MR. F. A. NEWDIGATE (Warwickshire, Nuneaton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been called to the explosion of a gas cylinder charged with chlorate of potash, which recently occurred at Fenchurch Street Station, causing the death of John Holbrook; and whether steps can be taken to have 593 cylinders that are used for such purposes properly tested and duly stamped, so that their strength may be known by the users?
§ MR. ASQUITHI have inquired into this matter, and am advised that scientific opinion differs as to whether the bursting of these cylinders is due to the pressure of oxygen upon an imperfectly welded steel tube, or to traces of impure substances present in the oxygen. I propose to refer this matter for the opinion of two or three distinguished experts on such matters.