§ 68. Mr. MORTasked the Secretary for Mines if, in view of the fact that the use of the McLuckie gas detector has proved to be successful in the detection of gas and the prevention of explosions, he will make its use compulsory in the mines?
§ Mr. TURNERMy hon. Friend is under a misapprehension. This instrument is not a firedamp detector at all in the ordinary sense of the term. It is in the nature of a portable laboratory apparatus designed for the purpose of obtaining exact measurements of the percentage of firedamp in mine air, and its manipulation takes approximately seven minutes for each measurement. There are circumstances in which an apparatus of this kind is useful below ground, but they are occasional and not general.