Our Coal Mines.

Otago Witness, Issue 1583, 25 March 1882, Page 22

Our Coa l Mines.

A TRIP TO THE NORTH.

By Vagor

Springfield— Continued.

The safety -lamps should only be used to show the nature and extent of the danger, and the danger must then be removed, and this can only be done by attending to the strength and purity of the air-currents ; if that be done there is very little risk of explosions, very little anywhere, and in New Zealand, at present, and for many years to coinej hone at all. Possibly some will wonder if such is the case, why there ! are so many explosions in Britain, where, after j an ! explosion, it has nearly always been shown that up to the moment of its occurrence a large current of air was going round the workings. That, l grant. In these cases it' was not the! strength of the' air-current, it was the purity that was at fault ; and that this is so, may easily be accounted 1 for. In the most fiery col.lieries the coal lies at an immense depth, and th^re is' consequently a large outlay required ere it can be reached ; as a consequence the endeavour is to work as large an extent of coal ardund'-the shaft as' possible, and that is in my; opinion, the chief cause of all the more serious explosions, because the workings become so very extensive that it is impossible to supply a sufficiently pure qurrent with only two shafts, the minimum allowed' by the Mines Regulation Act, because from the moment the air enters the downcast it begins to deteriorate in purity, and during every yard of its passage through the mine it becomes more impure, for in every yard there is a small quantity of gas being added to it ; so that ere it reaches the upcast it wouldbe dangerous to go into even the main airway with a naked light, although the current an hour. If it is so in the main airway, it will certainly be far worse in the more . distant parts of the mine, where the miners are opening up fresh coal, and where it is not likely that the whole of the air current will be taken. Then there is the goaf, or old workings, where the coal has been taken out ; and that cannot be kept clear of gas, because the major portion of the air is required to pass around the workings going on, so as to allow of work proceeding ; consequently the goaf gets filled with gas, unless there be a separate current provided to ventilate the whole of the old workings, when, of course, this part would be as sate as any other part of the workings. It is the oldabandoned workings in a 'fiery' mm^ which usually cause most apprehension, and which are indeed the most dangerous, from the difficulty of ventilating them. It is no unusual thing for a number of men to be employed in large mines, watching the gas in the old work, so that no sudden outburst should take them by surprise. The remedy in cases where the workings were extensive would be to have more shafts, so that the air currents would have short circuits, and so be kept moderately pure — perfectly pure they cannot be. With us in New Zealand there is no such extensive mines as at Home, consequently there are no such dangers ; and the fact that the seams of coal now working give off no fire, or only a very small quantity, renders the danger from explosions very slight, always provided that the manager in charge is moderately capable. And it is to the managers we must trust principally, it seems, because, though we may pass very stringent Acts, they are of little service unless they are efficiently carried out. The carrying out of any act must always be chiefly dependent on the inspectors, and inspectors are only human, and very often not very perfect specimens of the genus. Wo have a fairly-good Mining Act, and a considerable staff of inspectors to see that it is carried out in on efficient manner. And what is the result ? We have had a disastrous explosion, one or two minor explosions, and a whole pit so very badly ventilated that men often became insensible— struck down by thedeadlydamp. I refer, in the first instance, to Kaitangata. Everybody remembers the fatal explosion there a few years ago. In this instance tho mine had been visited a few weeks before the occurrence by tho Inspector, and found to bo in a dangerous state. The extent of the danger he did not know, because he did not make a thorough examination. Unfortunately, he had no power to enforce the observance of tho Act ; at least, so he &aid, but he had power, or took tho liberty, of writing very strongly on the subject to the Colonial Secretary. However, ho allowed a week to go past before he wrote his letter, and four days more before it was forwarded, a fact entirely inexcusable under the circumstances, seeing' that he considered the clangor so probbing. If tho danger was so very pressing why not take steps to got il removed at once, instead of delaying ;v week ? However, going further into this matter will _ aoryo up useful

