H—l4

1881. NEW ZEALAND.

CONTROL AND INSPECTION OF MINES (REPORT ON).

Presented to both Souses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency

To the Hon. William Rolleston, Minister of Mines. Sir, —■ Mines Department, Wellington, 20th June, 1881. I have the honor to forward for your information the following report upon the official control and inspection of mines under "The Regulation of Mines Act, 1874," showing the transactions under the Act, &c, since my last general report of the 15th of July, 1880, with an appendix containing the reports of inspections of coal mines during the year, and the usual statistical tables. I have, &c, Oliver Wakefielb, Under-Secretary for Mines.

REPORT

Inspections, Reports, etc. There has been steady progress in the work of this branch of the Mines Department during the past year Frequent inspections have been made of the principal coal mines most requiring attention, the mines of less importance having also received their due share of inspection, and the provisions of the Act have been fully enforced wherever necessary since the proclamation of mining districts and the formal appointment of Inspectors to them, referred to in my report of last year In addition to the appointment of Messrs McLaren and Binns respectively to the districts in the North and South Islands, Mr Cox (Assistant Geologist, formerly holding a general appointment as an Inspector), has, under your direction, been appointed severally to each district proclaimed under the Act, and has been instructed to give one-fourth of his time to this department. The report of his recent inspections, under this appointment, will be found with the other Inspectors' reports in the appendix. The condition of the Shag Point Goal Mine has again this year claimed a large share of attention, and in addition to the Inspectors' reports, recent special correspondence upon this subject is published at the end of the appendix, this matter and Mr Binns's letter being again referred to in Mr Inspector Cox's report upon this mine. During the year Mr Inspector Binns has taken steps to establish the Act and special rules in various of the smaller coal mines in the South Island requiring inspection, and special rules for some of these have been approved by the Governor and gazetted, but in the case of mere prospecting mines, and others of little importance, a draft copy of rules has been left with the owners for their guidance in adopting measures for securing safety in working. 11. 14—1.