§ Mr. HOLLANDasked the Secretary for Mines whether he is satisfied that 2339W the system of supporting the roof by packing is as adequate in mechanised pits as it is in pits where the coal is hand got; what relationship the lessened support, if any, is responsible for any increase in the accident rates; and whether the inspectoral department has been consulted on this aspect of safety in mines?
§ Captain CROOKSHANKThe available data are not sufficient to enable me to make any generalised comparisons in these matters but the great importance of timely and sufficient packing for the support of machine-mined faces is being increasingly verified by the experimental work of the Safety in Mines Research Board and is being repeatedly stressed by the Inspectors of Mines in their daily work and reports. The effect of mechanised mining on liability to accident is one of the matters to which the attention of the Royal Commission on Safety in Mines has been called.