§ MR. BRUNNER (Cheshire, Northwich)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the finding of the Coroner's Court in an inquest on the body of Mr. John Dutton, of Davenham, Cheshire, to the effect that the cause of death was "blood-poisoning, the result of severe injuries to his arm caused by being dragged against a barbed wire fencing by a pony," and to the observations of the Medical Officer of Health at the meeting of the Rural Sanitary Authority of the district on the danger of wounds caused by barbed wire fencing; and whether he will take steps to amend the law so as to render illegal this description of fencing at the side of a footpath or a public highway?
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. George'sMy attention has been called to a newspaper report of the proceedings at the Coroner's Inquest in the case of Mr. Dutton, of Davenham, and I also to the proceedings 1044 at the meeting of the Rural Sanitary Authority with regard to the case. As I understand, the injury which led to the blood-poisoning, which was the cause of the death, was the result of an accident. Mr. Dutton was leading a pony and the animal made a spring and knocked him into the hedge, and, in consequence of his finger being fixed in the halter, he was dragged along the wire of the fence. It appears from the evidence that the barbed wire was not immediately adjoining the foot-path, but there was a sort of gutter between the footpath and the hedge. I cannot give any promise to propose legislation with regard to fencing of the character referred to.