§ MR. WOODS (Essex, Walthamstow)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for 1369 the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a fatal accident which happened on 8th August last at the Glen Clelland Colliery in Scotland, belonging to Messrs. Kerr and Mitchell, whereby a Russian Pole named Stanislaus Ambroziviczus met with his death; whether he is aware that the man did not understand the English language, and that he worked in the mine with another Pole who was also ignorant of the English language; whether his attention has been drawn to the statement of the jury at the inquest in their verdict, that neither of these two men were able to speak or understand the English language, and that their experience of mining was very limited; and in their opinion, in such an occupation as coal mining, the fact that any workman who was unable to understand the orders or warnings addressed to him constituted a danger to both himself and his fellow-workmen; I whether the employment of two such men by the management is a contravention of Rule 39 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act; and whether he will cause full inquiry into the circumstances of this case, and take such steps as will give effect to the opinion expressed by the jury who tried this case.
§ * SIR M. WHITE RIDLEYI find on inquiry that the facts of the case are substantially in accordance with the first three paragraphs. But there does not appear to have been any contravention of Rule 39. I am informed by the inspector for the district that he has repeatedly impressed their responsibility upon the mine owners who employ Polish workmen; and that the Abstract of the Mines Acts and the Special Rules have been translated into Russian for the benefit of these workmen. He adds that no accident caused by their ignorance of the English language has hitherto come to his knowledge.