§ 57. Mr. J. Griffithsasked the Secretary for Mines whether, as the result of the investigation recently conducted into the environmental conditions and their relation to the incidence of silicosis at the Ammanford Colliery in the anthracite coalfield, and pending the completion of the final report, any interim preventive measures are being recommended for adoption at the colliery?
§ Captain CrookshankAs stated by my right hon. and Noble Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in reply to the hon. Member on 11th April, the investigation into chronic pulmonary disease among coal miners which is being made under the direction of the Medical Research Council, will, it is expected, be extended to at least one further colliery, and the whole of the data will have to be examined before any report can be prepared. A number of preventive measures conforming with the best practice in the light of present knowledge are already in operation at Ammanford Colliery and, pending the results of the investigation as a whole, I am not in a position to recommend the adoption of new or alternative preventive measures.
§ Mr. GriffithsIn view of the fact that some time must still elapse before this report is completed will not the Minister carry out the promise made by his right hon. Friend that if they discover any 1830 interim measures which they can recommend they will be placed before the companies?
§ Captain CrookshankThat is rather hypothetical. If any new facts emerge they will be given consideration.