§ 101. Mr. JOHNasked the Secretary for Mines whether he is aware that miners' 1084 organisations throughout the country, including the General Federation of the Colliery Firemen's Deputies and Examiners' Association, has at one time or another passed resolutions urging the Government to make compulsory the adoption of some approved safety shot-firing appliance; whether he is aware that there is in existence at least one safety shot-firing appliance, approved by the Government after exhaustive official trials and tests, which is specially devised to prevent accidents happening while handling and preparing the charge or ramming the hole, enabling the detonator to be inserted into the hole after ramming instead of before, enabling the detonator to be withdrawn in the event of a misfired shot, and in the event of conditions arising which render it advisable to postpone firing the shot to temporarily withdraw the detonator and reinsert same when the danger is past; and whether he will consider the advisability of making the use of this appliance compulsory?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANYes, Sir. There are two types of shot-firing appliances of this kind the use of which is permitted and their progress has been watched, but is disappointing. My information is that there are only about a dozen of these appliances now in use throughout the country, and this basis of experience is too narrow to enable my expert advisers to judge whether the claims made by the inventors of the appliances have been established in actual practice. I am considering whether it is not possible to broaden this basis of experience.