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[~G. N. JONES.

34. Do you think the man going oS should wait until the men were changed?— Yes, then the men would certainly feel safer. If anything went wrong Ido not see what chance the men in the cage would have. 35. Is there any other matter which you wish to bring before the Commission?— There is the matter of ventilation. lam of opinion that the air in the mine could be distributed much better than it is at present by a system of doors, or brattice-cloths, or something like that. The doors are better than the brattices. They are half the time open. If they fall down nobody bothers to put them up again. If there were swinging-doors put in to distribute the air it would" be much better. You go down the crosscut of No. 9 level and the air would almost blow your hat off, but that air never reaches the stopes where the men are working. If doors were put up, and the old winzes or passes closed up where stopes are worked out, the air would find its way to the places where the men are working. 36. What is your experience in regard to ladderways, as to their size, and the condition in which they are kept ?—The ladderways where I have worked have been kept in good order. The only difficulty is that they are not large enougrh. In mines where T have been the levels have been every 200 ft.; in the first 100 ft. there should be 4 ft. cribbing. 37. Do you find that throwing steel down the ladderways injures them? —Yes, but they should have proper facilities for sending it down, such as shoots. 38. There are shoots in some of the ways I —Yes, there are; we have them in our place. 39. You think that would keep the ladders in proper condition? —Yes. 40. Mr. Dowgray .] Do you not think that 200 ft. between the levels is too great?— Yes, 100 ft. would be sufficient, both from a safety point of view and that of the laborious nature of the work, especially when the men are sinking or rising. 41. Have you had any experience of these rises or winzes?— Yes. 42. What ventilation method have they? —Compressed air. 43. You told the Chairman that there was little or no system of ventilation in the mine?- — That is so. 44. How does this mine compare with the mines on the other side? —It is the hottest mine I have ever worked in. 45. With proper ventilation the heat could be reduced? —Yes, I think so. 46. Mr. Parry, ,] What would you suggest for a standard temperature?— About 76°. 47. What is your opinion, in regard to the change-houses, as to the amount of space which should be provided for each man? —I believe that the change-houses are on a bad svgtem here. I could give you an illustration of a system they have on a claim I worked in in Kalgoorlie, the Golden Mile, and which would be beneficial to the men if installed here. They have there three different rooms. You go into the first and remove your clean clothes, hang them on a peg suspended from the roof, and then pull them up and fasten the string with a hook. Then you put your clean boots in a rack. You go into another room where your working-clothes are kept. After coming oft shift, if you want a bath, there are stalls with shower-baths and basins with hot and cold water. There are grooves between the basins so that one man's dirty water does not run into his neighbour's basin. You then go into the other room, and get your clean clothing. It is an excellent arrangement. The house is hosed out once a week, when every man has to take all his clothes out for the purpose. Then there is a drying-room in the change-house. There are two men in attendance when shifts are changed, and when you remove your wet clothes they take them away, dry them, and hang them on your peg. 48. To what extent are those baths used? —Nearly every man working there will have a bath at least twice a week. 49. How many baths are provided in proportion to the men?— One to every five men, roughly speaking. 50. Did you make any complaint to the company about the condition of your stope?— I am not sure'whether they complained to the company, but they did to the workmen's inspector. We said it was hot, and we told the shift boss we wanted more air. 51. Were you given to understand that the matter would be attended to?— No. I nivself suggested to Mr. Gilmour that we should have a blast of air sent up there so as we could work with more comfort and under better conditions. 52. What reply did you get?—l did not get any satisfaction at all—only that they would think about it. 53. Do you think a standard height should be fixed for stopes?—Yes. I think that stopes. especially mullock stopes, should not be more than 10 ft. from the solid —about 7 ft. or 8 ft. stopes. 54. Has there been much lost time through sickness in your party since you have been stoping? I have lost time myself, and so have others ; one is in the hospital now. 55. The Chairman.'] From what causes have you lost time? —Through boils and strains, 56. Mr. Parry.] What is that man suffering from now? —Drinking-diabetes, T am told, and nervous breakdown. , 57. Do you think the knocker-line should be used by any man other than the chamberman? N o ; though I have pulled it myself when there was no chamberman there. 58. Does that often occur?—-Very often. 59. Do you think it is dangerous for any other man to use it? —Yes, certainly it is. 60. The Chairman.] Are they allowed to use it indiscriminately?—l could not say, that. . I know we often have to ring the cage away ourselves. 61. How often does that happen?— About six days a week. 62. When men are being pulled up does a different man pull the knocker-line? —No, I have not seen that. Generally the man comes from the top to knock the cage away after the day shift. They may pull one or two cages if he is not down in time,