§ MR. VAUGHAN DAVIES (Cardigan)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that, under the Explosives Act, 1875, the maximum penalty for any breach of any act or default of the general rules prescribed by the Act in any registered Act, namely, 2s. for every pound of the explosive in respect of which, or being on the premises in which, the offence was committed, is the same in respect of gunpowder as of other explosives which are more dangerous and destructive, bulk for bulk; whether the official reports show that, in the case of such explosives as dynamite and nitro-glycerine, the existing penalty is so inadequate as not to be deterrent; and, if so, whether he can see his way to amend the law on the matter.
§ MR. RITCHIEYes, Sir; my attention has been called to this matter. So far as the illegal keeping of explosives in unauthorised places is concerned, I am advised that the penalty is inadequate in regard to dynamite and similar explosives, and if any good opportunity of amending the law in this respect were to present itself I should be very glad to take advantage of it.