VICTORIAN COAL MINES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2743, 23 February 1910, Page 3

VICTORIAN COAL MI NES.

NEW REGULATIONS

By the coming into operation on Ist February the first and second divisions of the Coal Alines Regulation Act, this important branch of the mining industry, which has great prospects of immediate development in Victoria, will he placed under regulations specially devised for it. Hitherto the mining legislation of that State lias been devised in the main for gold mining. Broadly speaking, tlm Act has been framed on the English, Ne>v South Wales, and New Zealand Acts, though, some new clauses have been introduced to meet local requirements. The Act contains numerous provisions of detail designed to ensure the wellbeing of the workers. The most important is that which applies the eight hours principle. Miners are not to work shifts longer than eight hours, the period being calculated from the time they leave the surface to the time they reach it again, and they must be at least eight hours above ground before they can do another shift below. There is'also a- provision of thirty minutes for “crib” time. Persons jn charge of machinery are not to be employed lor more than eight consecutive hours, including thirty minutes’ “crib” time, in any twenty-four hours, except in cases of emergency.. Boys under 17 arc not to be employed underground, while boys under 14 'years and females are altogether prohibited from employment "about, any coal mine. In case of payment by wages, the employees _ shall have" power to appoint a cheek weigher. All mi'ue managers must hold firstclass certificates, and the working of a mine by single shaft tunnels or outlets is prohibited. 'No parson who has not been previouslv employed as a coal getter will be allowed to work alone in the face until lie has had at least a year’s experience of) such work under the supervision of a skilled'workman. The.- Act also provides for the establishment of a Coal Miners’ Accident Relief Board.