A.D. 1872. report not to be dangerous.

Safety lamps and

lights.

Gunpowder

Every such report shall be recorded in a book which shall be kept at the mine for the purpose, and shall be signed by the person making the same.

(7) In every working approaching any place where there is likely to be an accumulation of explosive gas, no lamp or light other than a locked safety lamp shall be allowed or used, and whenever safety lamps are required by this Act, or by the special rules made in pursuance of this Act to be used, a competent person who shall be appointed for the purpose shall examine every safety lamp immediately before it is taken into the workings for use, and ascertain it to be secure and securely locked, and in any part of a mine in which safety lamps are so required to be used, they shall not be used until they have been so examined and found secure and securely locked, and shall not without due authority be unlocked, and in the said part of a mine a person shall not, unless he is appointed for the purpose, have in his possession any key or contrivance for opening the lock of any such safety lamp, or any lucifer match or apparatus of any kind for striking a light.

(8) Gunpowder or other explosive or inflammable and blast substance shall only be used in the mine underground

ing.

as follows:

(a) It shall not be stored in the mine :

(b) It shall not be taken into the mine, except in a case or canister containing not more than

four pounds.

Note to Sect. 51, Sub-section 8 (b).-(See views of

Home Secretary hereon in Times of 12th November,

1881.) Opinion of law officers on this sub-section is A.D. 1872. that the words "When the persons ordinarily employed in the mine are out of the mine " mean that where inflammable gas, that showed a blue cap on the flame of a safety lamp, has been found in any mine three months prior to blasting, only the persons actually employed in the blasting operations may be in the mine during the blasting, and not, as is generally supposed, while the workmen making ready the mine were present in the pit.

(c) A workman shall not have in use at one time in any one place more than one of such cases or canisters :

(d) In charging holes for blasting, an iron or steel pricker shall not be used, and a person shall not have in his possession in the mine underground any iron or steel pricker, and an iron or steel tamping rod or stemmer shall not be used for ramming either the wadding or the first part of the tamping or stemming on the powder:

(e) A charge of powder which has missed fire shall not be unrammed:

(f) It shall not be taken into or be in possession of any person in any mine, except in cartridges, and shall not be used, except in accordance with the following regulations, during three months after any inflammable gas has been found in any such mine; namely,

(1) A competent person who shall be appointed for the purpose shall, immediately before firing the shot, examine the

A.D. 1872

place where it is to be used, and the places contiguous thereto, and shall not allow the shot to be fired unless he finds it safe to do so, and a shot shall not be fired except by or under the direction of a competent person who shall be appointed for the purpose:

(2) If the said inflammable gas issued so freely that it showed a blue cap on the flame of the safety lamp, it shall only be used(a) Either in those cases of stone drifts, stone work, and sinking of shafts, in which the ventilation is so managed that the return air from the place where the powder is used passes into the main return aircourse without passing any place in actual course of working; or, (b) When the persons ordinarily employed in the mine are out of the mine or out of the part of the mine where it is used:*

(g) Where a mine is divided into separate panels in such manner that each panel has an independent intake and return air-way from the main return air-course, the provisions of this rule with respect to gunpowder or other explosive inflammable substance shall apply to each such panel in like manner as if it were a separate mine.

* Note to sect. 51 (ƒ) (2) (b). Night shift included. See Letter Sec. State, Appendix, p. 423.

bore-holes.

(9) Where a place is likely to contain a dangerous A.D. 1872. accumulation of water the working approaching such Water and place shall not exceed eight feet in width, and there shall be constantly kept at a sufficient distance, not being less than five yards, in advance, at least one bore-hole near the centre of the working, and sufficient flank bore-holes on each side.

(10) Every underground plane on which persons Man-holes. travel, which is self-acting or worked by an engine, windlass, or gin, shall be provided (if exceeding thirty yards in length) with some proper means of signalling between the stopping places and the ends of the plane, and shall be provided in every case, at intervals of not more than twenty yards, with sufficient man-holes for places of refuge.

(11) Every road on which persons travel underground where the load is drawn by a horse or other animal shall be provided, at intervals of not more than fifty yards, with sufficient man-holes, or with a space for a place of refuge, which space shall be of sufficient length, and of at least three feet in width, between the waggons running on the tramroad and the side of such road.

(12) Every man-hole and space for a place of refuge shall be constantly kept clear, and no person shall place anything in a man-hole or such space so as to prevent access thereto.

old shafts.

(13) The top of every shaft which for the time Fencing of being is out of use, or used only as an air shaft, shall be securely fenced.

(14) The top and all entrances between the top and Fencing of bottom of every working or pumping shaft shall be shafts.

entrances to

A.D. 1872. properly fenced, but this shall not be taken to forbid the temporary removal of the fence for the purpose of repairs or other operations, if proper precautions are used.

Securing of shafts.

Securing of roofs and

sides.

Use of different shafts.

Attendance of engine

man.

Signalling.

(15) Where the natural strata are not safe, every working or pumping shaft shall be securely cased, lined, or otherwise made secure.

(16) The roof and sides of every travelling road and working place shall be made secure, and a person shall not, unless appointed for the purpose of exploring or repairing, travel or work in any such travelling road or working place which is not so made secure.

(17) Where there is a downcast and furnace shaft, and both such shafts are provided with apparatus in use for raising and lowering persons, every person employed in the mine shall, upon giving reasonable notice, have the option of using the downcast shaft.

(18) In any mine which is usually entered by means of machinery, a competent person of such age as prescribed by this Act shall be appointed for the purpose of working the machinery which is employed in lowering and raising persons therein, and shall attend for the said purpose during the whole time that any person is below ground in the mine.

(19) Every working shaft used for the purpose of drawing minerals or for the lowering or raising of persons, shall, if exceeding fifty yards in depth, and not exempted in writing by the inspector of the district, be provided with guides and some proper means of communicating distinct and definite signals from the bottom of the shaft and from every entrance for the time being in work between the surface and