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Linton Mine.—No. 4 dip section : Early in the year a large downthrow fault, running north-east and southwest, was struck, first in the lowest north level and then in the main dip about 16 chains from the surface. This fault has since cut off many of the northern places, in which the coal was inclined to be soft and friable. The mine is laid out on the " panel " systom, and there are now three sections being worked on the south side and two sections on the north side. The No. 1 south lower workings are near the boundary of the lease. A commencement has been made to work the thick top coal in this section by another set of workings which will be kept immediately over the lower ones. The seam is 40 ft. thick there. It is inclined to be stony in the No 2 south section. A crosscut has been driven to the south-west from off the bottom of the main dip, and it is now in 5 chains. This is the No. 3 south section, and for a while a few places were being "holed" there by a compressed-air percussive coal-cutting machine. This cutter reduced the percentage of slack made from thirty to about seventeen. Owing to lack of power this machine is idle temporarily. Two " Little Tugger" hoists are used underground. Inflammable gas having been reported in this mine, the use of safety-lamps was ordered by the Mines Department, and they were installed in April. In July "Oldham" hand and cap electric safety-lamps were introduced, and have given every satisfaction since. The miners, as well as the truckers, prefer the cap-lamp to the hand one. This mine is now ventilated by a " Robinson" disk ventilating-fan. It is of the axial type, and the air-current can be reversed merely by crossing the driving-belt. It is 7 ft. in diameter, and running at about half-speed is producing 20,000 cubic feet per minute. To prove the throw of the fault, and whether profitable working coal existed north of it, a percussive boring plant, is in use on the surface. The first borehole proved coal over 30 ft. in thickness at 350 ft. from the surface, and from the data thus obtained the fault has been proved to be a downthrow to the north of 160 ft. displacement. The second bore, about 10 chains west of No. 1 hole and also on the north side of the fault, is now being bored. Loads of dry clay are being spread along the trucking-roads to reduce the inflammability of the mine-dust. Main Seam Workings.—Pillaring was continued during the year. The underground fire which had to be sealed off during 1924 has not given any further trouble, being held in check by the substantial brick stoppings, but other sections of pillars further north became heatedjgduring July and November and had to be sealed off also. The output from the Linton Mine, formerly drawn along the valley in the mine-tubs by horses, is now hauled over the narrow-gauge railway (2 ft.) by a light locomotive. Birchwood Mine. —Early in the year a fault, apparently an upthrow, was met in the main dip 13 chains down from the surface. No attempt has been made to drive through this fault, nor to prove, by boring ahead, the amount of the displacement of the fault. Many desultory attempts were made to prove if the main seam was overlying the one now being worked, but without satisfactory results. In the No. 1 west level, about 6 chains down the dip, a reversed fault was met when it was in about 5 chains. After driving through this fault 6 ft. of clean coal was proven, but the coal continued only a few yards before further faulting was met. The level is now standing at what appears to be a large " want." On the east sido all the levels above No 7 have reached the boundary of the lease, where the coal became soft and dirty. The lower east levels are still in good coal. When the Linton Coal Company have done with the percussive drill, which it is now using, the drill will be transferred to Birchwood to prove the area west of the present workings. Ohai Coal Company's Mine. —The present outlook for this mine is not very bright. The main dip struck a large downthrow fault 14 chains from the surface. This fault, running almost due oast and west, cut off practically all the places on the north side of the dip when only a short distance in. In the bottom places on the south side stony coal has come in, and there only remains a very small area of unworked ground near the Morley Stream. An endeavour should be made to prove the land north of the downthrow fault, which may be the one which also cut off the Linton workings, and where 30 ft. of coal was proved on the north side of it. Owing to an ignition of inflammable gas which occurred during September safety-lamps are now used at this mine. Black Lion Mine (formerly Ohai Mine). —This area was prospected a few years ago by boring by the Nightcaps Coal Company, and 457 tons were taken out by them. During the past year drives have been put into the hill, and six miners are now employed there. A substantial bridge across the Morley Stream and a surface tramway 600 ft. in length have been constructed, and a light locomotive hauls the output to the foot of the Mossburn Coal Company's direct haulage-system. Erom there it is hauled up to the railway by the Mossburn Coal Company. The main level was driven almost due north 200 ft., then the coal rose, and 130 ft. north from the end of the level a large fault was met. The east level is in about 2 chains in fairly clean coal. On the west side one place has been driven to the outcrop. This was in coal 7 ft. thick with a band of stone running irregularly across the place. Other west side places are in coal which varies considerably in quality, being sometimes clean and sometimes split up by many stone bands. About 10 chains north-west of the mine-mouth a small shaft was sunk 25 ft. down, and 9 ft. of clean coal proven. Another prospectingshaft is being sunk to the south-west. Coal was met 16 ft. from tho surface, but the thickness of the seam has not yet been ascertained. Bridgehead Mine. —Owing to the accident which happened late in 1924 to one of the mine-owners no work was done in this area during the year. Morley Collieries (Limited). —The last borehole put down by this company proved two seams of coal. The upper one is 40 ft. thick, and was struck at 597 ft. The lower seam, which is 14 ft. thick, was pierced at 949 ft. A pair of drives were laid out about due north of and 50 chains from the No. 1 borehole. These drives will dip about 1 in 4, and will be about 1,600 ft. long when they meet the upper seam. The formation has been made for a surface haulage to connect with the Ohai Railway. An office, storage-shed, and six huts have been built. During April an area south of the Wairio-Nightcaps Railway was bored with hand boring-rods. One hole went down 50 ft., and was lost owing to the hole becoming silted up during the Easter holidays. The second one went down over 60 ft. in papa, and, the results being disappointing, it was stopped. Linwood Mine. —This is an opencast pit near the north bank of the Upokororo Creek and about nine miles from the Te Anau Hotel. The overburden consists of from 10 ft. to 12 ft. of gravel with from 3 ft. to 4 ft. of clay and soft sandstone over the seam, which is from 8 ft. to 9 ft. in thickness The output is conveyed along a rather rough road by a seven-horse team hauling 3 tons. Water is used for stripping, and is obtained from a race about a mile in length. Fatal Accidents. Shag Point Coal-mining Company's Mine. —On the 13th January a trucker named James Cleaver, aged 23 years, was fatally injured by runaway trucks on a short steep jig. He had hung the empty trucks on to the jig-rope and was awaiting the fuli ones being jigged. A miner who was jigging pushed the full trucks over the brow. The rope immediately pulled through the three clamps which formed the rope " capping," thus allowing the full trucks to run away. Cleaver sustained a fracture of the left femur, and was conveyed to the Dunediu Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries two days later. Taratu Mine.—On the 22nd January two miners were working in the winding-shaft at the Taratu Mine. In consequence of a mine-fire it had been decided to fill up this shaft. Gravel had been tipped from the surface, but more had been tipped into the eastern side than into the western. Jordan and McGowan were taking out pieces of the midwall from the western side, and near the bottom of the shaft, to level the gravel across the shaft. After excavating a while a fall occurred in the gravel on the eastern side, and it pushed through the opening they had made in the midwall. They proceeded to make a further excavation when a second fall took place at about 3-40 p.m., this time breaking some of the cage-guides and the traingular " racking," thus releasing some of the higher midwall planks, which fell with the gravel. Jordan and McGowan were buried to a depth of at least 12 ft. Jordan was rescued next morning at 4.20 a.m., practically unhurt, but McGowan was instantly killed by the fall, and his body was not recovered until 3.55 p.m. on the 24th January.