§ Mr. ARTHUR HENDERSONasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can give the number of mines and quarries of all kinds not visited by Government inspectors during 1908, and the number not visited since 1906?
§ Mr. GLADSTONEThe number of mines not visited in 1908 was 396 out of a total of 4,059; the majority of the un-visited mines were unimportant mines, employing only a few persons. I cannot say whether there were any mines not visited since 1906 without special inquiry of the inspectors, but I think it may be taken that there were very few, if any, such cases. The number of quarries not visited in 1908 was 3,119 out of a total of 6,938 on the Home Office list. The Home Office list contains a very large number of small quarries. Out of the 6,938 quarries on the list, 5,570 employ less than 10 persons inside the quarry. In many cases these quarries are only casually worked, and the unvisited quarries would belong almost entirely to this class.