C.— 2.

APPENDIX B. REPORTS RELATING TO THE INSPECTION OF COAL-MINES. The Inspecting Engineer and Chief Inspector op Coal-mines to the Under-Secretary of Mines. Sir,— Wellington, 25th May, 1925. I have the honour to present my annual report, together with statistical information, in regard to coal-mines of the Dominion for the year ended 31st December, 1924, in accordance with section 78 of the Coal-mines Act, 1908. The report is divided into the following sections :— I. Output. 11. Persons employed. 111. Accidents. IV. Working of the Coal-mines Act — (a.) Permitted Explosives. (6.) Dangerous Occurrences. (c.) Electricity at Collieries. (d.) Prosecutions. V. Legislation affecting Coal-mining. Annexures — A. Summary of Annual Reports by Inspectors of Mines. B. Colliery Statistics.

SECTION I.—OUTPUT. The. output of the several classes of coal mined in each inspection district is summarized as follows : —

The following is a table showing the annual production of coal and the quantity of coal imported since 1911 : —

The gross output of coal for 1924 was 113,373 tons in excess of the output for 1923. This increase is wholly due to the increased output of bituminous coal, which is 149,307 tons in excess of the output of bituminous coal for the previous year. Brown coal shows a reduction of _21,343 tons, and lignite a reductiou of 14,591 tons. In the Northern District the output of bitminous coal from the Hikurangi mines was 3,809 tons over that for 1923, and the output of brown coal from the Waikato mines was 149 tons less. In the West Coast District there was an increase of 145,498 tons in the output of bituminous coal, a reduction of 3,537 tons in the output of brown coal, mostly from the Reefton mines, and a reduction of 378 tons of lignite, making altogether a net increase of 141,583 tons for the district. In the Southern District there was a reduction of 17,657 tons in the amount of brown coal produced, and of 14,213 tons of lignite, a total reduction of output for the district of 31,870 tons. The market for all classes of coal was dull throughout the year, and at many of the mines a considerable amount of slack time was worked. The industry was almost free from stoppages due to labour trouble. Co-operative mining still continues to be successfully carried out in the Northern and West Coast Districts.

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Output oi Coal during 1924. " : Total Output Class of Coal. to the Northern District West Coast District Southern District T . u , End of 1924. (North Island). (South Island). (South Island). Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Bituminous and sub-bituminous 129,927 955.077 .. 1,085,004 36,938,671 Brown .. .. .. 507,598 35,173 296,246 839,017 18,990,027 Lignite .. .. .. .. 362 158,824 159,186 3,675,650 Totals for 1924 .. 637,525 990,612 455,070 2,083,207 59,604,348 Totals for 1923 .. 633,865 849,029 , 486,940 1,969,834 57,521,141

Total Quantity of ! | Total Quantity of Year. 1 Coal produced. Coal imported. Coal produced and ' ! Year. Coal produced. Coal imported. Coal produced and imported. j imported. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons 1911 .. 2,066,073 188,068 2,254,141 1918 .. 2,034,250 255,332 2,289,582 1912 .. 2,177,615 364,359 2,541,974 1919 .. 1,847,848 391,434 2,239,282 1913 .. 1,888,005 468,940 2,356,945 1920 .. 1,843,705 476,343 2,320,048 1914 .. 2,275,593 518,070 2,793,663 1921 .. 1,809,095 822,459 2,631,554 1915 .. 2,208,624 353,471 2,562,095 1922 .. 1,857,819 50i,478 2,359,297 1916 .. 2,257,135 293,956 I 2,551,091 1923 .. !,969,834 445,792 i 2,415,626 1917 .. 2,068,419 291,597 2,360,016 1924 .. 2,083,207 674,483 2,757,690