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district, dynamite, litliofracteur, Hall’s blasting powder, Curtis and Harvey’s, and 
colonial safety powder are used. The local inspector considers that dynamite and 
litliofracteur possess great advantages over powder in wet ground, but that the fumes 
from them are hurtful to the miners, especially when used in dry ground. 
Mr. Inspector Trezise (Maryborough) states that the explosives used in his 
district are (1) Hall’s blasting powder, (2) Stawell giant powder, (3) Nobel’s 
dynamite, and (4) colonial litliofracteur. He considers that dynamite and litlio- 
fracteur should be used only in wet shafts or where there is a good current of air; 
the general consensus of opinion among miners being that they are injurious to health; 
while in very many places powder could be used with equal advantage, except that 
there is a saving of labour in boring with dynamite, as a lesser hole is required. Mr. 
Trezise states that the manager of the New Bendigo Co., St. Arnaud (Mr. Rew), has 
been using the Stawell (colonial) giant powder since January, and he states the cost 
is less by one-third than the imported powder or dynamite. The advantages of this 
explosive are — 1st. That there is no danger from ignition, as it will not explode until 
it is tamped and the air excluded. 2nd. That it can be compressed by tamping without 
any danger of exploding. 3rd. That compression increases the explosive power, 
making it equal to dynamite. 4th. The miners who are using it prefer it to Hall’s 
powder and to uitro-glycerine compounds. The Stawell explosive, however, is only 
adapted for dry ground. 
The Senior Inspector of Mines, who has the supervision of the Castlemaine 
district, states that gunpowder and the nitro-glycerine compounds (litliofracteur, dyna¬ 
mite, and gelatine) are commonly used in his district. For driving, stoping, or sinking 
through the ordinary dry blasting ground, and without the assistance of rock-boring 
machinery, gunpowder is the general explosive; and for hard and wet ground the nitro¬ 
glycerine explosives are used, and are incomparably superior to gunpowder, for the 
following reasons : — 1st. Because of the lesser size of the steel drill required (whether 
machine or manual labour is employed in drilling); 2nd. Because of the short time occu¬ 
pied in charging a hole with litliofracteur or dynamite, as compared with gunpowder; 
and 3rd. Because the strength of nitro-glycerine compounds is scarcely affected by 
water, while the absorption of moisture by gunpowder rapidly destroys its usefulness as 
an explosive. On the score of the disadvantages connected with the use of explosives 
in badly ventilated parts of mines, there is not much choice between the fumes from 
dynamite and the black smoke from gunpowder. Certainly the means for “ dispersing” 
the former are more easily obtained than the current of air necessary for removing the 
latter. 
The well-known fact, alluded to by Mr. Nicholas, that the absorption of 
moisture by gunpowder destroys its usefulness, has led to an attempt being made by 
Mr. Cock, a mine manager of Sandhurst, to produce a waterproof covering for powder 
made with nitrate of soda. No public experiments have yet been made 'with this 
compound, but the manager of the New Chum Railway Company states that he fired 
a few charges of it, that it did its work well, and, in his opinion, will be found 
particularly useful in wet mines. A gentleman who has carefully examined the 
explosive has favoured me (through the Mining Registrar at Sandhurst) with the result 
of his examination, which is as follows: — 
The compound appears to have the property of resisting deterioration by damp without materially 
differing from ordinary powder in its component parts. Sulphur, which in the general article in use is 
diffused through the body of the material, is, iu this instance, partly employed as a glaze to protect the 
more susceptible ingredients from the effects of moisture. It is an undoubted fact that pellets formed in 
this manner can bo employed successfully in exploding mines under water, no effect being perccptiblo in the 
condition of the powder after immersion for days, thus overcoming the oft experienced; difficulty of main¬ 
taining powder in an efficient state, even for military purposes, in damp climates. As to the proportion 
which the sulphur bears to the other ingredient, viz., nitre and carbon, I have been umible to obtain any 
information, and therefore refrain from hazarding any opinion as to the relative strength of the one as 
compared with the other. In no case, however, would it be possible that the fumes given off could be more 
deleterious than those emitted by the combustion of powder prepared in the ordinary form. There might 
possibly bo an excess of sulphurous acid gas, and a perceptible diminution of force and slowness of action, 
compared, weight for weight, with ordinary powder. Experiments can, however, alone determine this. 
A sample of the compound has been submitted to Mr. J. Cosmo Newbery, who 
reports that lie is doubtful of the advantages of the waterproof coating, inasmuch as 
he thinks the constant changes of temperature will crack the covering and allow moisture 
to enter. He will not, however, be able to report fully to the Department until the 
end of the summer. 
