§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading, read.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMP, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that the present state of the law with respect to explosive substances was very unsatisfactory. The existing Acts dealt only with those explosive substances which might be classed under the general name of gunpowder: but from the inquiries made by Major Majendie and the testimony given by other persons who had devoted attention to the subject, it would appear that there was an absence of legislation with regard to the manufacture, storage, transport, &c. of several large groups of explosives; there was an absence of regulations for the prevention of accidents; there was inadequacy in the regulations for localizing and protecting the public from the effects of possible accidents; there was an inadequacy of the provisions with regard to the inspection 1950 of places where explosives were manufactured and stored, and an absence of regulations with regard to the retail trade in explosives. In addition to those, there were several miscellaneous defects in the existing Acts, such as inelasticity, unsatisfactory nature of the provisions for the punishment of offences against the Acts, imperfect wording, and want of homogeneity. In the three years, 1868, 1869, and 1870, the number of serious accidents from explosive substances in England and Wales was 64, and the number of deaths resulting from them 129. The Bill dealt with the subject under four main divisions. Part I enacted a general law relating to gunpowder, its manufacture and storage; licensing and regulating the storage and sale of gunpowder for retail purposes; and for its safe conveyance by road or otherwise. Part II. contained the law relating to other explosives. In the first place, it regulated the application of the provisions of the first Part to other explosives; it prohibited the manufacture, importation, storage and carriage, of specially dangerous explosives, with necessary provisions in favour of makers and users of explosives for manufacturing and mining purposes, and of small firework manufacturers. Part III. provided for the due administration of the law by Government or local supervision; and Part IV. contained supplemental provisions, legal proceedings, exemptions, and definitions. There were special provisions respecting the application of the Act to Scotland and Ireland. The Bill, which had come up from the Commons, had been shown to be necessary by many recent disasters, and especially by the lamentable catastrophe which occurred within the metropolis last autumn. The noble Earl then moved that the Bill be now read the second time.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly; and committed to a Committee of the Whole House, on Friday next.
§ House adjourned at Six o'clock, till To-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.