17

C.—2

VI. STONE-QUARRY INSPECTION AND STATISTICS. By section 2 of the Stone-quarries Amendment Act, 1920, the application of the Act was extended to include every place, not being a mine, in which persons work in quarrying stone and any part of which has a face more than 15 ft. deep, and also in any tunnel in the construction of which explosives are used. The Act, however, does not apply to any Government operations, or any road or railway cutting, or excavations for buildings. The following is a table showing the number of quarries under the Stone-quarries Act, also the number of persons ordinarily employed thereat, and the annual output and value of crude stone during 1928 : —

There were 180 fewer men employed than during the previous year, and a reduction in the value of the stone produced of £108,479. Quakry Accidents. The following is a summary of serious accidents during 1928 at quarries under the Stone-quarries Act: —

Accounts of the fatal accident and of the serious non-fatal accidents are given in the District Inspectors' reports attached hereto,

VII. STATE AID TO MINING. (1) Subsidized Prospecting. Upon subsidized prospecting operations 113 persons were intermittently employed during the year. The following is a statement showing the results of prospecting operations as reported by the Inspectors of Mines : —

3—C. 2.

a Js d Output of Stone. ■g-ta O £ gM go i : b § Si § I d . «* <*3 «* £ Provincial Name and Address of "* g o> §'§ | || »» ® £6 «• ; £ District. Government Inspector of £ o>, g g| go *| g s Stone-quarries. © C * os g £ © « o* sE s§ Mi »s »| »s a! | u fl-g •S3 §S !» a & a§§ Sa 1 g |5 J 8 g J* ia ,i?«s ES$ *<i | | £ «3 W3 PS wl 1-1 ■ ►> Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons, j Tons. Tons. Tons. £ Auckland .. James Newton, Mines 166 1,073 480,325109,800 .. 26,449 226,037 .. 46,405 202,216 Dept., Auckland J. F. Downey, Mines 15 103 72,316 .. 774 .. .. .. .. 26,380 Dept., Waihi (Hauraki Mining District only) Hawke's Bay James Newton, Mines 16 74 24,449 10,236 .. 17,000 .. .. .. 9,571 Dept., Auckland Taranaki .. Ditto .. .. 22 96 27,711 7,583 .. 3,260 .. .. .. 14,752 Wellington „ .. ..44 215 i 127,314 1,095 .. 10,000 700 .. 28,000 48,781 Canterbury B. J. Scoble, Mines 12 104 107,990 1,143 .. 4,056 .. .. .. 38,721 Dept., Reefton Nelson ) Westland Ditto .. .. 11 162 8,353 18,586 440 2,631 40,485 .. 16,118 17,666 Marlborough) Otago \ A. Whitley, Mines 33 334 130,283 30,200 6,840 119,553 43,560 .. .. 103,803 Southland J Dept., Dunedin .. Totals, 1928 .. 319 2,161 978,741 178,643 8,054 182,949 310,782 .. 90,523 461,890 Totals, 1927 .. 300 2,341 1,145,974 325,789 26,264 144,073 372,475 .. 166,020 570,369

I Number of Accidents. j Number of Sufferers. Fatal. Serious. | Killed. ®njurrf y . Haulage .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. I .. 1 Machinery .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. i Explosives .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 .. 1 Palls of ground .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 .. 1 Miscellaneous .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5 .. 5 I Totals .. .. .... .. 1 7 1 7