THE SCOURGE OF THE QUARTZ MINER

Grey River Argus, 4 October 1934, Page 5

THE SCOURGE OF THE QUARTZ MINER

HON. MARK FAGAN’S HUMANE BILL TO MAKE THE INDUSTRY RESPONSIBLE For Compensation and Eradication

(Our Parliamentary Reporter). WELLINGTON. October 3. An eloquent plea or behalf of quartz miners who are suffering from miners’ phthisis was made bv Hon. Miark Fagan in the Legislative Council to-day, when >peaki’. g on his Workers’ Compensat on Amemlmen' Bill,, in which ho seeks to include miners’ phthisis as a disease* on which compensation may be paid. The nfeasurc received the general support of the Legislative Council, and b was referred to tho Labour Bi Is' Committee. There -was a suggestion miade by Sir Francis Bel', that miners shouh be subject to a medical examination on entering neiw employment. The suggestion was adopted by Hon. M. Fagan who said ‘hat the mon were wi’lli; g to submit t’o such a proposal. Tn moving the second reading <>f tho Bill, Mr Figan said that, the effect of the measure would be that any miners, on becoming totallv incapacitated by miners’ phth sis. wou'd be deemed to have mot with on accident, and 'would receive compensation under the Workers’ Compensation Art. Tn introducing the measure, he had a twofo d purpose, although tho Bill referred to compensiation only—which, after all. was a bare justice that had ber n do- ed to the miner ever sinca the Workers’ Compensation Art had mine int" force in 1908; and from then un'il 1916 although this had boon an a f '- cident all the time, be had receiv'd

rn compensation or* pension what over; and for those o ght vears l*e hnd to depend on tho -h-.ri'v <»! hi* mates. In the year 1916 Gio Miners' Phthisis Art had come in'o to’’"'' and since then, tho miner has received •» small pension. Tho second ard most imnertunt purpose for introducing the B ! sj”'’ Mr Fagan, was that if »1 became lav i* would fix the responsibility on the industry, and that responsibility would prove tr. bo the handmaiden of the reform ami of the research that was requ r ed in order that this disease should l;e eliminated ami stamped 0,, l the present moment, there was no one responsible. The miner became totally inraplacijt'ated, and, i:<idon‘ti'ly, the examination at the rnomcni vas very strict in Nev. Zea’and. H was by means of the X-ray. and bo fore a miner could receive a State pension, he had to prove to a Medi cat Board, under an X-ray examina tion, that ho was totallv incapacitated from further work. If one placed the rosnonsib'litv on the indus try, then the industry iwov.ld see ‘/hat Mteps were that would oliminiate this dread disease. and would so remove tho blot and th“ stigma that now rested on «he g »’d mining industry —that was, on the quartz section of it.

COMPENSATION TO BE INVESTED Secondly, he said, the amendment proposed did not contemp’ate the repeal, or any amendment of the present Miners’ Phthisis law. If this amendment became law. land a miner because totallv incapacitated by this disease, became entitled to the that o»‘her workers were entitled to under the Workers’ Compensation Act,, h’s suggestion would be that this sum should not be paid out in a lump sum. An arrangement could be made that when £lOOO was paid, the Pensions Department could take possession of it, invest it at interest and. as they did iu Western Australia. pay out to the man the basc wage in the distric* in which he had been employed when overtaken by the disease, and, when that £lOOO had been exhausted, if still alive, the miner could receive tho pension The £lOOO. invested at interest and paid out as a basic wage, would last for six years, and if he were then .alive he could come under the Miners’ Phthisis Act. while, if he died before the six years were up. his wife and children, if there were any children under sixteen vears <d age you’d become a charge on the Miners’ Phthisis Pension Fund Therefore, there was no intention whatever of interfering in any way vit.h the present Miners’ plChis-s Pensions .Act. Persons who had not looked into the question thoroughly, would say offhanded that this should not be a charge upon the State, but upon the geld mining industry, and that gold should be taxed sufficiently to pav the miner adequate compensation for this disease; but. obviously. that would be unfair, because, after all a.l'uvial gold mining ::nd gold dredging in Central Otago. On the West Coasl, and in other parts of New Zealand had no connection whatever w th the amendment proposed he no I seeing ’hat minors’ phthisis was not I contracted in any other section of the gold mining indust "v ’han in deep quartz mining. Thereto'C i won't] not be just tc» tax the alluv’al mines and Ilio dredges for the* shortcomings of the gold quartz mining ii dustry. ‘‘Now. coming to the Bill, there is no occasion unnecessarily to argue as to v.’ho/her pneumoconiosis is *in accident,” sa’d Mr Fagan. ”T think the nreppted legal Jdefirition is that before a person can receive compensation under the Workers’ Compnnsation Act, he has to prove that ho i has met with injury or accident aris-

