This Act may be cited as the Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1910, and shall form part of and be read together with the Coal-mines Act, 1908.

All persons who before the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and nine, had for a period of not less than twelve months during the preceding three years held the position of underviewer or fireman and deputy in any coal-mine may, on application to the Board of Examiners before the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and eleven, be granted a certificate of service as underviewer, or as fireman and deputy, as the case may be.

This section is in substitution for subsection three of section nine of the Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1909, and that subsection is hereby accordingly repealed.

If any underviewer or fireman and deputy is incapacitated from performing his duties, or is about to be absent from the mine, for more than three days, the manager of the mine shall, in writing, appoint some person approved by an Inspector to act as the deputy of that official during his incapacity or absence; but no such deputy shall act for more than twenty-one days.

Section nine of the Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1909, is hereby amended by inserting after subsection three the following subsection:—

Notwithstanding anything in section fifty-five of the Workers’ Compensation Act, 1908, any money paid out of the Sick and Accident Fund or the Coal-miners’ Relief Fund in respect of the death or injury of any coal-miner shall not be deducted from any compensation payable under the Workers’ Compensation Act, 1908, in respect of the accident that caused the death or injury.

Section eight of the Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1909, is hereby repealed.

Section seventy-seven of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding after paragraph (i) the following new paragraph:—

Section eighty of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “except” in subsection two thereof, and substituting the word “including”; and by omitting the words “and one farthing per ton on all brown coal and lignite sold during the same period.”

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any coal-mining lease or elsewhere, this section applies to coal-mines in existence at the commencement of this Act as well as to those thereafter opened up.

Section one hundred and nine of the principal Act is hereby amended as from the coming into operation of that Act by inserting the word “or” after the words “as aforesaid” in subsection one thereof.