§ MR. D. A. THOMASI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the summaries and statistics relating to mines and quarries of the United Kingdom for 1897 will be issued; and whether any, and, if so, what steps have been taken to remedy the defect in the figures relating to non-fatal accidents in previous Returns which, according to the Reports of the Home Office, are not of much value for the purpose of comparing the districts with one another, because the managers of mines do not always interpret the words of the statutes governing the notification of accidents in precisely the same manner?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENTI hope, if circumstances are favourable, to issue the statistics about the middle of April. The work is being pressed on vigorously, and the Quarry Returns, which caused some delay last year, are coming in better. I am afraid it will be impossible to remedy the defect in the table of non-fatal accidents unless and until further powers are given by Parliament. An attempt which the Home Office made a few years ago to deal with the matter was opposed, and consequently dropped.