§ MR. PICKARD (Yorkshire, W.R., Normanton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can state what steps he is taking to enforce the special Rules A, B, and C, 1022 issued in or about last August, relating to timbering in coal mines in Yorkshire; whether he is aware that Rule B is not being acted upon by the colliery owners; whether he can define the party entitled to enforce these rules, specifying whether it be the owners, or the workmen, or the Home Office; and whether in the latter event, in view of the fact that the special rules are devised for securing the safety of life and limb, he will order a prosecution of any owners who may refuse to carry them out.
§ *MR. RITCHIEThe inspector for the Yorkshire District is systematically inspecting all mines where any contravention of the rule is alleged; and I expect to have a report from him within a day or two. So far as the Home Office is concerned, the owner is responsible if the rules are not observed, and I shall not hesitate to authorise proceedings if I find any mine in which they are deliberately disregarded.