command of the law, and in the interest and for the protection of the miners; where, therefore, reasonable care in his selection has been exercised, the operator is not liable for injuries resulting from his negligence. The operator of a coal mine fulfils the measure of his duty to his employees if he commits his work to careful and skilful bosses and superintendents, who conduct the same to the best of their skill and ability. Christner v. Cumberland & Elk L. C. Co., 146, 67 (1892). Injuries received by a coal miner having been caused proximately by his own negligence, his right of action against the mine owner therefor is not supported by proof of the defendant's violation of the provisions of the act of June 30, 1885, P. L. 205, when the violations in no way proximately caused or contributed to the injuries. Lineoski v. Susquehanna Coal Co., 157, 153 (1893). A mining boss under the act of June 30, 1885, is the fellow servant of other workmen engaged in the mine, and if proper care has been exercised in selecting a competent person for the position, the employer is not liable for his negligence. The provision of rule 24 of the 12th article of the act of June 30, 1885, requiring the mine owner to give notice of any apprehended danger to the mine foreman, does not make the latter the representative of the former for all purposes, so as to charge the owner with liability. Opinion of Attorney-General, 14 C. C. R. 447 (1894). Under the act of May 15, 1893, the mine foreman and mine boss, in addition to having knowledge and practical experience, must be able to read and write. Mulhern v. Lehigh Valley C. Co., 161, 270 (1894). The act of June 30, 1885, requiring the employment of a sober and competent engineer, does not change the common law rule of the employer's liability for the acts of his employee. A mining company is not liable for an injury to a miner caused by a mishoist by the engineer, where there is no evidence that the company had knowledge that the engineer was incompetent. Gray v. Germania Coal Co., 164, 508 (1894). Where the mine owner has placed the entire control and management of the inside operation of his mine in the hands of a mine boss having a ceritficate of competency, as provided by the act of June 30, 1885, P. L. 205, whose competency is not questioned, the mine owner is not liable for negli gence in such operation unless he personally participated therein. The question of his personal participation is for the jury. Durkin v. Kingston Coal Co., 171, 193 (1895). Sec. 8, art. 17, of the act of June 2, 1891, in so far as it imposed liability of the mine owner for the failure of a mine foreman to comply with the provisions of the act which compels his employment and defines his duties, is unconstitutional and void. The State having certified to the competency of the foreman, and compelled his employment, cannot make the mine owner responsible for his incompetency and negligence. A mine foreman who neglects to examine the roads and ways in use in each mine each day, as required by the act of June 2, 1891, is liable personally for injuries sustained by a miner resulting from his neglect. Graham v. Newburg Oriel C. & C. Co., 38, 273 West Virginia. (1893). The omission by the operator of a coal mine of the duty to provide the means of ventilation and to employ fire and mining bosses, as required by Code of 1891, p. 991, and acts of 1887, ch. 50, is negligence, and renders him liable to an employee for injury resulting from such omission of duty. APPENDIX. UNITED STATES STATUTES. MINERAL LANDS AND MINING RESOURCES. In all cases lands valuable for minerals shall be reserved from sale, except as otherwise expressly directed by law. Rev. Stats. 2318. Mineral lands reserved. Mineral lands not The following classes of lands, unless otherwise specially provided for by law, shall not be subject to the subject to pre-emprights of pre-emption, to wit: Fourth. Lands on which are situated any known salines or mines. Rev. Stats. 2258. tion Nor shall any mineral lands be liable to entry and nor to homestead settlement under its [chapter on Homesteads] provisions. Rev. Stats. 2302. Town-site entries may be made by incorporated towns and cities on the mineral lands of the United States, but no title shall be acquired by such towns or cities to any vein of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or lead, or to any valid mining claim or possession held under existing law. entry. Town-site entries not to include mining rights. Mining claims in When mineral veins are possessed within the limits of an incorporated town or city, and such possession incorporated towns preserved. is recognized by local authority or by the laws of the United States, the title to town lots shall be subject to such recognized possession and the necessary use thereof, and when entry has been made or patent issued for such town sites to such incorporated town or city, the possessor of such mineral vein may enter and receive patent for such mineral vein, and the surface ground appertaining thereto: Provided, that no entry shall be made by such mineral-vein claimant for surface ground where the owner or occupier of the surface ground shall have had possession of the same before the inception of the title of the mineral-vein applicant. Act of March 3, 1891, ch. 561, sec. 16; 26 Stat. L. 1095; Supp. to Rev. Stats., Vol. 1, p. 945. Prior rights of surface owners pro tected. Mineral lands in certain States excepted. Grants of lands tions not to in clude mineral lands. The provisions of the preceding sections of this chapter shall not apply to the mineral lands situated in the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, which are declared free and open to exploration and purchase, according to legal subdivisions, in like manner as before the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventytwo. And any bona fide entries of such lands within the States named since the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, may be patented without reference to any of the foregoing provisions of this chapter. Such lands shall be offered for public sale in the same manner, at the same minimum price, and under the same rights of pre-emption as other public lands. Rev. Stats. 2345. Within the States of Missouri and Kansas deposits of coal, iron, lead, or other mineral are hereby excluded from the operation of the act entitled "An act to promote the development of mining resources of the United States," approved May 10, 1872, and all lands in such States shall be subject to disposal as agricultural lands. Act of May 5, 1876, ch. 91; 19 Stat. L. 52; Supp. to Rev. Stats., Vol. 1, p. 104. . Within the State of Alabama all public lands, whether mineral or otherwise, shall be subject to disposal only as agricultural lands: Provided however, that all lands which have heretofore been reported to the General Land Office as containing coal and iron shall first be offered at public sale. Act of March 3, 1883, ch. 118; 22 Stat. L. 487; Supp. to Rev. Stats., Vol. 1, p. 404. No act passed at the first session of the Thirty-eighth to States or corpora- Congress, granting lands to States or corporations to aid in the construction of roads or for other purposes, or to extend the time of grants made prior to the thirtieth day of January, eighteen hundred and sixtyfive, shall be so construed as to embrace mineral lands, which in all cases are reserved exclusively to the United States, unless otherwise specially provided in the act or acts making the grant. Stats. 2346. Mineral lands in military reservations. Mineral lands open to purchase. Rev. Whenever any lands containing valuable mineral deposits shall be vacated by the reduction or abandonment of any military reservation under the provisions of this act, the same shall be disposed of exclusively under the mineral land laws of the United States. Act of July 5, 1884, ch. 214, sec. 5; 23 Stat. L. 103; Supp. to Rev. Stats., Vol. 1, p. 455. All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to |