HC Deb 26 April 1883 vol 278 cc1142-4
COLONEL KING-HARMAN

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he is aware that the magistrates of the Petty Sessions district of Drumcondra have protested against powder manufacturers being allowed to erect magazines in their district; whether he is aware that the Grand Jury of the county of Dublin have petitioned the Lord Lieutenant against the order to remove private stores of gunpowder out of the Government magazines; and, whether, in the present state of Ireland, the Government intend to carry out an order which is causing so much alarm to the loyal and peaceful subjects of Her Majesty in that Country?

MR. TREVELYAN

I am aware, Sir, that the magistrates of the Drumcondra district have objected to the establishment of a powder magazine at Santry, and that the Grand Jury of the County of Dublin have petitioned the Lord Lieutenant as stated. The decision as to the storage of merchants' powder has been arrived at by the Government after very careful consideration, and it is intended to carry it out.

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Government adhere to their intention of requiring the manufacturers of gunpowder to remove, from the Government Magazines in and about Dublin, the powder which they have hitherto been compelled to store therein, thereby exposing the public to great alarm and danger by obliging large stores of gunpowder to be kept in unprotected places, where it is liable to be blown up by incendiaries, or to be plundered either in magazines or in transit from the stores to the retail warehouses?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

Sir, this Question is put, I think, under some misapprehension. The hon. and gallant Member says that the merchants have hitherto been compelled to store their powder in the Government magazines. That is not so. They were allowed, as an exceptional privilege, in former times so to store their gunpowder; but, for reasons to which I need not further allude, it was thought that it was not desirable that persons should have access to the Government stores who are not Government servants, as that would put the stores in peril. Therefore, last year, the Government determined that the stores should be kept as Government stores alone. Since then the merchants have stored their gunpowder, as in England, in magazines set apart for that purpose. In reference to this part of the Question, the hon. and gallant Member will see, on looking at the Explosives Act of 1875, that persons who have a licence to store gunpowder are under an obligation to protect their magazines. Recently a Circular was sent out to the local authorities in England and elsewhere, calling attention to that obligation. The matter is now on the same footing in Ireland as in England and the rest of the United Kingdom. The Government magazines are used exclusively for the storage of Government gunpowder, and the others are under the regulations of the Explosives Act.

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

inquired whether, under the provisions of that Act, merchants were bound to protect gunpowder in transit as well as in the stores?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

I should not like to answer that Question off-hand without looking at the Act.

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

Perhaps the right hon. and learned Gentleman will look at it.

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

I will, Sir.