C.—2,

Diamond Pit (Asher's Siding).—This is an opencast pit. The working-face is advancing in a westerly direction, and the stripping of the overburden is being kept well ahead of coal-winning. Orepuki Pit. —A small amount of opencast work is being carried out. Princhester Greek Mine. —Most of the year has been spent in prospecting, but without satisfactory results. Lynwood Pit (Te Anau). —This pit was not working during the year. Terrace Mine, (Kingston Crossing).-—This mine closed on 29th May, 1937. No work was carried out during the year. Star Mine. —Nearly all the output from this mine has been won from pillar-extraction. The roof conditions are not good, but the pillars are working back fairly well. The pillars have been worked back to the level 5 chains from the mine-entrance. Some prospecting has been done by boring, and a seam of coal has been located to the east of the present mine workings. Birchwood Mine.—Production of coal from this mine was stopped from March to August to allow the installation of electricity for haulage and ventilation. During this period, whilst the mine was stopped, three sections of the main dip were enlarged, the roof being Supported by steel arches. The output was won from both development work and pillar-extraction. The main dip was stopped against a fault running in a northwest direction. A slant dip almost parallel with the fault has been started, and is being driven in 11 ft. of good-quality coal. Pillar-extraction is being carried out in the No. 3 east section, and development is being carried on in the No. 3 west section. Black Diamond Mine. —The whole of the output from the mine has been obtained from pillar-extraction. The practice of building stoppings ahead of the pillar-extraction is still being carried out. Black Lion Mine.—The greater part of the output has been won from pillar-extraction in the north-east section. An area to the north-west of the main dip heading is also being developed. Mossbank No. 1 Mine. —All the possible coal having been won from this mine, it was closed on 10th November, 1938. A small area of top-seam coal in the rise side of No. 3 mine is being developed to maintain tile output until the new mine is opened up. Two new drives are being driven to open up a new mine, the area over half a mile to the south having been bored. The main drive is expected to strike the coal-seam at approximately 850 ft. The main drive has now been driven 670 ft. Wairaki Mine.—The major portion of the coal won for the year was from development work, only one section being on pillar-extraction. The No. 3 east dip was driven to a distance of 10 chains and encountered faulty and. soft coal. Faults were encountered also on both sides of this dip. As these workings are close to the boundary no more development will be attempted here. Development is being carried on in the No. 1 cast section and pillars are being extracted in the No. 2 east section. The boreholes which were put down and reported on last year were so encouraging that a stone-dip drive has been driven from the No. 3 east level and towards the No. 2 borehole, dipping at a grade of 1 in 5. The drive was carried to a distance of 4J chains, when it cut the coal-seam, which appears to be very good quality. The prospects look very good for this new area. Linton No. 1 Mine. —During the year development work has been carried on in the No. 7 section, and a stone-drive has been driven into the area from the bottom of which a pair of developing headings will be driven to open up this area. In the No. 8 section development was continued in a westerly direction and towards the Birchwood lease. In this direction the coal-seam became very inferior in quality and is unsaleable. Pillar-extraction has been continued in the Nos. 3, 5, and 0 sections, the " gallery " system of pillaring being adopted. Linton No. 2 Mine. —This mine is fast approaching the end of its life, and pillar-extraction has been the only source of output. Some success is being gained from the effort which is being made to increase the percentage of extraction from this mine. The surface fire, which has menaced the mine for some time, has been kept in check throughout the year. Prospecting.—Boring operations have been continued and two boreholes have been put down in the area south of No. 2 mine. The result of this work was somewhat disappointing, and operations have been suspended in the meantime. Boring has been carried out to the east of No. 1 mine, and it is intended to commence a drive from the surface into this area after the necessary data has been obtained. Fatal Accidents . On 26th July John Humphreys, a miner, fifty-six years old, was instantly killed by a fall of stone in his working-place in the Star Mine at Ohai. He was preparing to take off some side coal and was setting a 6 ft. prop when a block of stone, of about 30 cwt., fell, swinging out the prop and dropping on to him. On 81 h September Ronald S. Forrest, a youth not quite fifteen years old, was killed by being crushed between two railway wagons near the Kaitangata Mine screening-plant. He was lowering a loaded wagon along the line and after putting down the brake he had jumped on to take a better hold. The wagon was about five yards from another wagon standing on another line, and it is assumed that he leaned over and was struck by that wagon and crushed between it and the one on which he had been travelling. As a result of this fatality it is proposed to make it illegal for any person under the age of eighteen years to be in charge of moving wagons. Sebioits Non-fatal Accidents. On 13th January William Marshall, manager under a permit of the Rockvale Coal-mine at Herbert, sustained a fractured wrist and eye injury when firing a shot. Ho lit the fuse and left the place, but, thinking the fuse had not ignited, he returned, and then the shot went off. On 25th February while completing a split through a pillar in the Linton No. 2 mine, William Taylor was struck by a large piece of coal which fell from the inbye lip. He sustained fractured ribs and scapula. On 12th July a surface hand, Douglas Wilson, sixteen years of age, sustained a fractured left arm when it was jammed between two mine trucks. While lan Talbot was filling a mine truck in his pillar place in the Linton Mine on 17th August, several large pieces of coal burst from the rib of the place from a height of about 10 ft. and striking his left leg, fractured it. On 27th September, while trimming down loose coal after a shot had been fired in the " tops" in his working-place in the Kaitangata Mine, .Tames Carroll was struck by a large piece of falling coal. He sustained a fractured skull and jaw. On 30th November Richard Kyle, a miner working in the Kaitangata Mine, sustained a cracked lower lumbar vertebra.

11—C. 2.

81