§ SIR WILLIAM HOULDSWORTH (Manchester, N.W.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he can explain why no order for the payment of costs or expenses by the owner was made in the case of a boiler explosion at Poulton-le-Fylde on 27th 1319 September last, upon which a preliminary inquiry was held (No. 1260), and the Report of which stated that the owner appeared to have been reckless in his management of the boiler, and that, notwithstanding he had been told by two firms of boiler-makers that it was worn out and unrepairable, he continued to work it for two years and a half under conditions which the Board of Trade engineer pronounced as little short of criminal.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURNo order for the payment of costs or expenses was made in the case to which my hon. friend refers, because it was not thought necessary to order a formal investigation by the only court that could make such an order. The owner was no doubt reckless, but he was in a very small way of business, and only he and his son attended to the boiler. Fortunately, neither was injured, and, as there was no obscurity as to the cause of the explosion, and it would probably have been difficult to recover any considerable pecuniary penalty, the preliminary inquiry that has been held, and the publication of the facts, meet, I think, the requirements of the case.
§ SIR WILLIAM HOULDSWORTHIs not the right hon. Gentleman aware that costs were imposed by the preliminary inquiry?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURNo; I understand that costs are only imposed by a court of formal inquiry.