§ MR. NANNETTI (Dublin, College Green)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the provisions of the law as to smoking in or about any dock or shed where cargo is loaded or discharged, and of the fact that smoking takes place nightly among the imported labourers of Messrs. Harrison at Liverpool, and that these men are sleeping on improvised beds of straw and other inflammable covering, he will take such steps to put a stop to this practice so as to prevent any possibility of a conflagration.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) No, Sir; neither the Local Government Board nor the Board of Trade are prepared to act as suggested, seeing that the duty of enforcing compliance with legal provisions on the subject of smoking in or about the estate of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board does not devolve upon them.