C.—2.

YI. STONE-QUARRY INSPECTION AND STATISTICS. By section 2 of the Stone-quarries Amendment Act, 1920, the application of the Stone-quarries Act, 1910, 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. The Act also applies to any tunnel in the construction of which explosives are used, but it 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 1937

Qttaery Accidents. The following is a summary of serious accidents during 1937 at quarries under the Stone-quarries Act: —

There were no fatal or non-fatal serious accidents in the South Island quarries during 1937. In the North Island quarries there were four serious non-fatal accidents and one fatality. On 2nd August, 1937, Luke Zidich, twenty-three years of age, was working at the Mount Wellington Bluestone Co.'s quarry at Ellerslie. To get a drink of water he walked from one of the quarry faces to a water-supply kept near a projecting point of rock which had been left unworked between that face and another in which a concrete hopper had been built. Zidich had just reached the projecting rock when a motor-truck, being started there, backed on to him and crushed him against the rock, causing injuries from which he died a few hours later.

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SPJq Output of Stone. •—J O i —.——— b 2 I J? <2 £ ° o o®' h Provincial Name and Address of g o| € Sg : «g ®g „• g District. Government Inspector ol -g o*, g g g <* g a Q ffl | g s Stone-quarries. .2 -a ggg "7; . °- 5S «e 2 a gg S§ °J~ 8" §=3 «8 «8 ag | ■§ || g»S §S If SI |gg SU i § gOM go afio "9" 2"-S J=s< ,S >a fc fq j 5 £ to i-I P-<g > Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. £ Auckland .. R. H. Schoen, Mines 210 1,069 720,684 7,086 30 102,250173,174 .. 39,132 208,441 Dept., Hnntly E. J. Scoble, Mines 19 116 104,681 .. 5,094 .. .. .. .. 32,440 Dept., Waihi (Hauraki Mining District only) Hawke's Bay R. H. Schoen, Mines 28 120 49,077 .. .. 23,543 .. .. .. 9,505 Dept., Huntly Taranaki .. Ditto .. .. 12 94 22,444 .. .. 5,972 .. .. 800 5,482 Wellington.. „ .. .. 39 203 85,593 4,822 10,068 32,724 .. .. 20,800 40,195 w lf ?i n ,i " 1G. W. Lowes, Mines 24 92 28,190 17,454 .. 11,675 53,218 .. 3,976 16,921 Westland. .. > Marlborough J Reefton Canterbury.. ) T McMillan,Mines 46 423 146,207 22,884 20,539 234,606 41,798 .. .. 131,853 SB-:: / Totals, 1937 .. 378 2,117 1,156,876 52,246 35,731 410,770 268,190 .. 64,708 444,837 Totals, 1936 .. 393 1,981 941,870 49,079 22 818 317,055 241,017 .. 80,639 342,861

Number of Accidents. Number of Sufferers. Cause. ! — Fatal. Serious. Killed. Haulage .. .. .. .. . . .. .. 1 .. 1 Machinery .. .. .. .. .. .. .. I . . 1 Explosives .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 .. 3 Falls of ground . . .. . . .. .. .. .. 1 .. 1 Miscellaneous .. .. .. .. Totals .. .. .. .. .. 1 4 1 5