§ MR. J. HAVELOCK WILSON (Middlesbrough)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the dock regulations issue by the Home Department in 1905 for the protection of life and limb are practically inoperative owing to the fact that the present staff of inspectors is not sufficient to cope with the extra work entailed; and whether it is his intention to take the necessary steps at an early date to appoint additional inspectors so that the regulations affecting docks and wharves may be efficiently carried out.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) I cannot agree that the dock regulations are at present practically inoperative. A great deal of work has been done by the inspectors in enforcing the regulations. It is true that less progress has been made in enforcing compliance on board ship. This is to a large extent unavoidable, but I recognise that the regulations have added very much to the work of the staff in certain districts, and that an increase is necessary. I am now considering what arrangements should be made.