ing -out of and in the course of his emp’oyment; and since miners’ phthisis is contracted by inhalation, whilst at .work of sharp, line cutting particles of quartz, reduced in size so tha?. the naked eye cannot sll* them, surely no one would argue in any Court of law that the miner has not received injury arising 'on* of, and in the* course of his ' .nploy ment. A man’s lungs are destroyed because of those minute particles of quartz are being inhaled. AV hough the man has been slower in sustaining the accident than if he lost ■‘he use of an eye or a eg in a vi'olent accident, still it is plain that he has sustained an accident vhils? following his employment. Ii deed. the most certain accident of all in connection with quartz mining is this industrial accident. A man might, /work iu a mine for years ami not receive a violent accident, but the point which T make is that, once he enters a quartz mine ami stays there long enough—three years five years, or ton years, according to his stamina and suitability for the work —just us sure as sun rises he* wi-1 sustain this terr b e industrial accident! New Zealand is the last of twelve mining countries i'n the world not 'to <]o so. Conversely, although last to day. New Zealand was really the first country io recognise th s disease, because in 1908 the Ward Government ’he justice of making it an accident. Late in 19BS il‘ was added to the Workers Compensation law in New Zea’and. as I Jim attempting to do l.y this Bll: end provision was made, for th'* med iral examination of the miner—naturally, because the miner could not have it both ways. Unfortunately the Bi’ll was loosely drawn in respect to that medical oxanunation. 'Pho Legislation wins to come into force n-i Ist January, 1909. The employers. naturally- were hostile to that legislation and they

took full advantage of the loose drafting of tho Section providing tor the medical examination. By that, I mean tha? they posted notices at the mines that, before any niau could obtain employment at the beginning 'of that year, ho would have to submit hinise’f for medical ox- ininat on. Haj the law provided tor that medical examination to bp a fair one and made by an independent tribunal or Med’cal Board, that wou’d have been all right; but it was loosely worded, anq ?ho employers took toll 'advantage of tho wording by i'rsisting that the medical ox-, amination wa* 1o be of a genera.’ nature. There were instonepq of companies’ medical officers emmning n en from the foot to the top of the head, and finding perhaps, a laulty ki ee joint, or a weak arm or a w<*akr.ess in some o 4 h<‘r part of tho body, nn ( | the medical officer in his report

•would not speak nbou-t pneumononiosis, but • ‘would mention that tho man had a weak arm or a weak leg; and the man would be required to contract out ot the Workers’ Compensation Act in rcspoeZ of that weakness. Nalurallv. the workers were up in arms, and on January 2,1909, there was a strike of three Iweeks against this form of medical examination. Confronted with this position, the Government of Sir Joseph Ward repealed the leg slat ion and you will find a Section in the Mining Act making the mining companies liable to the extent of £5O if they insisted upon the modcal cxaminati'On of miners before they could obtain employment. Tha/ iepeal

