The total height of the face in this quarry is 51 feet. The upper 23 feet, consisting of surface soil, sand, and rotten rock is removed first, and the remaining 28 feet, which consists of stiff and hard loam is then undercut and "fallen" into the quarry. The undercutting usually extends to a height of 6 or 8 feet from the floor and to a varying depth, one of the men stating at the inquest, "We fall the lower 28 feet, picking it until we think it dangerous, and then stand back and work it down with a long spear." Deceased was "picking out the belly" and appeared to have undercut the mass to a depth of about 2 feet, and to have pricked into an irregular "dry" in the loam, when about 200 tons suddenly came away from the face without warning. He attempted to escape, but was thrown down and buried to a depth of about 3 feet. He was extricated in 25 minutes, but life was found to be extinct. He had worked here intermittently for 21 years. The method of working appeared to me to be highly dangerous, and I recommended the owner to alter it. It appeared, however, that they had practised it for 40 years, and that this was the first fatal accident which had occurred in the quarry