§ 22. Lieut.-Colonel MAYHEWasked the Home Secretary whether in view of the number of fires which have taken place recently all over the country, the origin of which, though uncertain, indicates incendiarism, he will take steps to revive fire inquests?
§ Sir H. SAMUELThere are no statistics available of the number of fires that take place, nor is there any reason to believe that there is any increase of incendiarism. The statistics of the Metropolitan Police District of cases of arson indicate a diminution rather than an increase during the last 10 years. Statutory powers for the holding of inquiries by a coroner into the causes of fires, where no fatality has occurred, have been given only in the case of the City of London by a local Act, and the extension of these provisions to the rest of the country was not recommended by the Royal Commission on Fire Brigades and Fire Prevention, which reported in 1923. Inquiries, whether by coroner's inquest or by some other method into the causes of fire, would require legislation which in any case could not be introduced in present circumstances.