§ MR. CAYLEYsaid, he would beg to ask the right hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Florae Department whether he was able to furnish more information respecting the late catastrophe at the colliery near Barnsley than had yet been given to the public?
§ SIR GEORGE GREYSir, I am sorry to say that I cannot furnish any further information than the public are in possession of with regard to the very melancholy and lamentable accident at the Lundhill Colliery, and for this reason—that, as my hon. Friend knows, the pit has been closed with the advice of persons of the greatest authority and experience in these matters, as the best means of extinguishing the fire in the pit, and as, in fact, the only course which could under the circumstances be adopted until it was safe to reopen the pit to examine it. It is, I fear, impossible to obtain any further information at present. All that I have done is to take care that there shall be the fullest investigation into the cause of the accident, and I have no doubt that every possible means will be taken to acquire such information as may tend to prevent such accidents in future.