§ Mr. Joynson-HicksI beg to move, in page 34, line 23, to leave out subsection (2), and to insert:
(2) Without prejudice to the general application of the foregoing subsection—This rather voluminous Amendment gives effect to an undertaking given by my right hon. Friend to include in the Bill specific percentages of oxygen and carbon dioxide. It is to a great extent in conformity with the 1911 Act. I doubt whether the Committee would wish to go through it in detail, but the amended subsection will enable rules to be made prescribing concentrations of either inflammable or noxious gases other than carbon dioxide.
- (a) ventilation produced in a part of a mine shall be deemed for the purposes of that subsection not to be adequate for the purpose of diluting carbon dioxide so as to render it harmless unless the amount thereof in the general body of the air in that part of the mine is not more than one and a quarter per cent. by volume:
- (b) ventilation produced in a part of a mine shall be deemed for the purposes of that subsection not to be adequate for the purpose of providing air containing a sufficiency of oxygen unless the amount of oxygen in the general body of the air in that part of the mine is not les,; than nineteen per cent. by volume:
1581 and regulations may provide that, without prejudice to the general application of that subsection, ventilation produced in a part of a mine shall be deemed for the purposes of that subsection not to be adequate for the purpose of diluting a prescribed gas (other than carbon dioxide) that is inflammable or noxious so as to render it harmless unless the amount thereof in the general body of the air in that part of the mine is less than the prescribed percentage by volume.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§
Further Amendment made: In page 34. line 41, leave out:
so far as is reasonably practicable."—[Mr Joynson-Hicks.]
§ Mr. Joynson-HicksI beg to move, in page 35, line 1, to leave out subsection (4).
If it is agreeable to you, Mr. Speaker, and to the Committee, perhaps I might mention also the Amendment in page 35, line 34, to insert a new subsection.
This Amendment seeks to do with ventilation what we did just now in regard to another matter on an earlier Clause. The defence provided by the subsection is no longer necessary as a result of the introduction of Clause 149, and therefore it has been deleted. At the same time, the secondary element in the defence has been converted into a duty imposed on the manager, so that the effect is now that in the event of any failure of the ventilation, the manager has a duty to see that no unauthorised person enters the affected part of a mine, except to restore the ventilation. I think those words and intentions are in accordance with the wishes of the Committee.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§
Further Amendments made. In page 35, line 28, leave out paragraphs (b) and (c), and insert:
(b) in any waste.
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In line 34, at end, insert:
() Where, in any part of a mine required by the foregoing provisions of this secction to be ventilated, the ventilation is interrupted or ceases to be adequate for the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, it shall be the duty of the manager of the mine to secure that, until the ventilation is restored, access to that part of the mine is so restricted as to prevent from entering it any person not authorised to do so and no person is permitted to remain in or pass through it except for the purpose of restoring the ventilation or in a case of emergency.—[Mr. Joynson-Hicks.]