§ MR. MACDONALDasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If his attention has been called to a Report in the "Wigan Observer" of the 13th instant, of the trial of a colliery proprietor and his manager, who has a mine at Whiston, near Prescot, for breaches of "The Mines Regulation Act, 1872;" and whether, considering the evidence given by the inspector of the district as to the state of the colliery, which he described as "in a very bad state," and that the "gas could be removed by ventilation," he would put in force the thirty-second Clause of "The Mines Regulation Act, 1872?"
MR. ASSHETON CROSS,in reply, said, that both the owner and manager of the colliery had been fined for breaches of the Mines Regulation Act; and it was a question whether the certificate of the manager should be taken away from him, or, rather, whether an inquiry should take place as to whether he should hold it or not. The matter was at the present moment under his consideration, and he was only waiting for further information from the Inspector before coming to a decision.