§ MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received a report from either or both the local medical inspectors under the Factory and Workshop Act as to the fatal case of anthrax at Wellingborough to a shoe hand named Albert Jones; whether such report, if any, indicates any special point on which further regulations will be made to better secure the safety of those who have to handle leather; and, if no such report has been received, whether he will cause a special inquiry to be held into the circumstances attending the death of Albert Jones, and take any further steps necessary to ensure greater safety in this class of work.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) The fatal case of anthrax in a boot and shoe factory to which the hon. Member refers has been the subject of careful investigation. It is impossible to trace with certainty the cause of infection; but it seems probable that the disease may have been contracted from spores of anthrax in the leather, 269 which had retained their vitality through all the tanning processes. As no raw hides or skins are used in the factory in question no special rules or regulations under the Factory Act apply to it; and in view of the extreme rarity of such cases as the present one, and of the doubt as to the source of the infection, no case is as yet made out for any special action.