§ MR. BRACEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether in view of the collieries explosion at the Courrières collieries, France, he will arrange with the French Government, or otherwise, for a British mining expert or experts to make an investigation, and report whether the whole, or how many of the Courrières collieries, were worked through to adjoining pits, and had a connecting road with each other; if the Courrières collieries had connecting roads with each other, to what extent, in their opinion, had that system of working contributed to the disaster; and, in view of the fact that a number of collieries in the United Kingdom are worked through to adjoining pits, and have connecting roads between pit and pit, what precautionary measures, if any, they would, as a result of their investigation, recommend.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThe question raised by my hon. friend is a very important one. I am in communication with the Foreign Office on the subject and I will let him know the result without delay.