or one or more operators, setting forth that any of the mine inspectors are neglectful of their duty, or are incompetent to perform the duties of their office, or are guilty of malfeasance in office, he shall at once investigate the matter, and if he shall be satisfied that the charge or charges are well founded, he shall then petition the court of common pleas, or the judge in chambers, in any county within or partly within the inspection district of the said mine inspector: which court, upon receipt of said petition and a report of the character of the charges and testimony produced, shall at once issue a citation in the name of the Commonwealth to the said inspector, to appear on not less than fifteen days' notice, on a fixed day before said court, at which time the court shall proceed to inquire into the allegations of the petitioners, and may require the attendance of such witnesses on subpoena issued and served by the proper officer or officers, as the judge of the court and the chief of said bureau may deem necessary in the case; the inspector under investigation shall also have similar power and authority to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf. If the court shall find by said investigation that the said mine inspector is guilty of neglecting his official duties, or is incompetent to perform the duties of his office, or is guilty of malfeasance in office, the said court shall certify the same to the governor, who shall declare the office vacant, and shall proceed to supply the vacancy as provided for by the mining laws of this State. The cost of said investigation shall, if the charges are sustained, be imposed upon the mine inspector; but if the charges are not sustained the cost shall be paid out of the State treasury, upon voucher or vouchers duly certified as to correctness by the judge or proper officer of the court where such proceedings are held. To enable the said chief of the bureau of mines to conduct more effectually his examinations and investigations of the charges and complaints which may be made by petitioners against any of the mine inspectors as herein provided, he shall have power to administer oaths and take affidavits and depositions in form and manner provided by law: Provided however, That nothing in this section shall be so construed as to repeal section thirteen of article two of the act of assembly approved June 2, 1891, entitled "An act to provide for the health and safety of persons employed in and about the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania, and for the protection and preservation of property connected therewith," and also articles thirteen and fourteen of an act of assembly approved May 15, 1893, entitled "An act relating to bituminous coal mines, and providing for the lives, health, safety, and welfare of persons employed therein." (See pp. 635, 697.)

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the chief of the bureau of mines to take charge of and preserve in his office the annual reports of the mine inspectors and transmit a copy of them, together with such other statistical data compiled therefrom and other matter relating to the work of the bureau as may be of public interest, properly addressed to the secretary of internal affairs for transmission to the governor and the general assembly of this Commonwealth on or before the first day of March in each year. It shall also be the duty of the chief of the bureau of mines to see that said reports, or a copy of them, are placed in the hands of the Public Printer for publication at the same date; the same to be published under direction of the secretary of internal affairs as other reports of his department are now required by law to be published, and in order that the chief of said bureau may be able to prepare, compile, and transmit his annual report to the secretary of internal affairs within the time herein specified, the mine inspectors are hereby required to deliver their annual reports to the secretary of internal affairs on or before the fifteenth day of February in each year. In addition to the annual reports herein required of the mine inspectors, the said mine inspectors shall furnish to the chief of the bureau of

mines monthly and also such special reports or information on any subject regarding mine accidents or other matters pertaining to mining interests or the safety of persons employed in mines as he at any time may require or may deem necessary in the proper and lawful discharge of his official duties. The chief of the bureau of mines shall also establish, as far as may be practicable, a uniform style and size of blanks for the annual, monthly, and special reports of the mine inspectors and prescribe the form and character of subject matter to be embraced in the text, and the tabulated statements of their reports. The chief of the bureau of mines is hereby authorized to make such examinations and investigations as may enable him to report upon the various systems of coal mining practiced in the State, method of mining, ventilation, machinery employed, structure and character of the several coal seams operated, and of the associated strata, the circumstances and responsibility of mine accidents, economy of coal production, coal waste, area and exhaustion of coal territory, and such other matters as may pertain to the general welfare of coal miners and others connected with coal mining, and the interests of coal mine owners and operators in this Commonwealth.

SEC. 6. The chief of the bureau of mines shall keep in his office a journal or record of all examinations made and work done under his administration and copies of all official communications, and is hereby authorized to procure such books, instruments, and chemicals or other tests as may be found necessary to the proper discharge of his duties under this act at the expense of the State. All instruments, plans, books, and records pertaining to the office shall be the property of the State and shall be delivered to his successor in office.

