§ (1) An adequate amount of ventilation shall be constantly produced in every mine to dilute and render harmless inflammable and noxious gases to such an extent that all shafts, roads, levels stables, and workings of the mine shall be in a fit state for working and passing therein, and in particular that the intake airways up to within one hundred yards of the first working-place which the air enters shall be kept normally free from inflammable gas. Provided always that an abandoned road or level not used in connexion with the working of the mine shall, if properly fenced off, not be deemed to be a road or level within the meaning of this Section.
§ (2) In the case of mines required to be under the control of a manager, the quantity of air in the main current and in every split and at such other points as may be determined by the regulations of the mine shall at least once in every 1442 month be measured and entered in a book to be kept for the purpose at the mine.
§ (3) For the purposes of this Section a place shall not be deemed to be in a fit state for working or passing therein if the air contains either less than nineteen per cent. of oxygen or more than one-and-a-quarter per cent. of carbon dioxide: Provided that the Secretary of State may by order exempt any mine or mines from the foregoing provision on the ground that they are liable to spontaneous combustion of the coal, but subject to any conditions specified in the order.
§ Amendments made: In Sub-section (1), after the word "working-place," insert the words "at the working-face."
§ At the end of Sub-section (1), insert "and (b) No person shall be liable in respect of any contravention of or failure to comply with the provisions of this Section if he shows that the ventilation was interrupted in consequence of an accident, and that no persons were employed in any part of the mine in which an adequate amount of ventilation was not being produced, except such persons as it was necessary to employ in that part of the mine for the purpose of restoring the ventilation."—[Mr. Masterman.]
§ Mr. MASTERMANI beg to move, in Sub-section. (3), after the word "dioxide," to insert the words "and an airway shall not be deemed to be normally kept free from inflammable gas if the average percentage of inflammable gas found in six samples of air taken by an inspector in the air current in that airway at intervals of not less than a fortnight exceeds one quarter."
§ Mr. S. ROBERTSI beg to move, as an Amendment to the proposed Amendment, after the word "an" ["and an airway"], to insert the word "intake." In Sub-section (1) there is a reference to ventilation in the intake airways, and this Amendment will bring the proposed Amendment into harmony with the first part of the Clause.
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe word may make the proposed Amendment a little clearer; therefore I accept the suggestion.
§ Amendment to the proposed Amendment agreed to.
§ Proposed Amendment, as amended, agreed to.