1. Mr. ALLAN REIDasked the Secretary of State for India if his attention has been called to the accident at the sugar factory at Walterganje, caused by the collapse of a defective staging, whereby a vat of boiling sugar fell on a number of the workpeople; if he can state how many of these people were injured or died; and whether inquiry has been made into the structure, conditions, and equipment of the factory and the precautions taken to ensure safety?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Sir Samuel Hoare)I regret to say that, according to my latest official information, four men were scalded to death on 20th April in an accident at this factory, and 12 more seriously burnt, of whom one has Since died. The senior inspector of factories and the commissioner of the division have visited the factory, but I have not yet heard the result of the investigation which the inspector is required to make under the Indian Factories Act. Steps are being taken to warn other factory owners with this type of machinery and outfit.
Mr. REIDIs it a fact, as I am informed, that the factory at which this accident happened was erected and equipped by a foreign firm?
§ Sir S. HOAREI am glad to say that the machinery was not English machinery; it was foreign machinery.
§ Mr. THORNECan the right hon. Gentleman say from memory whether there is a Workmen's Compensation Act in India?
§ Sir S. HOAREIf the hon. Member cares to put down a question on the point, I will endeavour to answer it.
§ Mr. RHYS DAVIESAre the Indian factory laws covering a factory of this kind as rigid as ours, and was the factory properly inspected by the Government of the area concerned?
§ Sir S. HOAREI feel sure that the factory was properly inspected. I could not deal with a general question like the first part of the hon. Gentleman's inquiry, in answer to a supplementary question.