§ MR. CAINE (Cornwall, Camborne)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state the number of cases of miners' phthisis which have occurred within the area of the mining division of Cornwall for each year since, and including, the year 1895; and what number of deaths have occurred.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary AkersDouglas.) The figures asked for are not in my possession, and I doubt if they can be obtained. The latest figures of which I am aware, with regard to the mortality among Cornish miners from phthisis, are those published in 1897 by the Registrar General. On the basis of the census taken in 1891 these show that, if the mortality figure among occupied males generally from phthisis is taken at 100, that among Cornish miners would be 275. I would add that the health of the miners in Cornwall is at the present time the subject of a special inquiry on behalf of the Home Office.