§ MR. H. J. TENNANT (Berwickshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the case of the Treasury versus the Dorset Hygienic Steam Laundry Company; whether the accident from which Edith Coles was suffering, and for the treatment of which after a period of eighteen days a doctor was called in, was one which should have been reported or not; and whether this accident would have been reportable under the law which was in force up to 1st January, 1907.
§ MR. GLADSTONEYes, Sir, the circumstances of this case, which was a prosecution on a number of charges by the Factory Inspector of the district, have been brought to my notice. One of the charges was for failure to report the accident referred to in the question. The defence was that the accident had not prevented the girl being employed on her ordinary work, which was alleged to be sorting, dusting, and doing odd jobs. The justices accepted the version put forward by the defence and dismissed the charge. The position would have been the same under the law in force up to the 1st January last as under the present law.