liable for injures to a miner caused by a fall of rock from a roof of an entry used by the miners by direction of the mine foreman. Cossette v. Paulton Coal Min. Co., 259 Pa. St. 520. A mine owner or operator is not responsible for work done in the course of the construction of a passageway and he can not be held liable for an injury to a miner caused by a fall of rock from a new and incomplete entry where the underground operations were under the control of a statutory mine foreman, and where the foreman had directed the miners to pass through the new entry in going to and from their work, and where neither the mine owner nor his superintendent had knowledge of the new entry or that it was used by the miners as a passageway. Cossette v. Paulton Coal Min. Co., 259 Pa. St. 520. A mine foreman in charge of a mine knew of the defective condition of the roof of an unfinished entry and suggested to the miners to use the entry in passing to and from their work. Under such circumstances a mine operator can not be charged with negligence and held liable to a miner for injuries received while passing through the unfinished entry. Cossette v. Paulton Coal Min. Co., 259 Pa. St. 520. It is not contributory negligence for a miner to use a new passageway not entirely completed instead of an old passageway not imminently dangerous, but which had been flooded by water for a year or more but not to render it impassable. Cossette v. Paulton Coal Min. Co., 259 Pa. St. 520, p. 525. 13. PROPS-FAILURE TO FURNISH-DUTY AND LIABILITY. A mine owner or operator is not liable for the death of a miner caused by a fall from the roof, due to his alleged failure to furnish props and timbers, where there was no evidence that the mine foreman ever ordered from the superintendent any props that were not promptly furnished, and where it did not appear that any miner in any way ever made a complaint to the superintendent, or brought to his knowledge either in the manner prescribed by the rules of the mine, or otherwise, that there was any shortage of props or timbers. Musin v. Pryor Coal Co., 68 Pa. Super. Ct. Rep. 88, p. 95. 14. SAFETY GATES-APPROVAL BY INSPECTOR. Under section 1, paragraph 3, Article VIII of this act, safety gates are subject to the approval of the mine inspectors and they may approve a certain form or make of safety gate notwithstanding it is controlled from the engine room instead of by the gate at the top and intermediate landings, if the gate otherwise fully meets the requirements of the statute. Safety Gates in Mines, In re (Opinion of Attorney General), 25 Pa. Dist. Rep. 1100. 15. BORE HOLES-PURPOSE OF ACT. The legislature intended by this act to provide that an advance bore hole must be made in the cutting of all clay veins, spars, or faults, whether found in entries or other narrow workings or in rooms or other wide workings. Bore Hole Rule, In re, 41 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 527, p. 529. The legislature in requiring bore holes to be maintained "in entries and other narrow workings going into the solid coal" may have thought that clay veins, spars, or faults might be encountered at any time as the work advanced into the undeveloped coal and for that reason the greatest precautions for safety should be exercised. Commonwealth v. Halbert, 42 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 545, p. 549. Rule 18 of this act is applicable only to mines wherein explosive gas is generated in dangerous quantities and in such mines a bore hole should be kept not less than three feet in advance of the face of the workings or three feet in advance of any shot hole drilled for the purpose of firing any shot, or whenever clay veins, spars, or faults are about to be cut in any of the mine workings, and such bore hole should be kept in advance of the face of the workings or of a shot hole in the cutting of all entries or other narrow workings going into the solid coal. Bore Hole Rule, In re, 41 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 527, p. 259. Rule 18 of this act requires a bore hole to be kept in advance "in the cutting of clay veins, spars or faults, entries or other narrow workings going into the solid coal." This act omits the word "in " preceeding the word "entries" as found in rule 61 of the act of May 15, 1893 (P. L. 52). The omission is significant and broadens the scope and application of the rule in a material degree and requires the advance bore holes in cutting of clay veins, spars, or faults whether found in entries or other narrow workings or in room or other wide workings. Bore Hole Rule, In re, 41 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 527, p. 529. 