F. REED. 1

127

C—l 4.

William Willcox is suffering from burns to face due to gas due to mining, and is therefore unable to do any work " ?—Yes, but this was not from Mr. Fletcher. 980. This also reached Mr. Blow and "J. 0." (Mr. Colvin), Minister of Mines. Now, Mr. Reed, are you aware that a form similar to those pink and green ones is supplied to Mr. Fletcher ?—T do not know. 981. Do you know that a similar form is supplied to the Inspector of Mines % —I take it that this is the Inspector's copy. 982. You see that it is signed " B. Bennie. Inspector of Mines " ?—Yes. 983. And no doubt when this form, so far as Willcox is concerned, reached Mr. Bennie on the 20th April, 1912, he was aware that Willcox had been burned by gas ?—lf he read the form he would be aware. 984. Do you think that this would pass through his hands and he would not be aware that Willcox had been burned by gas—do you suggest that ?—I say it is possible. If an officer has to deal with a great number of forms in one day he may pass them on for payment without reading the details on all of them. 985. You have said that you do not know whether Mr. Fletcher received a similar form. ?—I asked Mr. Bennie if he knew of these burnings, and he deliberately said " No." I believe that he had not read Willcox's doctor's certificate. 986. Mr. Fletcher was aware, as I that he gets a similar form that would go to the Inspector ?—You say so. 987. Then he wrote the letter of the 29th March, 1912, and this going on—that Willcox was burned from, gas—where is the suggestion that he was trying to conceal the burnings by gas ?—He did not report the fact in a proper manner. A detective might be able to trace a burning from that clue, perhaps, if he happened to find it. 988. Where is the evidence of a deliberate attempt to conceal the fact that Willcox was burned by gas ?—ln that case there is no evidence of deliberate intent to conceal in the doctor's certificate. 989. You have charged the company with a deliberate attempt to conceal these things ?—Some of them. 990. In all these' cases, with deliberately concealing ?—And not reporting them. 991. Suppression of facts by the company, of deceiving the Government, and a unique instance of suppression of facts : were those statements correct ?—The first two are my opinion, but the unique instance Mr. Tunks (to the Chairman) : My position is this : Mr. Reed has charged us with successfully and deliberately concealing these things over a period of two years. Witness : Yes, from the Mines Department. 992. Mr. Tunks.] So far as Willcox is concerned, at any rate, there does not appear to be any evidence ?—Not of a deliberate attempt, but of concealment. 993. Let us take Kelly's case ?—Kelly's case was reported after concealment was useless. 994. Then the only case we have left is that of Conn ?—And what about Ruston ? 995. Ruston was reported as having escaped without injury, and assuming, Mr. Reed, that Mr. Fletcher's letter is correct, that was not required to be reported, so we eliminate Ruston ?—I say his moral duty was to report everything. 996. Then we have eliminated Ruston, Kelly, and Willcox, so that we are reduced to the one case of Conn as having been deliberately concealed. Now, you are aware that the Inspector has the right to look at the manager's books whenever he goes to the mine ?—Yes. 997. I think you said it was the right and proper thing for an Inspector to do ?—Yes. 998. Here is Mr. Wood's book —that is, the manager of the Extended Mine. I want you to look at it. Mr. Wilford has seen this book. Mr. Bennie saw it at that time—l7th February, 1.912. It says, " During the week examined working-places, airways, and have had examined shafts, buildings, and machinery, and find all safe and in good order. Ventilation good.- —W. Wood." "On Thursday, 15th February, a fall took place in the west side at No. 4 heading face ; sent men. to repair it. On Saturday morning back shift, Deputy Thomas Brownlie reported that a shiftman named David Conn had got his arm burned the previous night while repairing the above fall. It had previously been examined and found all clear. It appears he had been slabbing some of the timber, and had put his light up to see what he was doing when a slight explosion took place, burning his arms.—W. Wood." That is Conn's case, so that Mr. Wood had it in his book. Then another entry in the book is as follows : " Extended Mine, 30/3/12. During the week examined working-places, airways, shafts, buildings, and machinery, and found all safe. On Tuesday morning, 26th, W. Willcox, roadman, got slight,]}' burned in No. 4 dip, back heading, west side, by an explosion of gas. I examined it immediately after and failed to find trace of gas. The deputy, F. Duncan, and W. Wood, assistant deputy, accompanied me.- -W. Wood." He has duly entered these things in his book, which the Inspector had the right to see ?—The Inspector should have seen these entries. 999. Is there any evidence now of concealment ?—No, not in that book by Mr. Wood. 1000. There is no evidence of concealment so far as Mr. Wood's book is concerned ?—No, not in those cases of Conn and Willcox, but there is concealment under section 62 of the Act, which states that, " The mine-manager shall forthwith after the occurrence of any accident attended with serious injury to any person give notice thereof by telegraph to the Minister and to the Inspector, and shall also at the same time send written notice thereof to the Inspector and to the workmen's inspector. Every manager who omits to give such notice shall be guilty of an offence." That was a concealment; putting it in a book and not drawing the attention of anybody to it. 1001. That is, Mr. Reed, assuming that it would be held to be a serious accident under section 62 ? —I say all burnings by gas-explosions are serious accidents.