purpose. The other case I refer to is Shag Point. Every reader of the papers will remember the outcry about the bad state of the ventilation there about 18 months ago. Here also the Inspector declared he had not sufficient power to compel the observance of the Act, but correspondence in the newspapers exposed the fallacy of this statement. Coming nearer, only a few months ago the Inspector visited a mine not a thousand miles from Dunedin, and at that time there were several men at work in places where a light would only just burn, and some of which places were stopped a few days after till an air-way had been driven. In common with several others, I await the publication of the report of that visit with some degree of interest, curious to know now far the terror induced by the scare of the great explosion has left his mind. In justice to the manager of the colliery #in question, it is but fair to state that the mine is at present, if not the best, certainly one of the best ventilated mines in the colony. But the fact that it could become, even for a short time, so bad, only proves the truth of what 1 say, that it is on our managers chiefly; that we must depend for the prevention of accidents in our mines; and that the Inspectors, be they ever so good, are only adjuncts. Probably! shall deal with this matter more fully in another article, meantime I shall mention two or three particulars wherein the present Act requires amending. The Inspectors require more power, to enable them to enforce the provisions of the Act, There should be a clause providing that the manager of every coal-mme shall have passed a duly qualified Board of Examiners, and received a certificate of competency, ere he be allowed to take charge. There is another mattter which every manager feels as a grievance; at present when the Inspector visits a mine, whatever he may be inclined to report, there is no whisper of it till the general report is laid before the House, except there be something he wishes to have done. Now, every manager considers that within a reasonable time after the inspection he should be supplied with'a copy of the report the Inspector may design furnishing to the head of the department, because, as the report is not issued till the end of the year, and as the Inspector does 'not inform ony one, unless he thinks fit, of what he means to report, he can, if he please, alter his report to suit the circumstances that may arise between the date of 'inspection and the issuing of the report. But to return to our muttons; for I have travelled a long way from my subject. It will now be well, perhaps, to say a few words concerning the prospects of this colliery.' Anyone going round the works cannot fail to see that a very large amount has been expended in the endeavour to make the concern a paying one, an# if the visitor be a miner, and happens to know a little of the old mine, he will see at a glance that a large amount has been foolishly spent, and that the success has been very limited, Most of the ill-fortune of the colliery is to be attributed to the succession of incapable managers it has been cursed with. Even the merest tyro in mining will see that many sad mistakes have been made. The shaft is a great blunder. Situated where it is, there never can be any extensive workings in it, _ because there are only a few chains to the rise to be worked, and these few chains are broken by several faults, thus making the difficulty greater. The shaft should undoubtedly have been placed ever so much" farther to the dip, so as 'to allow room for .extensive workings ; besides, it is well known that a seam of coal improves as it gets away # from the crop, and gets into solid ground— this is a rule I have rarely kriown to fail.

The making of a new branch railway to the shaft was another blunder ; because there was already a line of rails laid up to the old mine on the other side of the hill, where the brick and pipe-making establishment is, and it only required to be carried a short distance round the hill to reach the Bhaft ; true, there would have been a large cutting required, and I suppose this frightened the management. However, it is a pity the new branch should have been made, because everything required toibe taken from the pit to the brick-yard, and mceversa, has to go round by the railway station, arid costs Is 9d per ton, a very large item in the! course of a year ; because all the clay required must come from the shaft, it being found under the lower coal seam. This is a splendid seam of fire-clay, the best I have seen in New Zealand. It is about six feet thick, very pure, and as'it extends over all the ground opened up by the coal workings, it must prove of very great value to the Company. Many other mistakes have been made, large and small, so that there has been a large sum spent for which no return will ever' be obtained. The manager at present in charge seems to be a competent miner, one who understands his business well, and who has made a name for himself in mining circles ; so that, if it be possible, the colliery will be placed upon a satisfacory basis, and future operations will be carried on in a manner that will make the loss as light ■ as possible, for the colliery can enly be carried on at a loss for some time. He may succeed in making it a paying concern, but his task is a hard one. First, a shaft mudt be sunk away to the dip ; and even then, unless the seam keeps true to present appearances, and improves as it dips, or unless a new seam is discovered, it never will be a large dividend-paying concern ; the expenses will also be too heavy.

