§ 56. Captain SPENCERasked the Secretary for Mines whether the safety conferences initiated by one of his predecessors are still being held; and whether he will make a statement on this subject?
§ Mr. E. BROWNThe programme of safety conferences initiated in 1931 by one of my predecessors, then the hon. Member for Linlithgow, was completed by his successor, the hon. Member for the Bodmin Division (Mr. Isaac Foot). Eight conferences were held in the principal coalfields, and the average attendance at each was over 2,000. I appreciate the value of such conferences, and in June last I held a similar conference at Swansea to discuss certain problems of silicosis, but the proceedings at the earlier conferences, which ranged over the whole problem of safety in mines, were necessarily of a very general character, and their chief and very useful purpose was to provide a fresh stimulus for lectures, demonstrations and meetings of a more intimate kind, in which they were very successful. For detailed information as to the substantial progress made in these and kindred ways I would refer the hon. Member to the 833 annual reports published by my Department and the Safety in Mines Research Board.