§ MR. W. CRAWFORD (Durham, Mid)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If he is aware that some of his Predecessors have had printed and issued a verbatim report of the minutes of evidence taken before Coroners' Courts in cases of explosions in mines; if he is aware that in the case of Seaham, in the County of Durham, 110 where 168 lives were lost, and the inquest lasted 12 days, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Derby (Sir William Harcourt) had printed in a Blue Book a full report of all the evidence taken before the Coroner and jury, although the workmen had not, or ever did attribute negligence as the cause of the disaster; if he knows that in the case of the explosion at St. Helen's Colliery, in Cumberland, the workmen do allege negligence of management as the direct cause of so many lives being lost, and that they contemplate taking legal action under the provisions of the Employers' Liability Act to recover compensation for the relatives of the deceased; and, whether, under these exceptional circumstances, he will order a verbatim report of the evidence tendered before the Coroner's Court or Courts in the St. Helen's inquiry?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)The answer to the first Question is in the affirmative. I am not aware that the men allege negligence of management as the direct cause of loss of life, or that they contemplate taking legal action. I am unable to lay a verbatim report of the evidence upon the Table, as there was no shorthand writer present at the Coroner's inquest; but the Report which I have just received and will shortly lay on the Table of the House specifically refers to the important witnesses, and to the facts to which they deposed.