Mr Moody (the manager) seems to believe in the contract system, as every little job which can be done in that way, is put up for t nder, and doubtless he finds it cheapest, much work being done for less than it would 'cost by day work. Even the pit-head work, such as loading the railway waggons, emptying the little hutches which come up the pit filled with coal, stone, &c, is performed by contract. On the whole, judging by the appearance of the work, and the statements of the men we spoke with, he seems to be a capable, energetic manager. True, there are a few things amiss in the mine, such as the dirty roads and the weak ventilation' l have mentioned, but these are partly the faults of the system he found on taking charge. But 'Rome was not built in a day,' neither can everything in a mine be set right all at once after it has onco got out of order. I have no doubt but as tho work progresses everything will bo set right as far as may be. The Company has a largo freehold estate to work upon, no less than 1700 acres, and the coal seams seem to run through a considerable part of it. Some hundreds of acres of the estate are situated in what is called Russell's Flat, a large extent of level land, and through all this plain, I am pretty nearly certain that many seams of coal run ; certainly the appearances warrant such an assumption. The different proprietors on this flat should combine, and procure a diamond drill. I have not the slightest doubt it would be the most profitable investment thoy ever made, because everything points to the supposition that there are valuable seams of coal lying underneath the lower seam in the Springfield Company's shaft, and even if that seam ' only ' holds good and improves, every farm and indeed every piece of land in the district will command a largo price. So deeply am I impressed with the idea that what 1 state is true, that, kul I money to invest in mining ventures, T certainly should iuvosfc it hore, and my companion ox-

pressed the same opinion ; bat Fortune, the capricious jade, has not been lavish in her gifts, so we will have to hope that more fortunate ones will try to develop the hidden treasures locked up here. Having made as complete an examination as it was possible for us to do, and as we purposed visiting some of the other collieries along the range — for coal crops out here and there all along the range for many miles, we shook hands with the courteous Mr Vale and the kindly Mr Moore, and wended our way to the station, but arrived there only in time to see the train leaving, and as we found it beyond our power to obtain a conveyance, we were perforce compelled to stay over the night, very much to our chagrin. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and wo found it was not altogether a misfortune that we had missed the train,, because we heard that, owing to some races to be held next day, we would have been unable to examine any of the other colleries, as all hands, in all likelihood, wotdd have been away. Besides, in strolling about the township, we entered into conversation with several of the miners, some of whom we had known for a long time, and so learned much more about the' colliery than we otherwise would have done. We found that here the men are really paid by the ton, the hutches being weighed as they come to the surface, and the weight of coal'in each one set down to the credit of the- man who filled it, thus securing that the men are paid the regulation price • for all the coal they get. Another veiy good plan in use here is the system of balloting for the working places at regular intervals. • In this matter the modus operandi is thus ; every working place in the pit is numbered, and slips containing the numbers are placed in a Box. Each miner now draws one of these' tickets, and whatever number is on it, the place corresponding to it is the place he works in till the' next ballot or ' cavall,' as it is called. By this means the manager avoids the risk of being called unfair, or of being accused of having favourites, to whom the best places are given, and as the price per ton is fixed, each miner has the same chance of a good board or a bad one, thus all grumbling on that score is prevented. We also learned that, while the men work every day, the daily wage earned is lower than in many collieries in the country. Still steady > work is a great advantage, even althougn the rate be less per day, and will always attract steady men. One other thing wa became certain of, and that is that while the system of management seems to be very efficient, it is also rather costly, considering the number of men employed and the extent of the works ; indeed, several persons told us that all the coals sent out will barely suffice to pay salaries, leaving all, the other expenses of the colliery to be defrayed from the capital of the shareholders. This may not be correct, but certainly on the day of our visit the output was very small, only amounting to some two or three trucks ;• but, 'of course, there were a good few of the men not at work, which may to • some extent ' account for the very small output. This is certainly not a satisfactory state of affairs, but it is most likely that there will be a great im-, provement very soon,, as the colliery is opened out } and it is to be hoped that it will not be long, because it is not a pleasant thing to see mdney being spent in any useful industry without any return being^ received for it. It is to expensive and inefficient management that the non-success of many collieries is to be chiefly ascribed. In the Home collieries, where the output often runs up to upwards of 1000 tons a day, where there are large numbers of men employed, and where the dangers are great and niunerous, it is imperatively required that the superintending staff be thoroughly efficient, 1 both in number and ability. But in our collieries, where there are comparatively few men employed, and where in no instance has the, output exceeded 200 tons a day, it does seem ridiculous that there should be any large managing stiff required. There is not one colliery in the colony that can afford any but a very moderate sum for expenses of management ; but as thoroughly competent mine managers are not very numerous in New Zealand, it is not wonderful that they command high salaries. Ability must be paid for, and it seems as if the Springfield Company has secured an able manager at last. Let us hope that the return may be commensurate with the expenditure. We learned many other interesting particulars, and, on the whole, spent as pleasant an evening as could, be expected under the circumstances.

[To he continued,)