16. BLASTING COAL-FIRING BLASTS-APPLICATION OF ACT. Paragraph 2 of section 14 of article IV of this act provides that only in mines in which coal is blasted from the solid, the hole shall be fired when the workmen are out of the mine, except the shot firers and other persons designated by the mine foreman. Section 14 in its entirety is not limited in its scope to mines in which explosive gas is generated, but its provisions extend to all bituminous coal mines in which coal is blasted from the solid. The second paragraph is not to be narrowed in its application to mines or portions of mines in which such gas is generated. Coal Mine Blasting, In re (Opinion of Attorney General) 25 Pa. Dist. Rep. 1035, p. 1036. The proviso in the first paragraph of section 9 of Article IV of this act provides that in districts in which it has been the common purpose to blast coal from the solid, this practice or method may be continued. Under this proviso it would not be sufficient to constitute a common practice" of blasting from the solid if that had been the method of one mine only of the district however long continued or if merely the usage of some of the mine. But to come within the permission of the act the practice must have been the common method of usage of the district. The term "common practice" as used in the act is intended to mean literally and precisely what it says and it must be a practice that was general, uniform, and common to all the mines of any given district at the time of this enactment. Coal Mine Blasting, In re (Opinion of Attorney General) 25 Pa. Dist. Rep. 1035, p. 1036. BORE HOLE IN ENTRY-FIRST AMENDMENT. LAWS 1915, P. 310. MAY 13, 1915. AN ACT to amend rule 18 of the General Rules, in Article XXV of the act of 'June 9, 1911 (P. L. 756), entitled "An act," etc. (Same as in sec. 1.) SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.: That rule 18 of the General Rules, of Article XXV, of the act of June 9, 1911, (P. L. 756), entitled "An act to provide for the health and safety of persons employed in and about the bituminous coal mines of Pennsylvania, and for the protection and preservation of property connected therewith," which rule reads as follows: (Here follows rule 18, as given in the act of June 9, 1911. See preceding act) be, and hereby is, amended so as to read as follows: Rule 18. In the cutting of clay veins. spars, or faults in entries or other narrow workings going into the solid coal, in mines wherein explosive gas is generated in dangerous quantities, a bore hole shall be kept not less than three feet in advance of the face of the work, or three feet in advance of any shot hole drilled for a blast to be fired in. EMPLOYMENT OF MINE FOREMEN AND FIRE BOSSES SECOND AMENDMENT. LAWS 1915, P. 716. JUNE 1, 1915. AN ACT to amend section 1 of Article IV, section 1 of Article V, and section 9 of Article XXIV of an act, entitled "An act to provide for the health and safety of persons employed in and about the bituminous coal mines of Pennsylvania, and for the protection and preservation of property connected therewith," approved June 9, 1911; permitting operators, managers and superintendents free selection of mine foremen, assistant mine foremen and fire bosses; and placing mine employees under the supervision and control of the operator. NOTE. The sections of this amendatory_act_amending the sections of Articles IV and XXIV are under the title Mine Foremen-Employment and Duties. (Bituminous Mines.) See page 207. The section amending section 1 of Article V is under the title Fire BossesEmployment and Duties. See page 60. OPERATORS TO FURNISH MAPS TO ADJOINING OWNERS. LAWS 1911, P. 954. JUNE 15, 1911. AN ACT requiring owners, lessees, or operators of bituminous coal or clay mines to furnish the owners or lessees of adjoining coal or clay lands with maps of the mines and workings along the division line of such coal or clay lands, and permitting the owners or lessees of such adjoining coal or clay lands to enter such mines and make surveys. and to verify the accuracy of such maps. NOTE. This act is under the title, Maps. See p. 187. That limited partnerships for the transaction of any agricultural, mercantile, mechanical, mining and transporting of coal, or manufacturing business, within this State, may be formed by two or more persons, upon the terms, with the rights and powers, and subject to the conditions and liabilities herein prescribed; but the provisions of this act shall not be construed to authorize any such partnership for the purpose of banking or making insurance. SEC. 2. Such partnerships may consist of one or more persons, who shall be called general partners, and who shall be jointly and severally responsible as general partners now are by law, and of one or more persons who shall contribute in actual cash payments, a specific sum as capital to the common stock, who shall be called special partners, and who shall not be liable for the debts of the partnership beyond the fund so contributed by him or them to the capital. SEC. 3. The general partners only shall be authorized to transact business and sign for the partnership, and