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Details of Event: The way to his work in the adit level was by a ladderway in the drawing shaft. Deceased went down two or three minutes before his mates, one of whom, on reaching the adit level, and while waiting to get a light, heard groans coming from somewhere lower down the shaft. He climbed further down and saw deceased lying face downwards across one of the timbers supporting the pumps some 45 feet below the adit level. He was about to step out of the ladder to take hold of deceased until other men came to his help, when deceased suddenly overbalanced backwards and fell a further distance of 45 feet to the bottom of the shaft. Deceased's work was at the adit level, and he should have known quite well that he had arrived there by the splashing if the water delivered there by the pump, which was at work. At the top of the ladderway leading from the adit level to the level below, there was a hinged door covering the manhole in the sollar or landing. The man who last saw this door prior to the accident swore at the inquest that it was shut. To fall to where he was found, deceased had passed through the manhole and to do so must have opened the door. His work did not take him in the direction of the door nor was there anything else that would take him that way. He had worked three months in the mine and always at the adit level. The ladderway was in good condition.