UNKNOWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14730, 12 July 1911, Page 7

UNKNOWN

NEED FOR A .COMMISSION.

:' [BT TELEGRAPH;—OWN ' CORRESPONDENT. r ''i •'"V* -i Waihi, Tuesday. Ixtebviewed to-day on the question of the appointment of a Royal * Commission to inquire into the ventilation an'd sanitation in mines, Mr. H. Poland, M.P. for Ohinemuri, and chairman of the Parliamentary Mines Committee, said : " There is no doubt in my mind as to the necessity for a Commission in New Zealand. We ill know that deaths are occurring almost avery ' week on one field or another from miners' _ complaint or pneumonia, or other long troubles, occasioned" by the conditions ;.; under which the men work. Yet the Under-Secretary of Mines in Wellington, in reply to an inquiry from Dr. Compson, wrote to say that he was pleased to report that miners' disease was practically unknown in New Zealand, and during "the whole time that it was included, in the Workers' Compensation Act no claim for compensation was made Against,the.lnsumnco Departments.. Tho Under-Secretary. should have known the reason for this was because the clause in l the Compensation Act was so worded ] that none of the unfortunates who were afflicted could take advantage of the Act. Anyone: who knows the goldfields knows that:; lung complaints exist to a serious extent, and there is nothing of so much importance as providing for healthy work|ml conditions. If this cannot be done, . ; » is better to close the mines."