Mines and Quarries Act 1954

7 Temporary appointments during vacancy in office of mine manager or under-manager

(1) Where, by reason of death, resignation or other cause, a vacancy occurs in the office of manager of a mine, nothing in section two of this Act shall prevent the mine being worked at any time during a period not exceeding seventy-two days (or such longer period as an inspector may allow) until the vacancy is filled, if at that time there is a person appointed by the owner of the mine to exercise the powers and perform the duties of manager of the mine during a vacancy in the office, being a person who, at that time, is or could be an under-manager of the mine without the working of the mine thereby being rendered unlawful by or by virtue of subsection (5) of the last foregoing section.

(2) Where, in the case of a mine the working whereof is unlawful unless there is at least one under-manager, a sole or last surviving under-manager dies, resigns or otherwise ceases to hold office, nothing in the last foregoing section shall prevent the mine being worked at any time during a period not exceeding seventy-two days (or such longer period as an inspector may allow) until the vacancy is filled, if at that time there is a person appointed by the owner of the mine to perform the duties of under-manager thereof in the event of a sole or last surviving under-manager ceasing to hold office, being a person who at that time either could be an under-manager of the mine without the working of the mine thereby being rendered unlawful by or by virtue of subsection (5) of the last foregoing section or has such other qualifications as may be prescribed and has within his jurisdiction every part of the mine below ground.

(3) A person appointed by the owner of a mine as mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall, so far as regards any period during which he acts in exercise of his appointment, be treated for the purposes of this Act, orders made thereunder and regulations in all respects as if he were the manager of the mine to which the appointment relates or, as the case may be, an under-manager thereof.