MINE ECONOMICS. 63 



not always give the best results. Quarters, furniture, fuel, lights 

 and servants are provided by the companies. Medical attendance is 

 free, and the men who are laid up by sickness continue to draw full 

 pay. There is a well-equipped hospital, a good club for the officers, 

 and reading and recreation rooms for the men. 



Altogether the condition of living in the Kolar gold-fields com- 

 pares favourably with most other mining centres. 



[3. — ADMINISTRATION AND WORKING COSTS. 



The Kolar gold mines are the property of London companies and 

 are controlled by boards of directors with headquarters in London. 

 The technical management of the mines now working is, with one 

 exception (the Tank Block), in the hands of the London firm of 

 John Taylor and Sons, and the Superintendents and the other 

 officers of the companies are appointed in London, Locally the 

 mines are managed by the Superintendent with or without an Assist- 

 ant Superintendent. The following are the natural divisions into 

 which the local administration falls : office, under the Chief Cashier ; 

 underground work, under the Chief Mine-agent; surface work, 

 under the Chief Engineer; mill, under the Chief Reduction-officer; 

 cyanide works, under the Cyanide Chemist. In each department 

 the chief officer has one or more assistants. The mine plans are 

 kept up to date by the Survey Department which acts for the whole 

 group of mines ; but in most cases a special Survey Officer is also 

 attached permanently to the mine. The assay work is divided 

 between the Reduction-officers and the Cyanide Chemists, The 

 duties of the different departments are as follows : — The Office re- 

 ceives the bullion won, pays the salaries of the officials and the 

 wages of the men, keeps the stores and controls their distribution. 

 The Underground Department is concerned with the development 

 and mining of the ore ; the Engineering Department with the erec- 

 tion and maintenance of the plant and machinery; the Milling De- 

 partment with the crushing of the ore and the extraction of the gold 

 by amalgamation ; and the Cyanide Department with the extraction 

 of the gold from the mill-tailings and slimes. 



