§ MR. KIMBER (Wandsworth)asked the hon. Member for the Knutsford Division of Cheshire, as representing the Metropolitan Board of Works. Whether, at the recent fire at Whiteley's and other great fires in the Metropolitan District, it has been found that a great and dangerous accessory to the conflagration has bean the bursting of gas pipes serving the premises; whether the Board or any other authority posess the power to require all premises supplied with gas to have a ready means of disconnecting such supply outside the premises accessible to the police immediately on discovery of fire; and, whether any precautions are or will be taken in this direction?
§ MR. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)(who replied) said: The Metropolitan Board of Works is now in recess, and I am not in a position to give authoritative answers on its behalf; but as the present Question relates to the same subject as the Metropolitan Board of Works (Fire Brigade Expenses) Bill, of which I have charge in this House, I have thought it right, in the absence of the hon. Member for the Knutsford Division of Cheshire (Mr. Tatton Egerton) to make inquiry upon it of Captain Shaw, who states as follows: —
No gas-pipes burst at the recent fires at Mr. Whiteley's premises; and, in fact, the bursting of gas-pipes during fires is a very rare event and has never given me any trouble.I am not aware that the Board or any other authority possess the power suggested in the hon. Member's Question.