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faces being charged with the deleterious gases thrown off by the old workings which it passes through This the owners propose to rectify immediately by putting through from the new workings a°t a point which will communicate with a straight drive 4 chains from the bottom of the old mine Eeports well kept and rules posted, but plan in arrears. (21/11/1900) • Owing to wet weather the mine-mouth showed signs of closing, and. some 500 tons of cover have been removed. Mine entrance and cross-measures drive from No. 1 north level very wet and dirty. Pillars adjoining the old mine-workings are being well taken out. Air good throughout the mine ; 7,950 cubic feet of air per minute at the intake. On the Bth May, James McEorie was taking down a stone from the roof, when it came away unexpectedly ; left leg fractured E - R - Green, Inspector of Mines.

Office of Inspector of Mines, Dunedin, 29th March, 1901. lie non-compliance with section 33 subsection (1), "Coal-mines Act, 1891," on the 21st instant at the Allendale Coal Company's Mine, Shag Point-Mine-manager, Alex. Gillanders; general manager, Allan Mcintosh ; secretary, W. Everest—all of Shag Point: _ I have to report that while visiting this mine as above, accompanying the Coal-mines Oommis°'l n There was~a~ deficiency in the ventilation at the pillar face workings, No. 2 north level, off No 2'lie main seam. The air was not conducted to the faces, the stentons were not stopped ott, and thWair naturally took the nearest route to the return, leaving the working-faces unsupplied. The air where Hinks and son and Wilson and McLellan were working was polluted with blackdamp from the waste ; the temperature was high, and the men were working under very uncomfortab e T c °° a e l^° a n g S also inade q Uate ventilation in the new workings which underly the main seam and have only recently been opened up. Six men-McMillan, Smith McLaren, Cook and McKav-work in the section visited (north side). The air was smoky and hot at the face being almost stagnant. There was so little air-current in the intake to this district (stone drive) that I could not obtain a record of movement on my anemometer. The air at the main intake (old mine mouth) measured 6,750 cubic feet per minute, an average of 143 cubic feet per minute for each of the forty-five men and two horses underground. This would be an adequate quantity under ordinary circumstances if conducted to the working-faces ; but in this mine the air intake traverses the old mine-workings for some 9 chains before the present workings are reached. Naturally, there is an exudation of black-damp from the old workings into the intake air. . , , I mentioned this to Mr. Mcintosh in May last year, when he informed me that he was considering the question of sinking a shaft for ventilation and second out et This matter now requires immediate attention ; a << creep " on the old mine is causing the intake bottom to heave bS most of the timber is broken, and the airway throughout its entire length is so low and contracted in area that it cannot be called a travelling-way (we had to go through it bent double or on hands and knees). A double shift of men should be put on at once to lift and stow bottom and renew Smber where broken. The main engine incline has not been receiving proper attention ; several sTs of timber knocked out have not been renewed, and the fallen stone from the roof lies where it fell—on the travelling-way. . ~. I have written Mr. Mcintosh in reference to these matters, and have also required him to remedy the same forthwith. . E. E. Green, Inspector of Mines. The Under-Secretary, Mines Department, Wellington.

Office of Inspector of Mines, Dunedin, 17th April, 1901. I visited and examined the Allendale Colliery yesterday, the 16th. An adequate quantity of air wis circulating throughout the working-places. The intake airway referred to mmy report of the 29th a bent f ow and contracted in area is being enlarged. A gang of five men are lifting and Sna bottom and renewing timber where required. The roof, however, in this part of the mine stands well and it is the rising bottom, due to " creep," which causes the props to break Plals are being prepared to drive a pair of new levels in the solid from the foot of the old dip to the top of a heading in the No. 3 seam. A shaft is to be sunk at a point near the pump and the xhausSteam thereflom turned into it. The intake air will then travel to the working-places through the new levels in the coal, and the route through the old Under-Secretary, Mines Department, Wellington.

lie Allendalb Colliery. Sefbbbncb to my reports for the years 1898-1900, as Inspector of Mines for the Southern District, S show That I have referred each year to the difficulties under which this mine as situated as 7eLds bad roof &c and faults. I have never found the owners trying to deliberately avoid the Act, 1891," and have been asked by the present manager to inspect the Tm" to coming to Wellington) I found that the, work^ Eextajing , the nillar coal from the rise end of the field had commenced. At that time the face of work was a considerable distance from the main intake airway, and the latter was not then in any way mped led The natural sequence of removing the" pillar coal is to cause the adjacen ground to heave and swell. If the pillars left to support roadways are on the small side (and this is a great