§ SIR E. HILL (Bristol, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether an Act has been recently passed by the Indian Government for the consolidation and amendment of the petroleum regulations in that country; whether he can state what is the legal flash point of petroleum in India; whether such flash point has been found to be satisfactory; and whether, in recent legislation, any proposals were made to alter it?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingThe Act passed in February last was mainly a Consolidation Bill, but with important Amendments. The legal flash point is 76 deg. close test, but a, cargo of petroleum or petroleum held by dealers is allowed, if the samples selected from such petroleum have their flashing points on an average at or above 73 deg., and if no one of these samples has its flashing point below 70 deg. A dispatch from the Government of India, 45 dated Simla, 24th April 1895, states that, after a full inquiry, the legal flash point was found to be satisfactory. The dispatch concludes as follows—
The reports which we have now received show that there have been a few lamp accidents, but their occurrence does not appear to us to justify the raising of the present legal minimum flashing point, and we see no reason for modifying the opinion previously formed by us in regard to the matter.In the discussion on the Bill the question of raising the flash point was not suggested.