SEC. 7. The chief of the bureau of mines shall at all times be accountable to the secretary of internal affairs for the faithful discharge of the duties imposed upon him by law and the administration of his office, and the rules and regulations pertaining to said bureau shall be subject to the approval of the secretary of internal affairs, who is hereby empowered to appoint an assistant to the chief of the bureau at a salary of fourteen hundred dollars per annum, and a messenger at a salary of three hundred dollars per annum: And provided further, That the salaries of the chief of the bureau of mines, his assistant, and the messenger shall be paid out of the State treasury in the manner as other employees of the department of internal affairs are now paid: Provided, That the chief of said bureau of mines may be removed or suspended at any time by the secretary of internal affairs when in the opinion of said secretary there has been a neglect of duty or a failure to comply with the law or the instructions of the secretary of internal affairs.

SEC. 8. No person who is acting as a land agent or as manager, viewer or agent of any mine or colliery, or who is interested in operating any mine or colliery, shall at the same time serve as chief of the bureau of mines under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 9. That the mine inspector of each district of this State shall, within six months after the final passage and approval of this act, deposit in the bureau of mines an accurate map or plan of such coal mine, which may be on tracing muslin or sun print, drawn to a prescribed scale; which map or plan shall show the actual location of all openings, excavations, shafts, tunnels, slopes, planes, main headings, cross headings, and rooms or working places in each strata operated, pumps, fans or other ventilating apparatus, the entire course and direction of air currents, the relation and proximity of the workings of such coal mines to all other adjoining mines or coal lands, and the relative elevation of all tunnels and headings and of the face of working places near to or approaching boundary lines or adjacent mines; and on or before the close of

each calendar year transmit to the chief of the bureau of mines a supplemental map or plan showing all excavations, changes and additions made in such mine during the year, drawn to the scale as the first-mentioned map or plan. All such maps or plans to be and remain in the bureau of mines as a part of the records of that office.

SEC. 10. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

TRANSFER TO DEPARTMENT OF MINES.

LAWS 1903, P. 569,

APRIL 16, 1903.

IN THE SENATE, APRIL 16, 1903.

RESOLVED (that if the House concur), That all books and papers in the office of the secretary of internal affairs, relative to the bureau of mines, be transferred to the new department of mines. (See p. 11.)

ANNOTATIONS.

BUREAU OF MINES.

1. CHIEF OF BUREAU-DUTY AS TO REPORTS OF INSPECTORS.

2. MISTAKES IN PUBLICATIONS-EFFECT ON LIABILITY OF OPERATOR.

1. CHIEF OF BUREAU-DUTY AS TO REPORTS OF INSPECTORS.

A

The chief of the bureau of mines is required by this act to preserve the annual reports of mine inspectors and transmit a copy with other statistical data and other matters of public interest to the governor and the General Assembly. mistake in such a report and the subsequent publication as to the ownership of a mine would not be binding upon the real owner and would not estop him from setting up any available defense in an action involving his right or liability. Burke v. Sterrick Creek Coal Co., 15 Pa. Dist. Rep. 643, p. 644.

2. MISTAKES IN PUBLICATIONS-EFFECT ON LIABILITY OF OPERATOR.

An injured miner brought suit against a mining company for damages for injuries received. The action was defeated on the ground that the defendant was not operating the colliery at the time the complainant received his injury. Subsequently the plaintiff sued the rightful owner and operator of the colliery for damages for the alleged injuries. The action was barred by the statute of limitations, but the complainant insisted on the right to maintain the action because the misnomer of the owner of the colliery had been made in the publication of the bureau of mines in the department of internal affairs. The defendant, the mine owner, was not estopped because of the mistake in the publication from pleading the statute of limitations.

Burke v. Sterrick Creek Coal Co., 15 Pa. Dist. Rep. 643, p. 645.

APPROPRIATIONS-OFFICERS BUREAU OF MINES.

LAWS 1897, 471, P. 475.

1897.

JULY 30, 1897.

AN ACT to provide for the ordinary expenses of the executive, judicial and legislativedepartments of the Commonwealth, etc.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That the following sums

are hereby specifically appropriated for

the several objects hereinafter named for the two fiscal years commencing on June 1, 1897.

SEC. 2.

