63
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 4

by the manager or overman in charge and reported safe or
the impurity obviated.

24. The common but highly dangerous practice among
    miners, of testing-fire damp escaping from a blower by igniting
    it with their lamps, is peremptorily forbidden.

25. The company will supply all timber required for the
    proper working of their mines, and deliver it in suitable
    quantities near the working-faces. Miners shall be bound to
    secure the roof and also the working coal-faces, subject to
    the approval of the manager or overman, who, where the
    roof appears excessively dangerous, shall aid in securing the
    same.

26. If from any accident or other cause miners are at any
    time unable to find a sufficient supply of props when it is
    unsafe to continue their work without them, they are for-
    bidden to remain at their working-faces; and no workman
    shall commence or continue to work in any place where he
    may consider the timber insufficient to support the roof of
    the mine, or discover any other cause that may render the
    place unsafe, until such defects have been put right by the
    person in charge.

Drawers, Putters, and Drivers.

27. Drawers, putters, and drivers shall not be permitted to
    approach or to enter the working-places until the miners
    shall have proceeded to work. Drawers shall carefully convey
    their loaded hutches to the pit-bottom or mine-mouth, and
    shall deliver the same at the place of delivery pointed out to
    them for the reception thereof, and shall place them securely
    under the supervision of those appointed to take charge.

Miscellaneous Regulations.

28. As a matter of common safety, miners, drawers, and
    all other workmen in the mine who shall observe or come to
    know of any defect in any road, roof, or air-course, or in any
    stopping or permanent or temporary brattice, or other
    appliances or work devised for making, maintaining, and
    promoting effective ventilation of the mine, are enjoined to
    give notice thereof to the manager or overman or other
    person in charge, so that the same may be forthwith repaired
    or rectified.

29. In like manner every miner, drawer, and other work-
    man engaged in the mine who shall observe or come to know
    of any defect or flaw in the working machinery and gearing
    used in and about the mine, whereby the efficiency thereof
    may be impaired, shall be bound to communicate the same
    as above.

30. No workman shall, on any pretence whatever, be
    allowed to introduce into the mine any stranger without the
    sanction of the mine manager.

31. Miners, drawers, and all others in the mine who shall
    have occasion to pass through any trap-door shall thereupon
    closely shut the same, and shall on no account leave it open.
    All doors shall be hung so that they will close automatically,
    and no door shall be fastened back while on its hinges. On
    discontinuing work at the end of a shift, and especially when
    no work is to be done in the mine on the following day, care
    must be taken by every workman closely to shut all trap-
    doors, and thereby allow of the proper current of air neces-
    sary for ventilation being constantly circulated.

32. All workmen are especially forbidden to throw into,
    deposit, or leave coal, wood, stone, rubbish, or materials of
    any kind in any air-course or road, so as to interfere with or
    hinder the air passing into and through the mine.

33. All workmen are prohibited from entering or remaining
    in any place throughout the whole mine where not absolutely
    required by duty at the time.

34. Miners and all others are prohibited from defacing or
    removing marks which may be made in any part of the
    workings in connection with the survey of the mine, or for
    the guidance of the workmen in their operations. All
    workers are forbidden to displace, injure, or damage in any
    way the coal-stoops, props, hutches, rails, or any part of the
    machinery, gearing, or apparatus.

35. Blasting is strictly prohibited, unless with the express
    permission of the manager.

36. Meetings of miners and other workmen in a body
    within the workings, or in any of the roads or air-courses of
    the mine, are strictly prohibited.

37. No person shall be permitted to enter or to continue
    in or about the mine or works while in a state of intoxication.
    No intoxicating liquor, on any pretence whatever, except in
    cases of necessity and with the consent of the manager, shall
    be taken into the mine.

38. No person shall ride upon any tub or tram without the
    permission of the manager. No person shall go before any
    tram or tub on any incline, brow, or slope unless duly
    authorized. Every person working on any incline, brow, or
    slope shall secure his tub from getting loose; and before he
    attempts to take a tub down shall ascertain that he has
    proper scotches or other means for stopping it on the way
    when required. He shall not take more than one tub down
    at a time unless he has the means of holding them, and

when on the way he shall keep behind. Where machinery
is used he shall not, without hooking or otherwise securing
it, place a tub on the plates or rails so that it could run
down. The taker-off at the bottom of a steep incline or jig
shall not be in front of the tub when it is in motion.

