C—3

118

1987. How many mates had you?—l had five. 1988. Working in two shifts?— Working in three shifts. 1989. In a day's work ?—Yes. 1990. Mr. Moody.] That is two of you at a time?— Yes. 1991. The Chairman.] What size is the drift ?—Bft. wide and 6ft. high ; some places less and in some places higher than that. 1992. Was that the whole time the drift has been driving ?—We w 7 orked the whole time, but I did not put in the whole 12 chains. I was in at the beginning and when we left the coal. 1993. You say 12 chains? —I think there was 13. 1994. Was it hard driving?— Very good driving—all contract work. 1995. At how much per foot ?—We had three contract prices—£1, £2, and £1 75., according to the hardness of the ground. 1996. What made the change? Did you change from the rock?—We had a leader of fireclay and coal rising—rising to the west; they were as much as Ift. and 18in. thick, rising before us. 1997. It was water-level ? —Yes. 1998. How did that make the driving harder ?—Because it was mostly grit coming up from the bottom. 1999. And you could not get holing—that was the disadvantage ? —We had to draw it instead of holing. 2000. Did any of these coal leaders go with you steady ?—We had one or two for about a fortnight to keep with us, but w 7 e always lost it in the roof before they passed on. 2001. You did not follow them up in the roof always?— No. 2002. How far was it before you came to any change?—-We got a big change in the last 50ft. 2003. What was it ?—Hard solid rock driving. 2004. Did you notice the nature of the change? Was it a slide? What did it change with? —It was a slide instead of that hard rock. There was a big foot-wall. We got more scaly stuff. After going through the hard we came on a big slide. 2005. How many feet going through the hard stuff ?—We drove 40ft. odd. 2006. With a dip before you into the floor?— Yes. 2007. Not in the drive ?—lt was sideways, opposite to the drive. It was dipping from the upside on the long-ways and driving to the left hand. We had the best work in that bend [indicating on plan], but the manager turned us to the hill. 2008. Why was that?—He thought we could catch the coal quicker by going to the hill. It was dipping 1 in 3 to the left-hand side and driving in the last straight piece on the plan. 2009. Was it inullocky ? —Yes, it w 7 as very hard and shiny. 2010. Did it burst at all ?—No. 2011. What did you come to ? Did you keep following that along ?—Yes; it made driving good. 2012. It was a good parting? —Yes ; we put a hole in it on the upper side. It was coaly stuff, the same as we had when w 7 e started before on the hanging-wall. 2013. What was its lowest thickness ?—lft. 18in. 2014. What was over it?—lt seemed to be grit; very hard. 2015. That was all you had on to the face ?—That was all we had on to the face. 2016. That is the last you saw ?—Yes. 2017. That straight piece is bad driving on the face on that side ?—Yes. 2018. Where were the boreholes put down?—We drove to the west pretty steep—under 1 in 3—for 30ft., and then put down a borehole 50ft. 2019. Did you get any coal ?—We are supposed to have struck that side [shown on plan]: that gave off a lot of gas. 2020. Is that the first gas you got on the stone drift ?—Yes. 2021. You never got coal in that ? —No ; when we got to the slide the gas came off, and we put another borehole down : that borehole was 120 ft. 2022. What did you get ? —We supposed we struck the solid, but we never got any gas; we did not get any gas at all; we never completed even the first hole; we followed the soft stuff until we lost it altogether, and then we had to drive through the hard solid stuff to the top. 2023. And is that the whole of what was done ?—-That is all that was done in that locality ever since. 2024. What did you and your mates think about these operations ?—We had opinions of our own; our opinion, of course, was that the coal was this side of the slide [indicating on plan]. If we had put in a drive the same length on the other side of the slide we think we should have got the coal. 2025. That is, if you had cross-driven to the right through the foot-wall of the solid?— Yes. 2026. Why did you think so ?—Because we thought it was a throw-over, and that the slide had thrown the coal on its end, very nearly, at that time. 2027. You did not go into the foot-wall at all?— No. 2028. What did you think it was made by ? —I have seen leaders of coal about it, and so have my mates, but there was nothing done inside of the foot-wall. 2029. Was it like a rough coal outside ? —Yes. 2030. It was grit, then? —Yes; what they call loose crushed. 2031. Mr Moody.] What do you think w 7 ere the average quantities that you drove at the £1, £1 75., and £2?— We had no big contracts. It was just month for month. If we got hard ground it would be a bigger price. There would be an average of 29ft. for the three prices. 2032. Would that be a good average?— Yes. 2033. The Chairman.] When were you in last ?—lt will be three years next November. There has been no work done since then, when the boring-gear was brought out,