§ MR. JOHN WARDI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if his attention has been called to an accident which occurred on Saturday, 20th June, at the King's Dock, Swansea, now in course of construction, by which a locomotive engine fell down an embankment and killed two men; whether it is intended to hold an inquiry into the cause and circumstances of such accident in accordance with the Notice of Accidents Act, 1894; and whether he can state the number of accidents, fatal and otherwise, reported as having occurred on these works since their commencement.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GLADSTONE,) Leeds, W.I beg to answer this Question on behalf of my right hon. friend. There appears to be no power to direct a formal investigation in regard to this accident. As I pointed out to the hon. Member in reply to a previous Question with regard to this dock on 23rd March last, the application of the Notice of Accidents Act, 1894, to docks was repealed by the Factory Act of 1895. The accident also appears to be outside the provisions 571 of the Factory Act with regard to the use of a dock or the construction of a building as contained in Sections 104 and 105. Provision to enable a formal investigation to be held in regard to accidents on work of construction will be made in the Bill which I propose to introduce this session The number of accidents reported to the factory inspector by the contractors since the commencement of the work in May, 1904, is 586, of which eleven have been fatal.