C.—4

30

coaldust inhaled are much larger, also less hard and angular, than silica or rock dust, and on that account are, when inhaled, more likely to be deposited on the mucous secretion of the larger bronchial tubes; also, when absorbed into the lung-tissue, they do not possess the irritating character of the silica particles. Owing to the absence of uniformity in the classification of the deaths from lung-diseases, and the irregularity of the periods for which the returns are available, we are unable to furnish for the purpose of comparison a perfectly parallel statement showing the proportionate death-rate by miners' phthisis in New Zealand and the other countries, but the following official returns are the best evidence available :— Cornwall, England, 1900-2. Mortality-rate per 10,000 Cornish tin-miners :— Phthisis ... ... ... ... ... 5007 Pneumonia ... .. ... ... ... 303 Total .. ... ... ... ... 53-10 BENDiao (Victoria), 1906-9. Mortality-rate per 10,000 quartz-miners :— Tuberculosis ... ... ... ... ... 8804 As against 1582 for all males in Victoria aged twenty-one years and upwards (excluding miners). Queensland and West Australia, 1909. Mortality-rate per 10,000 miners :— Queensland. West Australia. Phthisis ... ... ... ... 22-6 31-06 Pneumonia ... ... ... ... 12-7 1499 Miners'phthisis ... ... ... 2-8 3"21 38-1 49-26 Transvaal. Mortality-rate per 10,000 white miners, including surface workers at mines in the Witwatersrand District. (Note. —-The surface workers constitute between 54 and 58 per cent, of the total number of miners employed) : — 1905. 1906. 1907. Phthisis (of all types) ... ... ... 88 68 848 New Zealand. Mortality-rate per whole population of males (vide Registrar-General's return). No record o*' the occupation of the deceased was given : — 1910. 1909. 1908. Pneumoconiosis ... ... ... 9 6 1 Miners'phthisis ... ... ... 1 10 2 Totals ... ... ... 10 16 3 Proportion per 10,000 males ... ... 019 0-29 0-059 Assuming all deceased were quartz-miners (surface or underground workers) the proportion per 10,000 would be ... 231 42"9 7"2 In the absence of adequate statistical information we desire to draw attention to the following extracts from the evidence by medical practitioners upon the principal quartz-mining fields in this Dominion :— Dr. G. Lapraik, in general practice among Thames miners, stated that— The cases oi'- miners' complaint which have come under my notice have been contracted some time, and I have not seen during the last four years any fresh case of true miners' complaint; I found the disease diminishing. Dr. Denis Walshe, Medical Officer in charge of the Thames Hospital for four years and a half, stated that— Chronic lung-disease is very prevalent at Thames. Two years ago I examined forty-five to fifty men, and found that eight men, or 16 per cent., had that disease, but Ido not desire that to be taken as typical. The persons examined were old miners, who had lived at Thames for many years.