to bind the same. SEC. 4. The persons desirous of forming such partnership shall make and severally sign a certificate, which shall contain: I. The name or firm under which such partnership is to be conducted. III. The names of all the general and special partners interested therein, distinguishing which are general and which are special partners, and their respective places of residence. IV. The amount of capital which each special partner shall have contributed to the common stock. V. The period at which the partnership is to commence, and the period at which it will terminate. SEC. 5. The certificate shall be acknowledged by the several persons signing the same, in the manner, and before the same persons, that deeds are now acknowledged, and the said acknowledgment shall be certified in the same manner as the acknowledgment of deeds are now certified. SEC. 6. The certificates so acknowledged and certified, shall be recorded and filed in the office of the recorder of deeds of the proper county, in which the principal place of business of the partnership shall be situated, and shall also be recorded by him at large, in a book to be kept for that purpose open to public inspection: If the partnership shall have places of business situated in different counties, a transcript of the certificate and of the acknowledgment thereof, duly certified by the recorder in whose office it shall be filed, and under his official seal, shall be filed and recorded in like manner in the office of the recorder of every such county. SEC. 7. At the time of filing the original certificate, with the evidence of the acknowledgment thereof, as before directed, an affidavit of one or more of the general partners shall also be filed in the same office, stating the sums specified in the certificate to have been contributed by each of the special partners to the common stock, and to have been actually, and in good faith, paid in cash. SEC. 8. No such partnership shall be deemed to have been formed until a certificate shall have been made, acknowledged and filed, and recorded, nor until an affidavit shall have been filed as above directed; and if any false statement be made in such certificate or affidavit, all the persons interested in such partnership shall be liable for all the engagements thereof, as general partners. INDUSTRIAL PARTNERSHIP-PROFIT SHARING. LAWS 1871, P. 389. AN ACT to promote industrial partnerships. JUNE 15, 1871. SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.: That individuals and corporations employing labor may give to employees, in addition to regular wages, or in lieu thereof, a conditional interest in the profits of the business, to be regulated and determined by agreement between the parties; and the employee receiving such conditional share of profits shall not by reason thereof be deemed liable for the debts or losses of the business, or have any voice in the management, except in so far as may be clearly defined in the constitution or agreement under which the association is organized or operations conducted. SEC. 2. That any manufacturing, mining or improvement company, firm or partnership, now doing business under the laws of this Commonwealth, or which may hereafter be chartered, may, without change of name, accept the provisions of this act and organize its business in accordance therewith, first giving notice to the auditor of its intention so to do, and filing with him a statement of the capital to be employed and in what it consists, and a copy of the articles of agreement or constitution and by-laws by which the operations of the company or association is to be governed. SEC. 3. That no company shall be entitled to the benefits of this act which shall not, in its agreement or articles of association, filed with the auditor general as aforesaid, provide for the distribution of at least one-half of the net profits of its business to its employees, after paying a dividend of not more than ten per centum per annum upon its stock. SEC. 4. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. LAWS 1874, P. 271. FORMATION. JUNE 2, 1874. AN ACT authorizing the formation of partnership associations, in which the capital subscribed shall alone be responsible for the debts of the association, except under certain circumstances. SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.: That when any three or more persons may desire to form a partnership association, for the purpose of conducting any lawful business or occupation within the United States or elsewhere, whose principal office or place of business shall be established and maintained within this State, by subscribing and contributing capital thereto, which capital shall alone be liable for the debts of such association, it shall and may be lawful for such persons to sign and acknowledge, before some officer competent to take the acknowledg125672°-20-50 |