cost this country something like £700,000 in mofiev, and it also cost it lives of hundreds of young men. Had that legslation been amended—had the examination been made a fair one—undoubtedly, by this time, we would hav. e.i'minated this scourge; because preventative steps would have been taken by the companies in view of the rtsponsib litv placed upon them tnit would have disposed of it altogether. It i« very uTifortuuate that that legislation (was repealed then. For eight velars, nothing was dore. In 1916 the Massey Government brought down the Miners’ Phthisis Act. and the payments to incapacitated men have gradually been increased to the present figure of 32s 6d in +he case of married men, and to 22s 6d in the ease of single men. To me. the disheartening feature of the present method of handling this m'itter ’ u that this dread disease or industrial accident is not being chocked. Wo Iwvo certainly 'taken some stops, but i ! r is disappointing, to me in particular because T have spent what should have been the most useful years ot my life in trying to formulate preventative measures, and** agitate for them which would have eliminated the disease; and. at the end of all the.-e vears T am disappointed at the progress made. The Mines Statement tor this veiar gives a summary of what has occurred in connection nith the Miners’ Phthisis Act The alarming statement ■s made there that now pensions have been granted in the pas, 4 year to the number of seventy. Of the sc ventv. there were sr* men and 15 widows, and the fact that 15 vidows were granted pensi'ons under I he pneumoconiosis provisions indicator that 15 men died of disease within

the year. But the most alarming point is that 55 men have been grantee. miners’ pensions under the most strict legislation or more than one per Week. 1 think that ia a severe indictment of the industry—more severe when one realises that there are not 1000 men engaged underground in metalliferous mining in New Zealand to-day. When one realises that, out of less than 1000 men, 55 have become totally incapacitated within the year, it is evident that something should be done. L want to be fair, and to say that, the Mines Department has done everything it considered to be possible. Indeed, the measures it has taken are in advance of those taken by many other mining countries in the world. I was one who thought, at one time, that the use of the water-liner-drill and the water-spray would be the means of eliminating the disease; but, after all these years, we find that the scourge still prevails. I do not say that the use of water precautions should be abolished. I think these are still necessary, but something more is required in the way of preventive measures, before we can stamp out the scourge. T think that this problem has received more attention in South Africa than in any other mining country. That country has the biggest field, and, because of the nature of the mining conditions and mineral dust that prevail in the mines, more deaths occur than in any other part of the world. The industry was made responsible very parly for this disease. It is costing the industry £1,000,000 a year at the present time in compensation. Since the industry was made responsible in South Africa, it has cost it over £13,000,000 in compensation. Arising from incapacitation of men in New Zealand, we have probably

lost 2000 lives through this industrial accident, and some of the finest young men who ever took part in that class of work have died young, because of the disease. Yet here we are at the end of 1934, and we do not know what has been the actual causation of this industrial accident. As far as New Zealand is concerned, I submit that, in view of the fact that we have lost fifty-five 'workers during the past year, it is full time that we found out in New Zealand, by research work, what is the actual cause of miners’ phthisis in this country. We do not know at the moment, and I feel certain that we never will know until we place the responsibility where it belongs—on the industry in which the men are engaged. I am now satisfied that if similar legislation were carried here—if the basic wage was paid to the miners suffering from the disease, and if a compulsory examination were made for chest complaint only—the employers would receive the hearty co-operation of the miners in an attempt to stamp out the disease; and, as sure as night follows day, if the onus is placed on tho industry, steps will be taken that will eliminate the disease

in five years. It is . preventible, if proper methods are adopted. If this amendment becomes law, I am certain this disease can be stamped out, and that in the course of those years many lives would be saved, much physical suffering would be avoided, and the Pensions Department also would be saved much of the expense incurred under this heading to-day. I realise that such a measure, coming from a private member, has not a very great chance of g( tting very far. Indeed, this is such a far-reaching measure, and it affects so many interests, that T am satisfied that evidence would need to be called, and the Government would need pretty extensive investigations as to what has happened in other countries, and what would happen here, before it would bring down legislation on these lines; but I am certain that the more light there is thrown on the subject, the sooner we will get to the day when such legislation will be passed.”