Reports of the Inspectors of Mines of the anthracite coal regions of ...

Ex, Doc] Repor'ts of the Inspectors of Mines. 133
now holding the position of mine bosses, and all persons who ma}' desire
to apply for a position as such, and who shall give to all such as they ma}^
find competent, certificates to that effect, and no person should be allowed
to hold, or apply for the position of mine boss, until he could show a cer-
tificate of his qualification. The managers of coal mines in Great Britain
are compelled to undergo such an examination as I suggest, and I think
there can be no doubt in the mind of any man but that we need a higher
standard in America, and I sincerely hope the time is not far distant when
we shall have a radical reform in this matter.
The >Iine Ventilation Law.
It seems very strange that we cannot get the mine ventilation law cor-
rectly published for our use, as it now stands. Several attempts have
been made to insert it in the annual reports of the inspectors. It was
published with the reports of the inspectors for 1875, by P. F. Mc An-
drews, mine clerk for Schuylkill county, &c., but it was utterly useless, in
the form it was then published, because of the numerous additions and
omissions which unaccountably crept into it. Those errors were corrected
by my friend, T. M. Williams, Esquire, inspector of mines for the Wilkes-
Barre district, in his report for 1876. But, through some oversight, Mr.
Williams did not include the supplements. The original act has again
been published in pamphlet form, by the State printer, for free distribu-
tion, but the supplements have been omitted in this also. It is fortunate
that the supplements do not bear upon the duties of any class immediately
employed in the mines. The supplement reenacting the first section,
which was approved Ma}' 8, 1876, is of considerable importance to owners
and operators of collieries, and for their information and guidance I think
proper to insert it. I also insert the supplement amending the fourteenth
section. All the other sections remain as at first enacted .
A supplement to an act, entitled "An act providing for the health and safety of persons
employed in coal mines," approved the third day of March, A. D. 1870, making the
neglect to comijly with the tirst section of said act a misdemeanor.
Section 1. Be it enacted^ (&c.. That the first section of the said act be
amended so as to read as follows, namely : " That the owner or agent of
every anthracite coal mine or colliery shall make, or cause to be made, an
accurate map or plan of the workings of such coal mines or colliery, on a
scale of not more than one hundred feet to the inch, which map or plan
shall exhibit the workings in each seam of coal, and shall state the general
inclination of the strata, with any material deflection therein in said work-
ings, and shall truthfully and accurately show the boundary lines of the
said coal mines or colliery, and the proximity of the workings to the lines
of adjacent owners, a true copy of which map or plan the said owner or
agent shall deposit with the inspectors of coal mines or collieries for the
district in which the coal mine or colliery is situated, within four months
from the passage of this act, and one copy shall be kept at the office of
each colliery ; and the said owner or agent shall furnish to the inspector