§ Mr. ELLIS DAVIES (for Mr. Walter Roch)asked the Home Secretary what reply, if any, he had made to the complaint addressed to him by the owners of slate quarries with reference to the non-inclusion on the Mines Commission of any one with experience of open slate quarries?
The HON. MEMBERalso asked the Home Secretary whether any of the members of the Mines Commission were acquainted with the working of open slate quarries; and whether, in view of the fact that in two of the largest quarries, Dinorwic and Penrhyn, in the county of Carnarvon, no less than one in three and one in five, respectively, of the inside workers were injured last year, he would consider the desirability of strengthening the Commission by the appointment of a gentleman who had experience of such quarries?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI have received letters from two owners of the smaller open slate quarries in North Wales asking 192 for the appointment on the new Commission of an additional representative of these quarries. Mr. E. M. Greaves, whom I selected as an owners' representative of the slate industry in North Wales, has had experience of working slate both by open quarrying and by mining, and Mr. R. T. Jones, who was selected as the representative of the workmen, is general secretary of the North Wales Quarrymen's Union, and I am informed that the Union includes both the open slate quarries and the slate mines. In these circumstances, I am doubtful if any advantage would be obtained by additions to the Commission, which is already a large one. The Commission will no doubt take evidence as regards both slate mines and quarries.
§ Mr. ELLIS DAVIESSeeing that all the accidents to which inquiries have been directed have been in open quarries, may I ask why there is not on the Commission a single man with experience of open quarries?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI am very anxious to keep the Commission within manageable dimensions. As the hon. Member knows, when the size of a body is increased beyond a certain point, its deliberations are greatly prolonged, and generally no commensurate advantage is obtained. If the hon. Member will submit a special case on the subject I will consider carefully whether any advantage is to be gained.
§ Mr. ELLIS DAVIESIn view of the fact that for two years in succession one in three of the workmen engaged in open quarries were injured, will not the right hon. Gentleman appoint on the Commission someone who is conversant with the real difficulty of the open quarries?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI have no other wish than to meet the general sense of the House in regard to the composition of the Commission, but I hope the importance of keeping the numbers small will be borne in mind.