§ MR. S. T. EVANS(in the absence of Mr. ARTHUR WILLIAMS,) Glamorgan, S.I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Government are prepared to take steps for giving practical effect to the recommendation of the Accidents in Mines Commission that there should be—
An official establishment of some permanent arrangement by which the merits of inventions and suggestions affecting the working of mines may he investigated promptly, thoroughly, and authoritatively.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.I do not think that this suggestion is one which can be usefully carried out. Experience shows that the value of scientific discoveries is best tested by actual use and through the operation of a free and open market. I always communicate to the Inspectors, and through them to the mining industry, any new invention which appears to secure greater safety in the working 1227 of coal mines; but colliery owners and managers would not readily accept as authoritative the decisions of an official Board of Investigation.