§ Order for Third Reading, read.
§ MR. FORSTERcomplained that this Bill had been galloped through its previous stages in a most unseemly way, which precluded all discussion upon it. He should not oppose the Bill; but it was very necessary to caution the public and the workmen in collieries against relying upon it as a substitute for that caution, prudence, and personal vigilance which alone could prevent those fatal accidents. If, relying on the Bill, they relaxed that care which alone could secure them against danger, the most fearful results might follow. In the case of the large collieries, like that with which he was himself connected, the Bill must be a dead letter, because they had as competent inspectors always on the spot as could be found by the Government to act under the Bill. In their workings they employed 1,500 men and boys, and for the last fifteen years their casualties had not exceeded on an average more than one man a year. The same caution and the same system prevailed in the other large collieries belonging to the Earl of Durham, the Marquess of Londonderry, and others. Then, with respect to the smaller collieries, he very much doubted whether the Bill would not do more harm than good in their case, by removing a portion of the responsibility from the owners to the Government inspectors. This sort of legislative interference with trade was most dangerous, particularly in a case of this kind, where you attempt to supply individual care and prudence by Act of Parliament, which is impossible. But it was most important that it should go forth to the workmen that there was nothing in this Act to protect them against the consequences of their own reckless imprudence, and that any reliance upon it for that purpose would be most fatal to their own security.
§ Read 3°; Amendments made; Bill passed, with Amendments.