§ MR. RICHARDS (Finsbury, E)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the verdict of the jury as to the cause of the recent loss of life at the fire in Lever Street, St. Luke's; and whether the report of the London County Council on the occurrence has been brought before him; is he aware that five deaths have occurred in less than twelve months by the unrestricted use of American Tea Rose Oil in this district; and, if the Home Office are not prepared to take action, whether he would consider the advisability of additional powers being given to the London County Council to inspect and to regulate the sale of all dangerous American oils in the county of London.
(Answer.) I have had before me the verdict of the jury and the report of the Public Control Committee of the London County Council to which the Question refers. In cases of accidents from defects in lamps or from the breaking of lamps it is a matter of great difficulty to decide in what way or to what extent the nature of the oil in use has occasioned or affected the accident; and I do not think that the suggestion at the beginning of the second paragraph of the Question can be taken as a correct and sufficient statement of the causes of five, or indeed any, deaths in St. Luke's. Legislation would be necessary in order to bring under the control of a local authority petroleum not already so placed by the Acts of 1871 to 1881; and it is clear that such legislation would have to be of a general character, not confined to a particular locality. Moreover, I am 538 not convinced that it would be effective in preventing or seriously diminishing the class of accidents in question, or that there is sufficient justification for its introduction.—(Home Office.)