MINERS' DISEASES.

Evening Star, Issue 13144, 28 December 1908, Page 7

MINERS' DISEASES.

THE EMPLOYERS' POSITION. [Special to the Star.] CHRISTCHURCH, December 28. Seen by a ' Press' reporter, Mr S. L. P. Free, one of the representatives in the Dominion of the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand, Ltd.. the Progress Mines of New Zealand, Ltd., and the Blackwater Mines, Ltd.. made some interesting statements regarding the amendment to the Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act, under which mineowners arc made liable for miners' diseases. Mr Free said that immediately mineowners became aware of these provisions in the new Act. which comes into force on the Ist of January, they realised that another legislative blunder had been committed. Regarding the proposal that the miners should submit themselvtß to a medical examination, he 6aid that the feeling among the miners was not nearly so antagonistic as the statements of some" of their leaders would appear to indicate. When he loft Reefton on Tuesday thirty men had submitted themselves to examination, and it was probable that more would follow their example. It was hoped that when the mines resumed ,on January 4- there would be sufficient men to work them. He understood that if it were not for the fear of offending their leaders more men would have submitted to the medical examination. It was at first supposed, Mr Free continued, that a slight increase in insurance premiums" would get over the increased liability cast on employers. The insurance companies had been approached, and had replied that the matter was being considered. Mr Free had been privately informed that some of the offices did not wish to undertake the risk under any whilst others were prepared to take the risk at ah increased premium, and if a strict medical examination was provided for. Regarding the medical examination, the Hon. J. A. Millar stated in an interview at Wellington that it was considered a hardship by the men, who had been employed by the companies for years, and who were at present suffering from pneumoconiosis, or "miners' conv plaint,' as they would lose their employment, and would be probably unable to get employment elsewhere if it became known that they had been rejected. The Minister had also suggested that as these j men had lost their health in the mines, the mineowners should be more liberal' Mr Free did not think that the conditions existing were fully realised by the Minister, because a great number of the men in the mines were Australians from Ballarat and Bendigo, and the mining population was essentially a shifting one. Many men came over from Australia for the sake of their health, and worked for a year or two in the cooler climate of New Zealand and then returned to Australia; in there were very few permanent emplovees m the mines, and the population "was reaJlv nomadic. Again, it was almost impossible to say where men who were suffering from "miners' complaint" acquired it Mr Free was not able to express an opinion about anthrax. But he was of opinion that pneumoconiosis should not have been included in the list of industrial diseases, because ordinary phthisis was fairly common among miners, and "miners' complaint was a term applied by miners to pulmonary affections, whether bronchitis or phthisis. Mr Free understood that a conference was to be held on Thursdav night at Reefton between delegates from the Miners Federation and representatives of the Miners Union, but he had not heard anything as to the result of it Ihe mines at Reefton owned bv his companies employed about 80 per cent, of the quartz miners on the West Coast