§ Mr. BARNESasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his attention has been directed to frequent deaths of men on a slag heap of the Langloan Ironworks, Coat-bridge; and if steps will be enforced on the company to enclose the heap in question so as to prevent a recurrence?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Churchill)I have made inquiries and find that fatal 1196 accidents by burning have happened from time to time at iron works in this locality to vagrants resorting to the slag heaps for warmth and shelter at night, but only one has been so far recorded at the Langloan Works. The matter is not one in which I have power to take any action, but I am informed that efforts have been made by the firms, with the assistance of the police, to stop the practice of sleeping on these heaps, though without success. The area covered by the heaps is large, and the men make their way along the railway tracks which surround the heaps. It is reported to me that no ordinary fence would be of any use.