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NUMBER OF OFFICIALS.

The persons employed underground were supervised in their work by the following staff of officials :– Manager, Mr. J. P. Hall; under-manager, Mr. R. Heslop ; two foreovermen, one back-overman, two master shifters, and 22 deputies.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES.

Five hundred and twenty-seven men and boys were employed underground, and 118 on the surface, making a total of 645 persons.

OUTPUT.

The output of coal was from six to seven hundred tons per diem.

VENTILATION.

The ventilation of the various seams was produced by a Guibal fan 35 feet in diameter by 10 feet wide, which at 35 revolutions and a water gauge of 1.5 inches, circulated 76,000 to 78,000 cubic feet of air per minute through the mine. This current of air was, according to the last recorded measurements on 12th February, distributed in the four seams being worked as follows :–

Towneley Seam	21,756	cubic feet.
Tilley Seam	15,545	"
Busty Seam	10,210	"
Brockwell Seam	17,297	"
	======
	64,808

with small scales into each of the upper seams amounting in all to about 12,000 cubic feet.

METHOD OF WORKING.

The Towneley and Tilley Seams were worked by the longwall method; in the Brockwell Seam, on the south side of the shafts, this method was also followed, whilst on the north side of the shafts in this seam, pillars were being removed ; in the Busty seam the working consisted entirely of the removal of pillars.

The extent of the workings in each seam is shown on the accompanying plans.

COAL-CUTTING MACHINES.

In the Towneley, Tilley, and Brockwell seams there were in use four electrically driven coal-cutting machines of the Hurd Bar-type. Two of these machines were in the Towneley seam and one each in the Tilley and Brockwell seams. In the latter seam there was also a spare machine in a stenton near the upcast shaft bottom.

OTHER MACHINERY UNDERGROUND.

In addition to the above-mentioned machines, the following plant, electrically driven, was installed underground :–

In the Brass Thill seam, a 25-h.p. motor for driving a pump.

In the Towneley seam, a haulage motor of 100-h.p. hauling from the straight West District and a 5-h.p. motor driving a 3-throw pump situate in the straight West Way.

In the Tilley seam, a 25-h.p. motor for driving an air compressor.

In the Busty seam, a 100-h.p. motor driving a three-throw pump close to the downcast shaft; two 5-h.p. motors, each driving a small pump and each situate in the West Way; a 5-h.p. motor driving a creeper on the south side of the downcast shaft.

In the Brockwell seam, a 48-h.p. motor for driving an air compressor. (This machinery had, however, never been used.)

GENERATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC CURRENT.

The electric current for driving the above-mentioned motors was generated on the surface at the colliery in the form of 40-period three-phase current at a pressure of 550 volts. The current was led from the generator to a switchboard in the generator house, and distributed thence through separate switches to the surface buildings and the mine; it was taken down the downcast shaft by means of three 37/14 copper cables insulated by dialite composition, but unarmoured. The three mains leading to the shaft were controlled by a single triple pole oil-immersed switch and three fuses, the latter of 150 amperes capacity, all on the main switchboard in the generating station.