§ MR. FORTESCUE FLANNERY (Yorks, Shipley)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to recent deaths from wool-sorters' disease in Bradford occurring from alleged infection in the carding room as distinguished from the sorting room; whether the recently adopted wool-sorters' rules have been extended to the carding room; and whether he could see his way to hold an inquiry, through the factory inspectors or otherwise, as to whether or not the rules should be extended to carding rooms?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENTMy attention has been called to this matter. The reports I have received show that in the most recent case, though the man was employed in the carding room, it was not from his own work that the infection reached him. The rules do not apply to 448 the process of carding, and, as they deal mainly with dust as the medium of infection, could not be applied en bloc. The matter is a serious one, and I propose to institute inquiries.