§ MR. RAMSAYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he has received information of the occurrence of an explosion of dynamite at a place within one quarter of a mile of the barracks near the town of Hamilton, and within a few hundred yards of the railway station at the same town, whereby a number of persons have been killed; and, if he would state whether the dynamite was stored at the place where the accident occurred by authority of the Home Office; and, if so, whether he would state the precautions which were enjoined to secure the life and property of the inhabitants of Hamilton in the event of such an explosion at a place so near the town?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS,in reply, said, that information was duly sent to the Home Office of the explosion referred to by the hon. Member. He 259 ordered, an Inspector appointed under the Act to make inquiry into the circumstances, and it was found that the dynamite which exploded was stored illegally, and not in any place authorized by the Act. His conclusion on a primâ facie view of the case would be that the person in charge of the dynamite had committed an offence, not only under the new Act, but under the old one. The matter was in the hands of the authorities.