14 
Miscellaneous. 
Non-fatal 
accidents. 
Minim: districts 
compared. 
Condition of 
persons killed 
and injured. 
Averages. 
catastrophe of the kind at the Working Miners’ United Company's mine, at Homebush, 
at the beginning of the year. Full particulars of the occurrence, and of the steps 
taken to prevent a repetition of it, will he found at page 44 of this publication. 
Although sixteen accidents of a miscellaneous character occurred during 1884, 
fortunately none of them ended fatally, whereas in 1883 no less than five accidents, 
classed under this head, so terminated. 
In dealing with those accidents in which bodily injuries were inflicted, without 
fatal results, I purpose describing only such as were apparently preventable by the 
exercise of ordiuai’y care. The first in this category is accident No. 7, where the 
engine-driver allowed the cage to move, after stopping it, without receiving a signal 
to do so. Through this carelessness, a miner was jammed between the cage and the 
shaft, and sustained painful injuries. The engine-driver was prosecuted, and fined £5, 
with £2 17s. costs. Other acts of carelessness on the part of miners which occurred 
during last year, and through which injuries were inflicted, may be briefly alluded to 
as follows :-«-Jumping out of cage in motion; holding lighted candle close to charges; 
returning to “ missed-ftre ” charges before the prescribed time; rushing to be first up 
the shaft; standing too near trucks under shoots; standing at other dangerous places 
after warning; neglect to properly timber drives; letting material fall down shafts; 
omission to give warning of blasting; falling down passes and winzes ; violation of rules 
of mine; neglect of instructions; leaning over shafts in use, &c., &c. 
The Ballarat district had the largest number of fatal mining accidents during 
1884, namely, 11; but Sandhurst follows close up with 10; Castlemaine, 7; Mary¬ 
borough, 5; Ararat and Gippsland, 3 each; and Beechworth only 2; total, 41. The 
Ballarat district had 10 fatalities in connexion with alluvial, and only 1 in quartz 
mining ; while Sandhurst, on the other hand, had only 1 in alluvial, but 9 in quartz 
mining. In the noil-fatal accidents of last year, Sandhurst shows unpleasantly 
prominent, with a total of 51 men injured ; whilst Ballarat has only 28 ; Maryborough, 
12; Ararat, 6; Beechworth and Gippsland, 4 each; and Castlemaine only 1 ; total for 
the colony, 106. 
Of the 41 victims of the fatal mining accidents which occurred last year, 21 were 
married men, 19 were single, and 1 was a widower. Their names, and the date of 
each accident, will be found in Statement No. 4, and full particulars of each casualty 
in Statement No. 1. Of the 106 persons injured, 64 are married men, 36 single, and 
6 widowers. The cause of each non-fatal accident is shown in Statement No. 6, and 
the names of the persons injured in Statement No. 7. 
The average number of persons killed by mining accidents in Victoria, during 
1884, per 1,000 miners employed, was 1-404. In the coal mines of England, in 1883, 
the average death rate through mining accidents was, according to the “ Reports of 
the Inspectors of Mines,” 2-046 per 1,000 miners employed; whilst in the metalliferous 
mines it was 1-712 per 1,000. The average in the coal mines, New South Wales, in 
1883, was 2-01, and in the coal mines of New Zealand 1-60 per 1,000 miners employed. 
In other words, 1 death occurred for every 712 miners employed in Victoria, 1 
for every 497 employed in New South Wales, and 1 for every 625 employed in New 
Zealand. Statement No. 9 shows the average per thousand killed and injured in 
Victoria for every year during the period 1874 to 1884 inclusive, and Statement 
No. 10 shoA\s the average in quartz and alluvial mining respectively during the same 
