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35. How many places have you worked in ?—I have cavilled six or seven quarters. 36. Did you ever know of a mine where every place was good so far as the conditions were con- • (Tiled ?—-No; but I think it is possible to have good air in every place. 37. So that in this respect the Northern is the same as the others in which you have worked ?— No, Ido not agree with that. It seems a peculiar mine to work. 38. You complain of the air ?—No, I have not complained. Whenever I asked for brattice I have always got it. 39. It is too narrow, you said : do not you think it is safer ?—Yes, I agree it is safer. 40. Do you not think the management has made the drive narrow to protect the men from falls ? —I do not know what is the risk from falls. 41. You say it was sometimes fifteen minutes after blasting before you went back ? —The air in good enough after that time, but It is not really good. 42. Do you not think that was a short time ?—No. 43. Do you regard the Northern as safe a mine as any you have worked in during your thirty-six years' experience ?—Yes. 44. You think it would be outrageous to expect the company to provide bath-houses ? —No. 45. In regard to places requiring timbering, do the company's officials have them well repaired ? —Yes, I have not had occasion to complain of that. 46. You think 75° is an excessive heat to work in ? —I do not know anything about the wet or dry bulbs, but where Mr. Wallace was working it was quite warm enough for me. 47. Are there not two air-shafts connected with the surface in that mine ?—Yes. 48. In some well-managed collieries is it not a fact that there are some places where at times you cannot get the best of air conditions ?—Yes, in the beet of collieries that will happen, but not so much as it happens here. 49. Now, in pillar-workings where the temperature is high, would you recommend that work in those hot places be stopped, or that the management be put to great expense to install a new fan: what would you recommend ? —The working of short shifts. 50. Mr. Cochrane,.] If there were another alternative—the bringing of good air from these shafts to the faces—would you prefer that ? —Yes, I would rather work eight hours in good air than four hours in bad air. 51. In regard to judging temperatures, do you know anything about working in saturated air ? —No, I know nothing about bulbs. 52. Then you have been judging the whole facts as an experienced man ?—Yes. 53. The Chairman.'] While you were driving that place in No. 6 section you were working on shift work ? —Yes. 54. Did you use much explosives ?—No, none. 55. You were driving to make a connection to the old shaft ? —We holed a little place there to sink it for the air-current. 56. In driving you were working through the falls and creeps ?—Yes. 57. Do you think it would have been wise to drive a wide place ? —Well, if you have any distance to go, I do not know why you should not take the air with you. 58. Do you think you could have driven a wide place through there with safety ? —Yes, wide enough to take the air in. 59. What do you call a wide place ? —lt depends on the ground. Some places where I have worked have been 6 yards wide. 60. Mr. Parry.] You stated, I think, that a large amount of the face in which you were working was well ventilated ? —Yes. 61. Could you give us an estimate of how many faces had 100 cubic feet circulating at the face ? —Not at the face. Ido not think there were any. 62. Mr. Reed.] Have you ever measured air ? —Yes, with an anemometer. 63. In the new mine ? —No. John Mclntyre sworn and examined. (No. 5.) 1. The Chairman.] What are you, Mr. Mclntyre ?—A miner. 2. How long have you been a miner % —About ten or eleven years. 3. Where did you gain your experience ?—ln Australia and New Zealand. 4. How long in Australia ? —About four years and a half. 5. In what mines % —Corromil, South Bulli, and South Coast. 6. And at what mines in New Zealand ? —Denniston Hill and Northern. 7. What is your complaint ? —The ventilation, the temperature of the mine, sanitation, and changehouses. 8. Mr. Dowgray.] Have you made any complaints : if so, to whom ? —-I have made them on different occasions to the manager and also to the Inspector of Mines, Mr. Boyd Bennie. 9. Were the matters attended to ?—No. 10. t You were working in the mine when the fan was installed ? —Yes, about six months ago. 11. Has it made any difference ?—Only to the sections of the mine near which it is installed. 12. What do you consider the defect as regards the air ? —The current is not properly conducted. The fan, no doubt, is capable of supplying the mine throughout if the air was properly conducted. 13. What would you suggest ?—To put in proper stoppings and systematic bratticing. In the main haulage-road there is a door, certainly, but it is not often shut. 14. Do you consider the return airways sufficiently clear of debris ? —There is a certain amount of dirt stowed on the side, which stops the air to a considerable extent, and the airway is only driven 8 ft. wide.

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