ABANDONED MINE RE-EQUIPPED

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27861, 9 January 1956, Page 13

ABANDONED MINE RE-EQUIPPED

USE AS UNDERGROUND TRAINING CENTRE

(From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH, January 8. Part of the disused workings of the old James State mine at Rapahoe have been re-equipped to simulate actual working conditions for the training of young recruits to the coalmining industry. Youths from 16 to 18 years of age will be taught their jobs in the underground training centre, which will also be used for practical training by the mines rescue squad. The scheme, which has been operated overseas, is the first of its kind in New Zealand, and has been designed to reduce the mine accident rate, which is thought to be aggravated by the lack of a general working knowledge among many newcomers to the industry. The labour shortage in many State mines has made it impossible for newcomers to receive a full training, and the new school will overcome this deficiency. Administered and financed by the Government, the underground school will put classes of about 10 through courses in all phases of mine work at agreement rates of pay. TJie scheme has not been cheap to introduce, as it required the reassembly of the working equipment in a section of the James mine, which was abandoned when the Strongman State mine was opened nearby before the war.