C.— 2.

way required to connect the coal-seams to the wharf on the river-bank. The vagaries of the Mokau River are well known, and specially designed steamers will be required to ship the coal if the venture is to be successful. Paparata Goal-mine (Crown Lease; Taranaki Coal Co., Ltd., Owners).—A small output was got from the 3 ft. shallow seam. No prospecting was done during the year. The total output to the 31st December, 1931, was 2,063 tons. Egmont Colliery, Tangarakau (Crown Lease; Egmont Collieries, Ltd., Owners). —An output of 26,557 tons of brown coal was produced from the thin seam (3 ft.) by results obtained from two coal-cutting machines. The long wall system of mining has been employed, with satisfactory results, in extracting the 70 ft. pillars formed in the first working. The machine holes out the shale band occurring at the bottom of the 3 ft. portion of clean coal. The cuttings are stowed in the goaf, which, together with other impurities separated from the coal-seam, forms a pack for roof-settlement. The props are drawn off by a winch rope attached to the machine. The system is conducive to good ventilation and safe conditions for the workmen. In the north side a converging fault is cutting off the places, and proving troublesome in maintaining a sufficient number of places for machine mining. Total output to the 31st December, 1931, was 42,854 tons. Oilberd's Colliery (Coal-prospecting License, Tatu). —An outcrop of 5 ft. of coal was followed into the hillside to a fault not yet pierced. It would appear that the seam lies to the dip of the prospecting-drive, and machinery will be required for drainage and haulage purposes. Total production to 31st December, 1931, was 336 tons. Rangitoto Colliery (Native Lease, Tahia). —A 6 ft. seam has been followed from the outcrop, and several places in the rising seam are capable of meeting the local need for domestic coal. Total production to 31st December, 1931, was 805 tons. Fatal Accident. On the Ist October Alexander Johnston, miner, Pukemiro Colliery, was fatally injured as the result of an accident whilst engaged in carrying an unused prop out of a working-place. With his mate the deceased was carrying the prop on his shoulder when a standing prop, dislodged by weight, fell and struck the one they were carrying. The Coroner returned the following verdict: "That Alexander Johnston died on the sth October, at Braemer Hospital, Hamilton, as a result of a fracture of the base of the skull caused possibly by his head being forcibly knocked back when the falling prop struck the one he was assisting to carry out of the working-place." Serious Non-fatal Accidents. On the sth January, Robert Kerr, Pukemiro Colliery, received a punctured pick wound on the right foot which resulted in a troublesome injury. On the 28th January, Clifford Stevens, engaged as a clipper on the McDonald Mine rope-road, was bodily injured as a result of being struck by a skip whilst engaged in tightening a clip. On the 7th February, Joseph Devery, employed by Glen Afton Collieries, Ltd., sustained a fracture of the right fibula and serious back injuries as a result of being thrown from a rake of skips he was riding whilst engaged in taking rails down a surface incline. On the 6th May, George Brown, employed at Glen Afton Colliery, sustained a fractured arm by being jammed between two trucks whilst engaged trucking. On the 25th May, Oliver Stokes was injured at Glen Afton No. 2 Colliery. Whilst repairing a set of broken timber in the main drive, the haulage-rope slipped off the pulley and caused a compound fracture of both legs. On the 20th August Arthur Young, working at Renown Colliery, sustained a fracture of his right wrist whilst engaged in clipping skips to the endless haulage-rope. On the 18th December, Thomas Hugill, trucker, Renown Colliery, whilst walking backwards clipping the loaded skips on the main rope stumbled before a loaded skip which passed over his leg causing a fracture of the tibia. The following eye accidents were sustained due to wounds inflicted by sparking coal: John Foster, Glen Afton Colliery, 100 per cent, loss of vision, right eye; William Downes, Glen Afton Colliery, 100 per cent, loss of vision, left eye; James Clark, Glen Afton Colliery, 100 per cent, loss of vision, right eye; J. Martin, Wilton Colliery, 70 per cent, loss of vision, left eye. Peosecution. On the 28th May, a trucker employed in Glen Afton Colliery was fined £2, costs fl, for using abusive language towards a roadsman employed in the same colliery. Dangeeous Occuerences (Regulation 82). On the Bth June a heating of the goaf in No. 4 jig section, Rotowaro Colliery, was reported. The area was subsequently sealed off. On the 17th June a portion of No. 4 pillar section, Rotowaro Colliery, was sealed off due to heating. On the 20th August the pumps were withdrawn from Wilson's Colliery due to a strike of the mine workers. De-watering operations were spread over the remaining four months of the year. Httntly School of Mines. The average attendance of students attending night classes at Glen Massey, Pukemiro, and Huntly for the year was forty-eight. An attempt was made to popularize and increase the attendance at Huntly where facilities are available for teaching all subjects. The results were discouraging, as less students were recorded at the centre. It would appear that the mine workers residing in Huntly, where many other amenities are provided, are extremely reluctant to avail themselves of the benefits provided by the coal companies, local bodies, and Mines Department, whose donations are mainly responsible for the services rendered by the school. WEST COAST INSPECTION DISTRICT (C. J. Strongman and Job Hughes, Inspectors of Mines). The output from the West Coast Inspection District for 1931 was 890,494 tons, the lowest since 1906, and a decrease of 395,577 tons as compared with the output for 1930. This large decrease is due to two causesfa) Labour disputes with resultant stoppages, (6) a decreased demand for coal. Buller, Greymouth, and Reefton districts show decreases of 236,052 tons, 156,927 tons, and 3,792 tons respectively, while Nelson district shows an increase of 1,194 tons. The total number of persons engaged underground and on the surface at the end of 1931 was 2,747, compared with 3,120 for 1930, a decrease of 373. It is to be noted that the decrease in output and the decrease in the number of employees engaged in the industry was gradually becoming more pronounced as the year advanced. The increase in output in the Nelson district was due to the re-opening of the Mount Burnett Mine by a party of co-operative miners, and an increased production from the Seymour Mine. 'p| l 0 y ear lias not been productive of any new mining features. Coal areas of any matei'ial dimensions have been continued to be opened up on the panel system of working, and during pillar-extraction as long

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