NOXIOUS GASES IN MINE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 21 June 1937, Page 9

NOXIOUS GASES IN MINE

DENNISTON MANAGER FINED

Emphasising the importance of compliance with regulations under the Coal Mines Act, aimed at protecting the health and lives of miners, Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Westport imposed a fine of £4, with an order for costs, on Richard John Wearne, manager of the Coalbrookdale mine, Denniston Colliery, who pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to provide adequate ventilation in the mine to deal with inflammable and noxious gases, so that all shafts, roads, levels, stables, and workings of the mine were in a fit state for working.

The Inspector of Mines (Mr W. Parsonage) said that there had been complaints by the men from time to time about gases in the mine and that when he visited the mine on 12th March, it was necessary to draw the miners out of the working places because of the presence of noxious gases. On 15th March the inspector wrote to the mine manger instructing him to seal off old workings whence the obnoxious gases were issuing, but when he revisited the mine on 17th April, this work had not been »done, nor even commenced. Samples of the air m the mine were taken and sent to Wellington for analysis. They were found to contain 1.33 per cent. o r . carbon dioxide (the maximu mallowed by the Act being 1 per cent.) ;.nd there was also 0.4 per cent of carbon monoxide present. The inspector said that carbon monoxide was a poisonous gas that was readily absorbed by the blood, but given up again only very slowly and that, gas was therefore a cumulative poison. Men breathing air containing even .01 per cent, of carbon monoxide for a few hours might suffer serious consequences.

Mr H. Lovell, for the defendant, said that the mine manager had had considerable trouble with this section of the mine. Since October, 1936, noxious gases had come from the old workings from time to time, but the manager had co-operated to the fullest exte’nt with the check inspectors and the men to deal effectively with the situation. After the complaint by two men in January the manager decided to endeavour to obviate the trouble by reversing the air in the mine. This had made the conditions where the men were working satisfactory, but had unfortunately concentrated the noxious gases at the point where samples were taken. The company had since sealed off the whole area round the old workings and in so doing had abandoned a considerable amount of coal.

On a further charge of failing to notify the Inspector of Mines by telegraph of an acciden* in the mine involving the fracture of a limb, Wearne was convicted and ordered to pay costs, the Magistrate stating that it was only a technical breach.

UNDERVIEWER FINED John McGregor was charged that being the underviewer at Buckley’s Rocklands mine, he failed to remain underground until the day’s work was finished and see that the doors and sheets were closed and that all the men were out of the mine. The defendant pleaded guilty. In a letter forwarded to the Court, the Inspector of Mines (Mr W. Parsonage) gave Evidence that he visited the mine on sth May, and found two men working there, neither of whom held any mining ticket. McGregor hoc! gone to Westport with a load of coal. The inspector said he did not look on this as a serious breach, but the case had been brought to draw the attention of owners of small mines to the need for having a certified man underground. McGregor was convicted and fined £l, and ordered to pay costs.