§ MR. MACDONALDasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If it be correct that the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the cause of accidents in mines and their prevention, is holding its sittings with closed doors, or at least the representatives of the press have been excluded?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSSir, I have received a letter from the Secretary of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the cause of accidents in mines and their prevention, stating that, in accordance with what they understood to be the practice, the Commissioners had not allowed representatives of the Press to be present at their sittings. They have, however, gladly acceded to the request of the Miners' National Union and the Miners' Association of Great Britain that representatives of those respective bodies should attend the meeting.
§ MR. MACDONALDasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If it be correct, as stated in the "Standard" a few days ago, that representations had been made on behalf of the miners that they desired other persons appointed from important mining districts, who would more fully express and understand the wants of the mining population, considering that the demand for an inquiry had been chiefly urged by the workmen, and that a wish has been expressed that a number equal to that of the employers might be appointed on the Commission; and, whether it is the intention of the Government to give 1138 effect to the representations that have been made to them on the subject?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSSir, it is true that an application has been made, and I am glad of the opportunity of explaining that the application was made under a mistake. This is not an inquiry granted on account of anything which the workmen have asked for in connection with the operation of the Mines Regulation Act. It is an inquiry instituted entirely through communications which have taken place between the Royal Society and myself upon questions of science; and as to whether what has been found out scientifically might not be applied practically for the purpose of lessening loss of life in mines. It is a purely scientific investigation for a purely scientific object, and has nothing whatever to do with the working of the Mines Regulation Act. At first, I was anxious that the Royal Society should take up the inquiry entirely by themselves, and it was at their request alone that I added certain names, because they wanted men of more practical habits to join them in the inquiry; therefore, four of each were taken to form the Commission. The noble Lord the Member for Wigan (Lord Lindsay) was added afterwards, not as having relations with coal miners, but as one of the Vice Presidents of the Royal Society. If the miners will remember that these gentlemen are strictly confined by the Order of Reference to the application of scientific knowledge to the saving of human life, I am sure they will be satisfied that they have made their application under a mistake.
§ MR. MACDONALDasked, Whether it was not a fact, within the right hon. Gentleman's knowledge, that Inspectors had been examined on the working of the Mines Regulation Act as regarded the labour of children and other matters?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSSir, I have information that that is the opinion of workmen connected with the mines. The examination of Inspectors was, of course, a necessary thing, and the Commission could never come to a proper conclusion without it; but the Secretary and the Chairman have assured me that any questions which may have been put relating to what has taken place in mines wore purely incidental to the main object of the inquiry—namely, the application of scientific knowledge to the saving of human life.