MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Factories and Workshops Bill in its application to docks, wharves, quays, and piers is in its present form limited to hoists, in the usual acceptation of that term, or whether it applies also to cranes and capstans; and, if it applies to cranes and capstans, whether, considering the great practical difficulties that would thereby be introduced in the carrying on of dock, wharf, quay, and pier business, he can undertake that words shall be introduced which will exclude cranes and capstans from the restrictions imposed by the Bill?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe answer to the hon. Gentleman's question is that the 1471 Bill would apply to cranes and capstans to this extent only: The ingathering cogwheel of a crane moved by steam or other mechanical power (and of a capstan also if it had such a cogwheel) is, as I am informed, the only "dangerous part of the machinery" within the terms of Section 5 (3) of the Factory and Workshops Act of 1878 as amended by Section 6 of the Act of 1891; and the result of the application of those provisions by the Bill now before Parliament to docks, wharves, &c, would be that such cogwheels would have to be either securely fenced, or to be in such a position or of such construction as to be as safe as if they were securely fenced. To this I have reason to believe that the persons concerned have no objection. It seems to have been supposed that the whole crane would have to be fenced, but this is a mistake.