 9 in. step of bottoms. The 12 ft. pair of rails which were being lowered were not dogged at either end, but unfortunately the upper free end was in align - ment with the fixed roadway, and the workmen evidently jarred the joint-sleeper, causing the rail back-stay to become dislodged. On 31st January, at 2.15 p.m., Mark Lancaster, thirty-two years of age, married, with one child, while engaged in removing a drilling plant from No. 1 Tunnel, Kaitangata Mine, had his skull fractured. The plant, approximately 30 cwt., had been loaded on a flat-top trolly, and as the winch was moving away slowly on the temporary rails the trolly went off at the joint and toppled over, jamming the injured man s head against a set of timber. Lancaster had his hand against the trolly and was in a crouching position watching, while one of his mates was giving signals to start slowly, and the trolly had moved only a few feet. The grade was 1 in 5, the main road of rails 40 lb. to the yard, and the section of roadway 8 ft. high by 9 ft. wide and fitted with heavy sets. This is an instance where the use of a hard hat prevented a fatality, for the spur-wheel of the drilling plant dented the rim of the protective helmet, which was caught between the wheel and the heavy leg of the timber, the injured man s head being firmly held by the distorted hat, with the result that the skull was only slightly cracked, the well-splayed leg of the set assisting as the weight from the wheel gradually tightened. ' On 7th March E. B. Andrews, a trucker, thirty-eight years of age, married, with one child, employed in the Slectric Dip No. 2, 'Kaitangata Mine, was injured due to a large lump of coal rolling down the heap of top coal and striking the face-box. The miners had been shooting down top coal for about a week, and completed trimming the roof and commenced filling coal, the heap being approximately

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