1126
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 55

33. On beginning work at every shift miners and others shall be bound to satisfy themselves concerning the safety of their working-places, independently of such intimation as aforesaid; and they shall thereupon work at their appointed coal-faces or other work continuously, industriously, and without unnecessary intermission while the shift continues; and shall obey the orders applicable to the safe and proper prosecution of the colliery works given them by the mine manager, overman, or other person for the time being placed over them.

34. If while at work, or at any other time, miners shall discover or be informed of the existence of any obstruction in the ventilation, or stagnation or impurity of the air of the mine, accumulation of gas or water, or of the existence of any defects in the walls, roofs, or any other part of the mine, they shall be bound to give instant information to the mine manager, overman, or the person in charge of the mine for the time being, so that these defects may be remedied and danger therefrom averted.

35. Miners are expressly forbidden to go into or improperly near any place throughout the whole mine where danger is known or supposed to exist, except for the purpose of effecting repairs or other necessary work directed by the manager or his overman. They are forbidden to continue working in any part of the coal-face where a sudden outburst of fire-damp shall happen, or where danger from any cause shall apparently threaten, until the same shall have been examined by the manager or overman in charge and reported safe or the impurity obviated.

36. Miners shall, before commencing holing, when the face of coal does not exceed ten feet in width, set at least one sprag, and one additional sprag for every additional five feet or part of five feet, 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.

37. Every collier shall, under the direction of the under-viewer or his deputy, set a sufficient quantity of props and bars for safely supporting the roof and sides in his working-place. The timber shall be properly set.

38. No collier shall use or allow to be used any gunpowder, except in conformity with the general rules for its use.

39. 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 forbidden 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.

Truckers and Drivers.

40. Truckers and drivers shall not be permitted to approach or to enter the working-places until the miners shall have proceeded to work. Truckers shall carefully convey their loaded trucks to 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.

41. As a matter of common safety, miners, truckers, 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, shall give notice thereof to the manager or overman, or other person in charge, so that the same may be forthwith repaired or rectified.

42. In like manner every miner, trucker, and other workman 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.

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

44. Miners, truckers, and all others in the mine who shall have occasion to pass through any trap-door or sheet shall thereupon closely shut the same, and shall on no account leave it open. On discontinuing work at the end of a shift, care must be taken by every workman closely to shut all trap-doors and sheets, and thereby allow of the proper current of air necessary for ventilation being constantly circulated; and no person shall injure a door or leave it open, break down or interfere with a stopping or a brattice, obstruct or damage an air-course, air-crossing, or air-pipe, or remove a caution-board or danger-signal, or do anything to interfere with the proper working of the mine, without an order from the underviewer or his deputy.

45. 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.

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

47. 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-pillars, props, trucks, rails, or any part of the machinery, gearing, or apparatus.

48. Blasting is strictly prohibited, unless with the express permission of the manager or underviewer.

49. No person shall leave any light in any part of the mine when leaving his work.

50. Shots must be rammed with soft material not likely to strike fire.

51. When a shot has missed fire it shall not be unrammed, but shall be reported to the underviewer or his deputy, and the place shall not be approached without the permission of the underviewer or his deputy.

52. 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.

53. 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.

54. No person shall ride upon any truck without the permission of the manager. No person shall go before any truck on any incline, brow, or slope unless duly authorised. Every person working on any incline, brow, or slope shall secure his truck from getting loose; and before he attempts to take a truck 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 truck 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 truck on the plates or rails so that it could run down. The taker-off at the bottom of a steep incline or jig should not be in front of the tub when it is in motion.

55. The furnaceman shall constantly keep clean brisk fires. Ashes shall not be allowed to accumulate upon or under the bars, but when cold they must be removed.

56. The ventilating furnace or apparatus shall not be left either day or night without the orders of the manager. In changing shifts the man in charge of the ventilating apparatus shall not leave his place before the arrival of a substitute. In case of sickness or lawful absence a furnaceman or an engineman must give early and sufficient notice to the manager, so that a substitute may be provided.

57. No person shall use threatening or abusive language towards the manager or other official of the mine.

Rules designed to prevent Accidents from Fire-damp.

58. 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.

59. 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.

60. The manager shall appoint a competent person or persons, who shall examine every safety-lamp immediately before it is taken into the workings for use, and ascertain it to be secure and securely locked; and in any part of a mine in which the safety-lamps are so required to be used they shall not be used until they have been so examined and found secure, and securely locked, and shall not without due authority be unlocked; and in the said part of a mine a person shall not, unless he is appointed for the purpose, have in his possession any key or contrivance for opening the lock of any such safety-lamp, or any lucifer match or apparatus of any kind for striking a light. He shall not allow any unlocked lamp to be in any part of the mine, excepting in a lamp-cabin or other station properly appointed for lighting lamps. He must also see that no safety-lamp gauze is used with less than twenty-eight parallel wires to the inch, or less than 784 apertures to the square inch, and that a sufficient number of approved safety-lamps are provided.

61. No person shall try for fire-damp with a naked light, or brush out or baffle gas. (See Rule 74.)

62. Where safety-lamps are used they shall be used with the greatest care. Every person must examine his lamp to see that it is clean and securely locked on taking it from the lamp-keeper.