26 HATCH: THE KOLAR GOLD-FIELD. 



of from 18 to 24 inches. These timbers consist of native woods 

 brought from the Malabar District of the Madras Presidency. 1 

 Protection to the back of the levels is afforded by waste rock or 

 stulls resting on lagging supported by stout stull-pieces which are 

 renewed as soon as they show signs of crushing. Where waste 

 rock is available, additional security is obtained by packing it into 

 the worked-out stopes. If it be desired to keep the level open 

 after the ground beneath has been stoped away, the floor of the 

 level is relaid on timbers. In particularly heavy ground, however, 

 as in the Ooregum Mine, an arch or pillar of solid ground is often 

 left intact under the level ; but this has not always been found 

 satisfactory on account of the treacherous nature of the hanging wall, 

 and the tendency of the quartz to blister off on exposure. 



Development work is done almost entirely by the aid of machine 

 drills, the Climax and Little Hercules patterns being especially 

 favoured. It is carried out by native contractors under European 

 supervision. The contractors are paid at a fixed rate per foot driven, 

 with sometimes an additional bonus, when the monthly footage 

 exceeds a certain minimum. They purchase (from the company) 

 their own explosives, steel and lights, while the company provides 

 the machines, and the power to run them, sharpens the drills and does 

 whatever timbering and pumping may be necessary. In the stopes 

 hand-drilling is the rule, although machine drills are also used. This 

 work is done by contract at a fixed rate per square fathom. The 

 rock broken in development work and in stoping is trammed in 

 small trucks or waggons propelled by hand, to the hauling shaft, 

 where it is either tipped into bins under the plats or the trucks 

 are hoisted in cages or drawn up on rails (as in Crocker's shaft) to 

 the surface. In sinking winzes and shafts the deads are either 

 carried up to the levels by natives in baskets, as at the Ooregum 

 Mine, or hoisted in a bucket or kibble by a windlass, or by a small 

 Lark hoist driven by compressed air. This is generally a part 

 of the sinking contract. Tramming along the levels from the 



1 See p. 5Sfor a description of the native limbers in use on the Kolar gold-field. 



