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(/.) Prosecutions. There were sixteen prosecutions, against six for the previous year. The Manager of the New Brighton Mine was convicted and fined £2 and costs for failing to notify that a person had been injured by an ignition of fire-damp. A shot-firer in the Taupiri Extended Mine was convicted and fined £5 and costs for firing a shot without first seeing that all persons in the vicinity had taken proper shelter. A deputy in the Huntly Coal-mine was convicted and fined £1 and costs for examining the mine, prior to the shift commencing work, without a locked safety-lamp. The manager of the Huntly Coal-mine was prosecuted for not carrying out the requirements of the Coal-mines Act as regards the inspection of the mine before work was commenced, and for failing to provide trailers for a jig. On the first charge he was fined £25 and costs, and on the second charge convicted and ordered to pay costs. A miner employed in the Old Cardiff Mine was fined £3 and costs for failing to adequately timber his working-place. A miner employed in the Old Cardiff Mine was fined £5 and costs for taking into the mine explosives which were not in a securely covered case or canister. The holders of coal lease 5700 were fined £6 and costs for failing to pay £2 Is. 2d. to the Coalminers' Relief Pund. A miner in the Millerton Mine was fined £1 and costs for having cigarette-papers in his possession m a safety-lamp portion of the mine. A deputy in the Reefton Coal Company's mine was charged with failing to carry out the requirements of the Coal-mines Act as regards the examination of the mine before work was commenced, but the charges failed. The manager of the Golden Point Mine was convicted and fined £1 and costs for not examining the mine with a locked safety-lamp before the commencement of work. Two miners in the Golden Point Mine were each fined ss. and costs for entering the mine without being informed by the deputy that it had been examined. A miner in the Hikurangi Coal Company's mine was convicted and fined £5 with £4 costs for using threatening behaviour and abusive language against another workman. The manager of the A 1 Mine, Reefton, was convicted and fined £1 and costs for not examining the mine with a locked safety-lamp before the men entered the mine ; and two miners were fined ss. each and costs for entering the mine without being informed by the deputy that it had been so examined. SECTION V.—LEGISLATION AFFECTING COAL-MINES. The Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1924, requires a locality-plan to be filed with an application for a prospecting license or coal-mining lease, makes new provisions regarding the payment of royalty under coal-mining leases, empowers the Minister to grant relief from payment of rent to the holder of a coal-mining lease, provides for the sale of coal won during prospecting under a prospecting license, requires that the main intake and main return airways in a coal-mine shall be not less than 50 ft. apart, and that stoppings between the main airways and air-crossings shall be constructed of non-inflammable materials ; and makes further provisions regarding the erection of bathhouses, the preparation of mine plans, and the qualifications of inine-managers in small mines. The only alteration to the regulations was the addition of a new regulation authorizing the payment of a weekly allowance from a Sick and Accident Fund or the Coal-miners' Relief Fund to a miner who has been permanently totally incapacitated through an accident. I desire to ackowledge the efficient help and co-operation which I have received from the Inspectors during the past year. I have, &c., J. A. C. Bayne, Inspecting Engineer and Chief Inspector of Coal-mines.

ANNEXURE A. SUMMARY OF REPORTS BY INSPECTORS OP MINES. Northern Inspection District (Mr. William Barclay, Inspector). During 1924 an increase of 3,660 tons occurred in the coal-production of the North Island, and the notable increase of 113,712 tons for the year 1923 was therefore fully maintained, the total output for 1924 being 637,525 tons. The average number of men employed, however, decreased by 150 as compared with the number employed during 1923. The decline was due to the cessation of mining operations in the Taupiri Extended Colliery which ordinarily employed a larger number in proportion to its output than other mines. Hikurangi District. Hikurangi Goal Company (Limited). —Hikurangi No. 1 (P.W.) Mine : Early in the year a party of eleven miners entered upon another agreement to work a faulted section of the coal that had been abandoned by the company as being unprofitable to mine. The machinery was provided by the company, and the party, working on co-operative principles, extended the east stone drive 130 ft, through hard sandstone to a seam of coal 7 ft. in thickness—proved by

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