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Safety Lamps. — No naked lights were allowed in the mine, even in the Downcast shaft. Oldham electric safety lamps, Type C, fitted with magnetic locks, were issued to the workmen; the only flame lamps in use were those carried by the officials making inspections, and were of the Patterson E1 type fitted with lead rivet locks. The station for relighting the flame lamps was on the surface. On the date of the explosion there were 243 electric lamps and 8 flame lamps in use underground.

No spare lamps were issued to the workmen, but each deputy carried both a flame lamp and an electric lamp. The lamps were examined at the shaft bottom by the onsetter, and also at the compressor house, which is the meeting station appointed under Section 63 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, by the deputies before the men were permitted to proceed inbye. The lamps of men not forming a shift were examined by the onsetter. The record of damaged lamps required by Section 34 (1) (ii) was duly kept.

Inspections before and during Work. — The management claimed that the mine was worked by a succession of shifts, commencing for the purpose of inspection with the night shift. The deputy in each district descended, made his inspection and reported on all the working places prior to the night shift commencing work at 10 p.m. He made the inspection during the shift, and also the inspection and report before the morning shift commenced work, and then passed the incoming shift in. The same procedure as to the two latter inspections was followed in the succeeding shifts. Notwithstanding this view of the management that the mine was worked by a succession of shifts, the deputies' shifts were so organised that inspections could. be commenced and completed within two hours of the commencement of work in a shift. The evidence, however, showed that the inspection before the commencement of work in the day shift was sometimes begun at least three hours before the miners on this shift could actually commence work at the faces.

As previously mentioned, the shot-firer overlapped the day and the back shifts, and, while his duties were solely in connection with shot-firing, the Manager instructed him to make a report in the prescribed firemen's report book at the end of his shift. This did not interfere in any way with the statutory duties of the deputy in charge of the district, but was for the additional information of the Manager.

An examination of the deputies' report books for the 12 months ended 5th September, 1922, shows that gas was reported on 28 days in one or more places.

The withdrawal of workmen report book reveals the fact that no men had been withdrawn on account of gas, and there are only three entries in the book showing that withdrawals were due to the state of the roof.

It was stated by the officials that, when gas was found in any working place during a deputy's examination prior to the entry of the workers, that place was "laid idle" and the men were sent to work elsewhere : consequently there were no withdrawals to put on record. No mention is made of the percentage of firedamp found, but it is understood that when any indication of gas, however slight, was seen, the place was fenced off until it was found to be clear.

It appears from t he reports that the detection of gas was not recorded during a long interval until 20th July and subsequent dates, when gas was reported as present in the last two working places on the return side of the district. Later reports show that gas was found in Pattinson's Lavery's (Moore's) and Goulding's places, viz., the furthermost inbye winnings. The main dip and its companions had not been worked for some weeks.

Electricity. — Electrical power is supplied to the Haig Pits from the Company's generating station at the Ladysmith Pit. Three phase alternating current at 3,300 volts and 50 periods is conducted by an underground cable to a sub-station on the surface. Hence it is carried down the No. 4, or Downcast, shaft by an armoured cable to a distributing station 150 yards from the shaft bottom. This distributing station also contains the transformers used for lighting the shaft siding as far as Six Quarters junction and motor rooms. A 100 H.P. endless rope hauler is placed 45 yards from the shaft and a 160 H.P. air compressor 350 yards from the shaft. A centrifugal pump driven by a 195 H.P. motor, dealing with 500 gallons per minute is located in the Six Quarters inset in the shaft 158 fathoms from the surface and delivers the water to an adit eye 30 fathoms from the surface.

An underground telephone system is installed as far as the Six Quarters junction and motor rooms. The haulage signalling system extends to the No. 7 level. Signalling was done by short circuiting the wires, no special pushes being provided. The signalling apparatus in use, both bell and relay, has been tested and found to be incapable of producing a spark that can ignite firedamp, even when used with as many as 15 Leclanche cells. The relay and bell were fixed at the junction to the main haulage road opposite the compressor house.

Shot-firing. — As already indicated, a considerable amount of blasting was practised in getting the coal. Only "Permitted" Explosives were used. Viking Powder No. 2 was generally used for shots in coal, and Dynobel No. 3 for brushing shots; the shots were fired electrically with No. 6 Low Tension Detonators.

In addition to their statutory duties as regards inspection and general safety, the deputies also fired shots.

As an indication of the extent to which blasting was carried on, the colliery records show that during the month of June 2,727 shots were fired in coal. This gives an average of 105 shots per day over a period of 26 working days. In drifts and coal together, 4,242 shots were fired and the explosives issued during the month amounted to 2,035 lbs.

It was the usual practice to hole or undercut the coal in the middle band of shale to a depth of 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 in, and to fire three shots in the top coal, and three in the bottom per shift, each shot being charged with 4 to 6 oz. of explosive. As each shift of men prepared just as much coal as they were able to send out during their own shift (i.e., there was no partnership or "marrowing" with the succeeding shift of men), the coal face was usually fairly vertical when each shift of workmen left work. This system of working no doubt led to far more blasting than was really necessary to get the 200 to 220 tons of coal produced daily.

The explosives and detonators were carried by the deputies and shot-firer, and, in addition, one drifter and one brusher were allowed to carry explosives but not detonators. In no case did any hewer carry explosives.

The stemming used was surface clay, which was sent down the pit in tubs and taken into the workings by the trailers from the sidings when required.

Presence of Coal Dust and measures taken to mitigate its danger. — Stone dusting has been extensively done at these pits except where the workings were considered to be naturally wet. Previous to the erection of the stone crushing machine at the Haig Pit six months ago, dust was obtained from outside sources A sample of the dust made showed that 51.35 per cent. passed through a 200 mesh sieve. Samples were taken regularly and the results of the analyses were posted according to the General Regulations of the 30th July, 1920.

The main intake drift at the Haig Pit had been treated and the analysis showed that the combustible matter on the roadway was only 25.92 per cent. No stone dusting had been done in the North District beyond the point where the roadways were considered to be naturally wet.