JULY 1.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2179

Regulations under the Coal-mines Act, 1908, and its Amendments.

LIVERPOOL, Governor.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Government House at Wellington, this twenty-sixth day of June, 1915.

Present:

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL.

IN pursuance and exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Coal-mines Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as “the said Act and its amendments”), His Excellency the Governor of the Dominion of New Zealand, acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, doth hereby revoke the regulations herein-after referred to, namely:—

(1.) Regulations made under the Coal-mines Act, 1905, dated the 4th April, 1908, and published in the Gazette of the 6th April, 1908;

(2.) Regulations under the Coal-mines Act, 1908, dated the 15th March, 1910, and published in the Gazette of the 24th March, 1910;

(3.) Regulations under the Coal-mines Act, 1908, dated the 11th November, 1912, and published in the Gazette of the 21st November, 1912, at pages 3302 and 3310; and

(4.) Regulations under the Coal-mines Act, 1908, dated the 26th February, 1914, and published in the Gazette of the 5th March, 1914:

and in lieu of the regulations so revoked doth hereby make the regulations hereinafter set forth, and, except as otherwise specially provided in any case, doth hereby declare that the last-mentioned regulations shall come into force on the date of the publication thereof in the Gazette.

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REGULATIONS.

THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS.

1. At all meetings of the Board of Examiners constituted pursuant to section 25 of the said Act, three members shall form a quorum.

2. Each member of the Board shall receive by way of travelling-expenses the sum of £1 11s. for each day’s absence from his place of abode for the purpose of attending at a meeting of the Board, including the day of his leaving his place of abode, but not the day of his return thereto. He shall also be repaid all sums properly expended by him for fares by railway, coach, or steamer in travelling for the purpose of such attendance.

MINE-MANAGER’S CERTIFICATES.

3. The Board shall examine, or cause to be examined, on the subjects hereinafter specified, applicants for certificates as mine-managers, first and second class, under sections 24 to 26 of the said Act.

4. The Board may appoint supervisors from time to time to superintend such examinations.

5. (1.) Every application for a certificate as a mine-manager shall be made in writing under the hand of the applicant to the Secretary of the Board of Examiners, Mines Department, Wellington, accompanied (in the case of a certificate by examination under sections 26 or 27 of the said Act) by a fee of £1 sterling, together with a certificate that the applicant is not less than twenty-one years of age, and that he has been employed for a period of not less than five years in underground workings in a coal-mine, and a medical certificate that his senses of sight and hearing are not defective, and (in the case of a certificate without examination under section 28 of the said Act as set forth in section 5 of the Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1914) by a fee of 10s., together with the corresponding certificate referred to in that section, and also a certificate at date as to the general conduct and sobriety of the applicant.

(2.) Every application for examination for a mine-manager’s certificate shall be in Form 6 in the Schedule hereto.

6. Certificates by examination shall be in Forms 1 or 2, and certificates without examination shall be in Form 3 in the Schedule hereto.

7. (1.) The subjects of examination for certificates as coal-mine managers shall be as follows:—

Subject I, Mining: Opening out a colliery, working coal, and timbering; boring (some one form each of hand, calyx, and diamond drills to be described).

Subject II, Mechanics: Pumping-appliances and mine drainage; tapping water and dam-construction in mines; winding in shafts; hauling on underground planes; compressed-air and steam-power plants, strength of materials; elementary electricity (to include knowledge of fundamental principles, definition and application of electrical units and terms, advantages and disadvantages of direct and alternating current generators and motors, principle of a rotary transformer, principles of insulation, advantages and disadvantages of electrical winding-engines). (A knowledge of wiring and other details of electrical machinery is not required.)

Subject III, Ventilation: Ventilation of mines and knowledge of mine gases; spontaneous combustion of coal, and methods of dealing with underground fires; rescue apparatus; practical knowledge of gas-testing with a safety-lamp. (The candidate may be required to give a practical demonstration before a person appointed for that purpose.)

Subject IV, Arithmetic and Law: A knowledge of mine accounts; fractions, decimals, percentages, square root, area of rectangle, trapezoid, circle, &c.; measurement of timber; calculation of workable coal in a mine, &c.; a knowledge of the Coal-mines Act and amendments. (Written questions will be set, and there will be no oral examination.)

Subject V, Surveying: A knowledge of surveying and levelling, both underground and at the surface; and also of mine plans and sections.

Subject VI, General and Applied Geology: Prospecting; origin and mode of formation of coal-seams; faulting, and the recovery of faulted seams; a general knowledge of the geology of stratified rocks, and more particularly of the New Zealand coal-measures.

(2.) Each candidate shall forward with his application a certificate from a duly qualified medical practitioner, or St. John’s or other recognized Ambulance Society, showing that he has taken a course in ambulance work fitting him, the said candidate, to give first aid to men injured in coal-mining operations. (See British Columbia Coal-mines Regulation Act, 1911, section 41, part of clause (a).)

8. A candidate for a first-class certificate shall be entitled thereto if he passes satisfactorily in Subjects I to VI. A candidate for a second-class certificate shall be entitled thereto if he passes satisfactorily in Subjects I, II, III, and IV, and he shall not be required to pass Subjects V and VI.

9. Every applicant must be able to give drawings to illustrate details connected with any work to be done in or about a coal-mine, and must give all details of calculations, and in matters of opinion must fully state his reasons for arriving at any given conclusion.

10. All applications for certificates shall, prior to examination, be forwarded by the Secretary of the Board to the Inspector of Mines of the district for inquiry and report as to the bona fides of the applicant.

UNDERVIEWERS’, AND FIREMEN AND DEPUTIES’ CERTIFICATES.

11. With respect to the examinations for certificates as underviewers, and firemen and deputies, the following provisions shall apply:—

(a.) Examinations shall be held at such times and places as are appointed by the Board.

(b.) In each district where coal-mining is carried on the Board of Examiners shall consist of one or more members of the Board of Examiners appointed under the said Act and an Inspector of Mines.

(c.) Certificates by examination shall be in Form 4 or Form 5 in the Schedule hereto, and certificates of competency, without examination, shall be in the Form 7 in the said Schedule.

(d.) The examination for underviewers’ certificates shall be partly written and partly oral and practical, and shall include the following subjects:—

(i.) Working coal and timbering underground;

(ii.) Mine-gases inflammable coaldust, spontaneous combustion, and ventilation;

(iii.) Dealing with old workings and other sources of danger;

(iv.) Arithmetic, and a knowledge of the Coal-mines Act, 1908, and amendments, and the regulations thereunder;

(v.) First aid to the injured;

(vi.) Accurate tests for inflammable gas with a safety-lamp.

[NOTE.—The candidate must be able to judge by the size and appearance of the cap how much gas approximately is present. He will be tested with percentages of gas from 2 per cent. upwards, and no candidate will pass who is unable to see a 2-per-cent. cap.]

(vii.) A candidate will be required to show that he can measure the quantity of air in an air-current.

(viii.) The candidate’s hearing will be tested, and should be such as to enable him to carry out his duties efficiently.

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