§ MR. BRACE (Glamorganshire, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if Mr. John Masterton, Longrigg schoolhouse, Scotland has been appointed as an assistant inspector of mines for the Cardiff district; and, if so, does Mr. Masterton speak the Welsh language, as a majority of miners employed within the area of the Cardiff district are Welsh speaking miners.
COLONEL HERBERT (Monmouthshire, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Mr. John Masterton, of Longriggend, Scotland, who has been appointed assistant inspector of mines for the Cardiff district of South Wales, has any knowledge of the Welsh language; whether he has any practical experience of coal mining in the South Wales coalfield; whether he will state the number of candidates for the appointment who possess both the above qualifications; and whether, having regard to the fact that Welsh is the only language spoken by a considerable number 1013 of the miners in the Cardiff district, he will reconsider his decision in regard to this appointment.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThe gentleman named in the Questions was first in the recent competitive examination for two vacancies in the inspectorate, but, as I have already informed my hon. friend the Member for Rhondda, the question who is to be assigned to fill the vacancy in the Cardiff district is still under my consideration. In any case he will be a Welsh-speaking inspector.