VICTORIAN STATE COAL MINES. 



377 



Owing to the isolation of the field from railways and good 

 roads, it was only by the adoption of this primitive method 

 that the phenomenal development of the mines was made 

 possible. 



To accommodate the workmen during the emergency period 

 "Canvas Town" had to be erected. The tents were strongly 

 built, and laid out in surveyed rows, with formed streets, strict 

 attention being paid to drainage, and other sanitary conditions. 

 Business people were supplied with sites on entering into a 

 guarantee to faithfully comply with the strict sanitary laws 

 laid down for the government of "Canvas Town." A reticu- 

 lated water service was laid down, the water being pumped 

 from a swamp near the coast, through about two miles of pipes. 

 A double-pan sanitary service was also introduced, and it 

 speaks well for the whole arrangements that during the hot 

 summer of 1910 not one case of fever had to be dealt with. 



Powlett River Camp, February, 1910. 



Ten thousand tons of coal were dumped at grass, and 5000 

 tons were despatched by bullock waggon, by the time the rail- 

 way connection with Nyora reached the mines, 10 weeks, a 

 railway from ISTyora to the coalfield, 27 miles in length, having 

 been constructed by the Railway Department in this time. 



It is interesting to note that all through this period of 

 emergency mining, when hustle and bustle were the order of 

 the day, no serious accident of any kind occurred, which, con- 

 sidering that the roof in the shallow area was a very soft and 

 tender one, was a very creditable result. 