For the payment of the salary of the chief of the bureau of mines, (should such office be created), two years, the sum of $5,750, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

For the payment of the salary of the assistant chief of the bureau of mines, (should such office be created), two years, the sum of $2,684, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

For the payment of the salary of the messenger in the bureau of mines, (should such office be created), two years, the sum of $575, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

For the payment of contingent expenses, two years, the sum of $5,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

*

For contingent expenses of the bureau of mines of the department of internal affairs, (provided that such bureau shall be created), the sum of $1,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for each of the two years ending June 30, 1899.

1899.

LAWS 1899, 364, P. 368.

MAY 13, 1899.

AN ACT to provide for the ordinary expenses of the executive, judicial and legislative departments of the Commonwealth, etc.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That the following sums (appropriated for the objects named hereinafter) for the two fiscal years commencing on the first day of June, 1899.

SEC. 2.

For the payment of the salary of the chief of the bureau of mines, two years, the sum of $6,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

For the payment of the salary of the assistant chief of the bureau of mines, two years, the sum of $2,800, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

For the payment of the salary of the messenger in the bureau of mines, two years, the sum of $600, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

For the payment of contingent expenses, two years, the sum of $5,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

LAWS 1901, P. 814.

1901.

JULY 18, 1901.

AN ACT to provide for the ordinary expenses of the executive, judicial and legislative departments of the Commonwealth, etc.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That the following sums * * * be and the same are hereby specifically appropriated to the several objects hereinafter named for the two fiscal years beginning on the first day of June, 1901. (Salaries of officers, bureau of mines.) SEC. 2. *

For the payment of the salary of the chief of the bureau of mines, two years, the sum of $6,000. * * *

For the payment of the salary of the assistant chief of the bureau of mines, two years, the sum of $2,800. * * *

For the payment of the salary of the messenger in the bureau of mines, two years, the sum of $600. *

*

For the payment of the salary of a clerk, who shall be a stenographer and typewriter, in the bureau of mines and mining, the sum of $2,000, for two years.

(This item disapproved.)

For the payment of the deficiency in the expenses of the bureau of mines, for the year ending June 1, 1901, the sum of $350.

For the payment of contingent expenses, two years, the sum of $5,000.

LAWS 1908, 502, P. 507.

1903.

MAY 15, 1903.

AN ACT to provide for the ordinary expenses of the executive, judicial and legislative departments of the Commonwealth, etc.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That the following sums * * * be and the same are hereby specifically appropriated to the several objects hereinafter named, for the two fiscal years commencing June 1, 1903.

*

*

For the payment of the contingent expenses of the bureau of mines of the department of internal affairs, the sum of $3,000 for the two years beginning June 1, 1903.

*

*

ANNOTATIONS.

APPROPRATIONS FOR SALARIES.

PAYMENT OF SALARIES OF OFFICERS.

By this act the chief of the bureau of mines and his assistants can be paid to May 31, 1903.

Department of Mines, In re, 12 Pa. Dist. Rep., 514.

Department of Mines, In re, 28 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 243, p. 244.

PUBLICATION-REPORTS-BUREAU OF MINES.

LAWS 1899, 178, P. 180.

MAY 2, 1899.

AN ACT to regulate the publication, binding and distribution of the public documents of this Commonwealth.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That from and after the passage of this act, the printing, binding, distribution, and number of the several public documents of this Commonwealth shall be as follows, to wit: *

IX. Eight thousand six hundred copies of the report of the secretary of internal affairs on mines; two thousand for the Senate, four thousand for the House, two thousand for the secretary of internal affairs, fifty for the Governor, fifty for the secretary of the Commonwealth, one hundred for the State librarian, and four hundred to be reserved for official documents.

PUBLICATION OF REPORTS—AMENDMENT.

LAWS 1903, P. 246.

APRIL 22, 1903.

AN ACT to amend an act, entitled "An act to regulate the publication, binding and distribution of the public documents of this Commonwealth," approved June (May) 2, 1899.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That from and after the passage of this act, the printing, binding, distribution, and number of the several public documents of this Commonwealth shall be as follows, to wit: (Here follows the original paragraph IX.)

SEC. 9. (IX) Eight thousand six hundred copies of the Report of the Department of Mines, one thousand for the Senate, two thousand for the House, five thousand to the Department of Mines, fifty for the Governor, fifty for the secretary of the Commonwealth, one hundred for the State librarian, and four hundred to be reserved for official documents. (See p. 11.)