July 1.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2187

the mine, as the case may be, commence work, whether they have in their possession any lucifer match or any apparatus of any kind for producing a light or spark (except so far as may be authorized for the purpose of shot-firing or relighting lamps) or any cigar, cigarette, or pipe, or contrivance for smoking, cause any or all those persons, or such of them as may be selected on a system approved by the Inspector, to be searched in the following manner, after or immediately before entering the mine or that part of the mine.

138. No person shall search any workman unless he has previously given an opportunity to some two workmen employed in the mine to search himself, and no lucifer match or such apparatus as aforesaid, and no cigar, cigarette, pipe, or contrivance for smoking, has been found on him.

139. No person who refuses to allow himself to be searched in accordance with the foregoing regulations shall be allowed to enter the mine.

140. (1.) The search shall be made by a person or persons appointed for the purpose in writing by the manager.

(2.) In the case of members of a shift the search shall be made in the presence of two or more members of the shift.

(3.) The search shall be made with due regard to propriety, and so as to occasion the person searched as little inconvenience as possible.

(4.) The person conducting the search shall—

(a.) Search or turn out all pockets ;

(b.) Pass his hands over all clothing ; and

(c.) Examine any article in the workman’s possession.

(5.) If the person conducting the search suspects that the person searched is concealing any prohibited article he shall detain him and as soon as possible refer the matter to the manager, underviewer, or other official authorized by the manager for the purpose, who shall not allow the person to proceed to work until he has satisfied him that he has no prohibited article in his possession.

CHANGEHOUSES AND BATHHOUSES.

Where change and bath houses are provided as required by the said Act the following regulations shall apply:—

141. The accommodation and facilities for taking baths shall be provided in a building of sufficient dimensions, efficiently ventilated and lighted, kept in good repair, and while the accommodation is in use heated to a temperature of not less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

142. The accommodation shall consist of shower-baths, also hand-basins supplied with water at a temperature as near as may be of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the showers shall be contained in a cabinet (in the proportion of one to three) constructed so as to secure privacy to those who desire it, such cabinets having suitable arrangements for partially dressing and undressing.

143. (1.) The number of shower-baths and hand-basins shall be in the proportion of one to every eight persons in the largest shift employed in the mine.

(2.) The building shall be constructed of material to be approved by the Inspector of Mines, and shall be so graded and drained as to allow the waters to run to and be carried away at the sides of the building.

(3.) The building shall also be constructed so as to permit of the interior being easily cleansed, and to prevent accumulations of dirt in any part, and for this purpose—

(a.) All inner surfaces of the building up to the part from which the roof springs shall be smooth.

(b.) A space of not less than 1½ in. shall be left between the walls of each cabinet and the sides of the building, and a space of not less than 10 in. between the walls of the cabinet and the floor of the building.

(c.) The inside wall of the building shall be constructed to a height of not less than 7 ft. from the floor of material which is capable of being readily cleansed and is impervious to water.

(d.) Drawings and specifications of all bath and change houses shall be approved in writing by the Inspector before the commencement of erection.

144. No water shall be used for the baths which is liable to cause injury to health or to yield effluvia, and for the purpose of this regulation any water which absorbs from acid solution of permanganate of potash in four hours at 60 degrees Fahrenheit more than 0·5 grain of oxygen per gallon of water shall be deemed to be liable to cause injury to health.

145. The floor of the building, the cabinets, and the inside wall up to a height of not less than 7 ft. shall be thoroughly cleansed once every day, and the whole building shall be thoroughly cleansed at such fixed times as shall be decided by the Inspector, but at least once in every ten days. If the accommodation is used by more than one shift of persons during the day the cabinets shall be cleansed at such intervals during the day as shall be decided by the Inspector.

146. Arrangements shall be made for suspending in the roof of the building the clothes of each person using the accommodation, by means of a chain or cord so treated as to be impervious to moisture, which shall be so arranged and fitted as to be under the sole control of the person to whom it is allotted, by means of a padlock to be provided by himself, to keep the clothes of such person when suspended entirely separate from the clothes of any other person, and efficient means shall be provided for drying clothes when so suspended.

147. In any case where the votes of the workmen, or any part of the workmen, in any mine are required for the purpose of section 9 of the Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1914, they shall be taken by a show of hands at a meeting of the workmen entitled to vote, of which not less than three days’ notice shall be given by a notice posted at the pit-head, specifying the time and place of the meeting. A certificate stating the result of the voting, and signed by the person presiding at such meeting, shall be forthwith delivered to the manager of the mine.

148. The floor-space in every dressing or change room at bathhouses shall not be less than 12 square feet for each person.

149. Bathhouses in existence on the 1st day of January, 1915, shall, if approved by the Inspector, either in whole or in part, be allowed to remain in use to such extent and for such time as approved by the Inspector.

150. The following rules shall be observed in all bathhouses :—

(a.) No person shall expectorate on the floor or walls.

(b.) Clothes, towels, soap, or other articles shall be kept only in the place provided for them.

(c.) No clothes shall be beaten or shaken within the building.

(d.) No clothes shall be washed in bath or hand-basin.

(e.) No clothing or boots shall be kept in any change or bath house during Sunday. Such articles, if left therein for two successive Sundays, may be destroyed by order of the manager.

(f.) No smoking shall be permitted unless in a room provided for that purpose.

(g.) Games shall not be played within the building.

AMBULANCE.

151. (1.) In every mine there shall be provided and kept in good condition and ready for immediate use at a convenient spot in the district of each fireman-deputy, and also in the office at the mine or other convenient place on the surface—

(a.) A suitably constructed stretcher.

(b.) A box containing a sufficient supply of suitable splints and bandages, adhesive plaster, boric vaseline, cotton-wool, and tincture of iodine or other suitable antiseptic solution.

(2.) The foregoing requirements shall not apply to any mine, seam, or district the conditions of which are so damp as to make it impossible to keep the appliances aforesaid in a good state.

(3.) In case of dispute between the manager and the workmen as to the possibility of keeping ambulance appliances in a good state, the matter shall be referred to the Inspector, who shall have power to decide the dispute.

(4.) The manager or other qualified official appointed by him shall personally inspect the appliances so provided, at least once in every month, and satisfy himself that they are in conformity with the above requirements.

152. In every mine in which the total number of persons employed underground does not exceed thirty, the manager shall arrange, if possible, that there shall be at least one man trained in first aid and holding a certificate of the St. John’s Ambulance Association, the St. Andrew’s Association, or other society or body approved by the Minister, in the district of each fireman-deputy, at any time when twenty persons or more are being employed in the district. If less than twenty persons are employed in each district the manager shall arrange, if possible, that there shall be below ground during each shift at least one man so trained and having a certificate as aforesaid. This regulation shall not come into force until the 1st January, 1916.

MECHANICAL VENTILATING-APPLIANCES.

153. Where a mechanical contrivance for ventilation is used at any mine it shall not be placed beneath the surface : Provided that this regulation shall not be so construed as to prevent mechanical contrivances being placed underground, either—

(a.) When such contrivances are auxiliary only and the contrivance whereby the main ventilation is produced is placed on the surface, and is capable of producing such amount of ventilation as in an emergency would be sufficient for the safety of the persons employed underground ; or

(b.) When such contrivances afford a complete additional system of ventilation, and when a complete ventilating-appliance is provided on the surface capable of producing such sufficient amount of ventilation as is required by the Act and the regulations, and immediately available for use in the event of accident, and is kept in effective condition, and is used once at least in each week.

154. After the 1st January, 1916, or such later date as, in view of the circumstances of the mine, may be fixed by the