§ DR. KENEALYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, 367 Whether his attention has been called to a statement in the newspapers that, during a performance at the Churchill Street Concert Hall, Birmingham, on Tuesday night, a boy named Bishop, aged twelve, in being shot into the air, had a part of his thigh blown away "by a sheet of fire," and had to be removed to the hospital; and, if he will take into consideration whether exhibitions of this kind ought not to be absolutely prohibited by Law?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS,in reply, said, that his attention had not been called to this matter except by the Question of the hon. Member. He had no power to interfere in cases where the performer running the risk of injury was an adult, but in the case of young children he could interfere; and when such performances were advertised to take place in the Metropolis he generally found that an intimation to hold the music-hall proprietor liable for manslaughter in the case of the performer being killed had the effect of putting a stop to the exhibition, and he had no doubt if the authorities at Birmingham would take the same course they would find the same result.