C.—2

the end of the year it was found, by means of delicate borehole-surveying instruments, that the hole had deflected near the bottom about 5° off the vertical. To correct this deflection the hole was cemented up to the 1,800 ft. mark, and special tools to force the drill out of its old course were ordered from the United States. Early in 1939 boring was resumed, the deviation from the vertical having been reduced to 2g. Near Dargaville a 2|-in.-diameter borehole was put down by the Northern Oilfields, Ltd., a Sullivan "N " diamond drill being used. By the end of the year the hole had been drilled to a depth of 552 ft. No drilling was done on the Kotuku or Moturoa fields during 1938. From the three producing wells owned by Moturoa Oilfields, Ltd., Nos. 1, 2, and 4, a total of 116,585 gallons of petroleum was obtained, all of which was treated by New Zealand Refineries, Ltd. VI. 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 1938

Quarry Accidents. The following is a summary of serious accidents during 1938 at quarries under the Stone-quarries Act: —

For the fourth year in succession there was no fatal accident in the South I sland quarries, but in the North Island quarries there were three fatal accidents in 1938 : one in the Hunua quarry, Papakura, on 27th June, one in the Opahi quarry, Bay of Islands, on 29th June ; and the third in the Moa Point quarry, Wellington, on 27th September. A runaway truck on an inclined plane caused the Hunua fatality, the premature explosion of gelignite in a bulled hole the one at the Opahi quarry, and the workman killed at Moa Point was struck by a flying piece of stone from a shot.

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25

Sig Output of Stone. '% § b « i i i r z zr. M q(h a) .2 S3 fcj P o o' H o £.% 5's 3 a . I ° • S iS'S ° O ® ►*» Provincial Name and Address of g 8 -g £ g « gj ® ® ® n * fc IMstrii t Government Inspector of -g o* a ■ 5» 5° «S g <* District. Stone-quarries. $ =5 g gS « . °£ = s ,as 8 a 8K 8 3 IS =3 -I «S p.1 g 3 lli sf S? c §° 21 a fe a I a = a 1 % §OM SS |f -g a ,|H ,5oJ ja«l s | a a I a m « j m i a. a > Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. £ Auckland .. R. H. Sohoen, Mines 243 1,445 942,706 .. 360 110,037 219,118 .. 46,025 270,125 Dept., Huntly E. J. Scoble, Mines 23 153 146,781 .. 4,476 50,700 Dept., Waihi (Hauraki Mining District only) Hawke's Bay R. H. Sohoen, Mines 24 110 28,004 .. .. 29,998 7,541 Dept., Huntly Taranaki .. Ditto .. .. 22 143 43,461 3,004 .. 8,533 .. .. .. 16,642 Wellington.. „ .. .. 34 250 95,907 3,226 .. 32,440 .. .. 134,238 31,645 Nelson .. 1 G. W. Lowes, and 21 81 21,056 19,377 .. 10,155 60,449 .. .. 17,332 Westland .. I A. W. Turner Buller .. | Mines Dept., Marlborough J Greymouth Canterbury.. | T- McMillan, Mines 62 479 165,610 29,560 20,503 290,549 52,888 .. .. 161,310 Southland !! J '>ept„ Dunedin Totals, 1938 .. 429 2,667 1,443,525 55,173 25,339 481,712 332,455 .. 180,263 555,295 Totals, 1937 .. 378 2,117 1,156,876 52,246 35,731 410,770268,190 .. 64,708444,837

Number of Accidents. Number of Sufferers. Cause. Fatal. Serious. Killed. Seriously | | injured. j Haulage .. .. .. ■■ •• •• •• 1 I 1 1 Machinery Explosives .. .. •• .. 1 I 1 1 Falls of ground Miscellaneous .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 2 1 2 Totals .. .. .. .. .. 3 4 3 4 ■ I • T_