OF INTEREST TO MINERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 226, 22 September 1915, Page 9

OF INTEREST TO MINERS.

UNDERGROUND CONDITIONS. WEEKLY COMPENSATION FOR SICK MEN. j |B; Telegraph—£ar!iameDtarT Repo.ter.) j WELLINGTON. Tuesday. The tabling of mining regulations this afternoun provoked some discussion on j mining conditions and pneumoconiaia, tn which Mr. Poland took a prominent part, j The member fur Ohinemuri protested against the inadequacy of the amount paid j is compensation- when minors died of the complaint, competing the £50 paid in such I canes to the toOO paid under the Worker*' ; Compensation Act in th* ease of death. : He also urged the need for better condt , tion* in mine?, contending that men should not be allowed to work fur more than >i.\ hours a day vvheu the tempera- j tare in a mine exceeded s<) degree*, anil that medical men should be appointed to I see that the mem worked under healthy and proper conditions. Mr. Isitt denounced the policy of n iction ror ro many \ears as an absolute scandal, and appealed to member-, ru — r that something was done to reniedv 'natter*. I Mr. Anderson urged the Government to ' esfablish invalidity pensions, which »uggrUtion was supported by Mr. Poole. while Mr. W. H. Field >he opinion that such pensions should cover ail people crippled through working in any of tile country's industries. "The National Cabinet has a sp'.enjid opportunity of making provision for our { industrial ".oldicrs,' , declared Dr. who added the sil£ge-tion thai a pe'i-iou scheme of the kind mij-ht be liukoi up with the Satior.nl Provident Fund. The Minister of Mines | Hon. Mr Mir Donald) replied that he was sure all the men engaged in the mining indu.tiy '-«-re satisfied that considerable improvement! ! haj been made in the mining r«-pjul.itiOijs. j As to compensation respecting ntiri-r'i j complaint, a bill was brought .;.>»n j this session pro-.iding for compeni-atmn at mi much a »wk, to lie paid out vi the Consolidated Fund. He a«,c.-d that anroc better tystem of medical in.-pei-tiuii v> .t a necessary. Mr. E*<-ott i chairman of the Mine? Committee I said that the committee ! always had in view the welfare of the miners, ami under the present conditions i in the quartz mines it was now hardly I possible for a nun to contract minei'*. disease. I'ntier the new regulation* it ' would not be possible for a man to work i in a temperature of more than SO degree! ' for more than ?ix hours.