C—2

4

£2,815 17s. Id. was expended by way of direct grants and subsidies for roads and tracks. The expenditure on schools of mines amounted to £3,499 9s. lid. SCHOOL OF MINES SCHOLARSHIPS. Seven scholarship candidates sat at the annual Schools of Mines Examinations, held in November and December of last year, for the six scholarships which are offered annually for competition by students attending the schools of mines within the Dominion. Two candidates (one from the Huntly School and one from the Westport School) were successful in gaining scholarships, which are tenable for four years at the University of Otago. MINERS' PENSIONS. Miner's Phthisis Act, 1915. (Now in Pensions Act, 1926.) The benefits under this Act, which were extended by section 36 of the Finance Act, 1929, are administered by the Pensions Department. The definition of " miner's phthisis " has been widened, the requirement of total incapacity relaxed under certain conditions, and provision made for a pension of 10s. weekly for each child under fifteen years of age, subject to'restriction on account of the income of the father. The following is a statement supplied by the Commissioner of Pensions showing the amount and the number of pensions payable, in force, and granted to the 31st March, 1930 : — £ Payments from Ist November, 1915, to 31st March, 1929 394, 348 Payments, 1929-30 .. .. .. .. 51,683 Total payments to 31st March, 1930 .. £446.031 Number of new grants for year 1929-30 .. . . 86 Annual value of new grants .. .. .. £6,533 Number of pensions in force at 31st March, .1930 .. 779 Annual value of pensions in force at 31st March, 1930. . £53,354 Average pension per annum .. .. £68 9s. lOd. Number of pensions granted to 31st March, 1930 .. 1,627 Dissection of pensions in force at 31st March, 1930 :— Unmarried miners .. .. .. 128 Married miners . . . . . . .. 266 Miners' widows . . ■ . . . . . . 385 779 INVESTIGATIONS, NEW ZEALAND COALS. In conjunction with other colliery-owners in the Dominion, the Mines Department has taken its full share in the work of the Coal Research Association, carried out at the Dominion Laboratory. Up to the present this has consisted chiefly of the low-temperature carbonization in a Fischer retort of brown (or sub-bituminous) coals from the Waikato and Southland areas, and of Grey-King assays of other coals. Analyses of samples from new seams at Ohura,' Ohai, Reefton, and from bores in the State coal reserve, have been obtained as required. The Department has for some years past made every effort to encourage the use of New Zealand coals for gasmaking, and to still further this object investigations were made of the yields of gas and coke from a mixture of Liverpool and James coals, also from blends of Dobson with Linton and with Morrisvale (Reefton) coals.