Rules designed to prevent Accidents from Fire-damp.

39. The manager may at any time order that work in the
    mine, or in any particular portion thereof, shall be carried
    on with safety-lamps only, and in such cases stations will be
    fixed upon by the manager where the safety-lamps will be
    examined. From these stations no workman is to take a
    safety-lamp without it having been examined by the person
    appointed for that purpose.

40. The manager and overman shall have full power to
    direct the workman how to use their safety-lamps during the
    time of working, and it is particularly enjoined that every
    workman strictly attend to such directions.

41. Should any workman using a safety-lamp detect by
    the usual indications the appearance or presence of fire-
    damp, he is first to pull down the wick with the pricker, and
    then retreat to the lamp-station and give information to the
    manager, overman, or fireman.

42. Workmen are strictly prohibited from continuing to
    work in a place where such indications have been observed
    by them, and, should the flame continue in the interior of
    the lamp after the wick has been drawn down, the lamp must
    then be cautiously removed, and no attempt made to ex-
    tinguish the flame by any other means.

43. Every miner, hewer, putter, or other person whatever
    in charge of a safety-lamp losing his light is to take it himself
    to the station where the lamps are examined to be re-lighted
    and examined before being again used.

44. It is expressly directed that any person witnessing any
    improper treatment of the safety-lamps by any one shall
    give immediate information to the manager in charge of the
    mine, so that a recurrence of such conduct may be prevented
    by the offending party being brought to justice.

45. Any person found smoking tobacco in any part of the
    said colliery where the safety-lamp is used, or found with a
    tobacco-pipe in his possession, shall be liable to be taken
    before a Magistrate.

46. Matches shall not be taken into any part of the mine
    where gas or fire-damp is known to exist, under any pretence
    whatever.

47. If at any time it is found that the mine or any part
    thereof, by reason of fire-damp, or any other cause whatever,
    is dangerous, the manager, overman, or foreman, whichever
    shall first be made aware of the same, shall immediately
    order all workmen to withdraw from the mine or such part
    thereof as is so found dangerous; and the manager, overman,
    or foreman shall, if the danger arises from fire-damp, inspect
    the same with a safety-lamp, and make a true report of the
    condition of such mine or part thereof; and workmen shall
    not, except so far as may be necessary for inquiring into the
    cause of danger, or for the removal thereof, or for examination,
    be readmitted into the mine or such part thereof as may be
    so found to be dangerous, until the same is reported not to
    be dangerous. Every such report shall be entered in the
    Mine Registry, and signed by the person making the same.

48. The workmen employed in the mine may, from time to
    time, appoint two of their number to inspect the mine, and
    the persons so appointed shall be allowed, once at least in
    every week, accompanied by the manager of the mine, or
    the overman or fireman of the mine, to go to every part of the
    mine and inspect the workings, both old and new, and the
    means for ventilation of the mine, and shall be afforded every
    facility for the purpose of such inspection. A true report of
    the result of such inspection shall be made in the Mine
    Registry, and shall be signed by the person who made the
    same.

49. Miners shall, in long-wall working, or at any time if
    ordered to do so by the manager, set sprags or holing-props
    as soon as there is room, and shall afterwards keep them set
    during holing. After taking out the sprags or holing-props,
    if the coal or other mineral will not fall with wedging or
    from the effects of the shot, they shall not hole further until
    they have reset the sprags or holing-props. In long-wall
    working miners shall pack or chock the ends of the main
    gateway.

50. No officer in a place of trust shall depute another per-
    son to do his work without the sanction of his superior; and
    no person in a place of trust shall absent himself without
    having previously obtained the permission of his superior
    officer for his term of absence.

51. Intoxicating drinks shall not be allowed in or about
    the mine without the consent of the manager, and then only
    in cases of necessity; and no person in a state of intoxication
    shall be allowed to be in or about the mine.

The following special rules shall be in force at every mine
where men are raised and lowered in any shaft:—