§ 41. Mr. PALINGasked the Secretary for Mines whether any statistics are yet available showing the number of cases of miners' nystagmus at pits where electric lamps are used, as compared with pits where oil lamps are used?
§ Lieut.-Colonel LANE-FOXNo, Sir As I informed the hon. Member on 13th March last, such statistics would be of little value in themselves, owing to the number of factors involved.
§ Mr. PALINGIs it not possible in such districts as the Doncaster area, where there are pits which use electric lamps entirely, to get evidence, which, if followed up, might be very useful?
§ Lieut.-Colonel LANE-FOXIt is quite possible to get evidence as to individual collieries, but it is not possible to get a fair comparison between collieries as a result. Let me give an instance. If we have a group of collieries, and one colliery adopts electric lamps and the other continues to issue flame lamps, obviously the tendency of all the men in the district who are getting anxious about their eyes will be to drift into the colliery with electric lamps, and in a short time that colliery would have a worse record of nystagmus, due to the fact of its being better equipped.