§ MR. JOHN BURNS (Battersea)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire as to the provision of means of escape from fire in factories, workshops, laundries, offices, shops, hotels, and other buildings where persons work or live in large numbers, and to report what changes in the law are necessary, he proposes to take any action in regard to the consideration by a Select Committee of the now pending London Building Acts Amendment Bill and the City of London (Escape from Fire) Bill.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) Some two years ago I suggested to the London County Council that they should amend the provisions of the London Building Act in respect to the means of escape from fire; and it was not my intention or wish, in assenting to the request of the hon. Member for 1330 Berwick for a general inquiry into the subject, that such an inquiry should interfere with the consideration of the proposals that have been made for London, which stands on a somewhat different footing from the rest of the country, and has a more urgent need for legislation.