43

C.,-2

lintr. Name and Situation o Colliery. 5 Name, Age, and Oooupatloi of Person killed. tion Description of Accident, ami Remarks. 3 duly Kaitangata No. 2 Colliery, Kaitangata Edgar Salzburger (34), mil ler lb' was employed mi oontract driving through conglomerate a place 6ft. wide. The drive was timbered by props and liars only, the last set being about 5 ft. from the face. While preparing a new set a large piece of elaystonc fell from the top side, striking him and severely injuring his back and leg. A month later be was discharged from the hospital, where he had made good progress towards recovery, and such progress continued until the 23rd Ootober, when he contracted the so-called influenza, which was followed by pneumonia, from which he died on the 27th October. 'The doctor attending him considered that the accident four months and a half previously was a contributary cause to his death, and for that reason this case has been included among fatal colliery accidents. in the Waretea section of the mine, with his mate, he was working. They wore standing together near the face of their linnl, when, without warning, a. fall of coal from a slippery joint in the roof occurred, bringing a prop with it, and inflicting injuries from which he died the following day. At this colliery the system of timbering generally em ployed is by props with cap-pieces, the roof being friable coal. The manager has on several occasions been notified by the Inspector of Mines under Regulation 56 (e) that two props and a bar shall lie used systematically instead of a prop and a cap in bords where slippery joints occurred. If this notification bad been observed this accident might possibly have not occurred. With two mates ho had driven a split through a pillar, and 9 ft. props had been set. At the time of the accident they were bringing back in a retreating manner the overhead coal, about 4 ft. thick. A shot had been fired and the coal removed; another shot had been prepared by him in the overhead coal. In the split about 2 ft. back from the lip a 9 ft, by 6 in. prop was set to the roof ; this prop the men decided to leave in when the proposed shot was fired. Deceased had finished charging the hole, and was passing near the prop when, owing to roof-pressure, it sprung out, striking him with force on the head and killing him instantly, it was stated in evidence, at the inquest that the prop was correctly set and that it was not. broken. About 7 cwt. of coal fell with the prop, but it did not strike him. The Coroner's jury added to its verdict of accidental death a rider that in its opinion not more than two men should be employed in one place while working pillar or head coal. As in all the foregoing fatal accidents from falls, in this case also a doubt must be raised as to the adequacy of the roof-support by timber prior to the fall. lie was working with his brother and another miner at the opencast workings stripping the cover from the coal-seam in advance of and above the working coal-face, such, face being about 12 ft. high. At ten minutes to 12 a.m. a fall of coal occurred, and deceased and his brother descended and picked sonic dirt from the fallen coal, which occupied a minute or two, and they were just about to leave for dinner when a piece of coal weighing about a ton fell without warning from between two diagonal joints, a distance of about 9ft., striking deceased but not rendering him unconscious, lie was removed to the Rivcrton Hospital, where he died that evening. In the morning he had been working near the coal which fell, and might have then loosened it. He was an experienced miner. The Coroner's jury returned a verdict of accidental death. Upon inspection of the scene of this accident a month later I observed the coal-scam to contain a series of almost vertical parallel joints, also defined horizontal cleavage, rendering the place dangerous. 12 Aug. Coalbrookdale Colliery, Denniston Drank Mitchell miner (40), I i Oct. Nightcaps Colliery, Nightoaps M i c Ji a e I l'rcndcvillo (42), miner 19 Dec. Moss Bank Colliery, near Nightcaps David McKenzie (42), permit - holder as manager