§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ LORD SUDELEY,in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, he wished to explain that the object of the 2 Bill was merely to oblige quarries dangerous to the public in open and unprotected land, or within 50 yards of a highway or public resort, to be securely fenced for the prevention of accidents. He wished further to say that county Coroners had constantly reported a number of fatal accidents arising from this cause, and also that the Bill had passed through the House of Commons.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a"—(The Lord Sudeley.)
LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYsaid, he rose to oppose the Motion, on account of the looseness of the definitions of a quarry, as an opening in the ground from which stone had been taken. In Wales, where there were walls and no hedges, every farm had a small quarry. The definitions went on to include sand holes and gravel pits, which were not dangerous, and mentioned openings from which clay had been taken—that is to say, ponds. In Cheshire, and parts of 3 the adjoining counties, almost every field had a marl pit, if not two or three of them. These ponds required to be kept open for cattle. Even if they were railed in, that would not keep out children; neither would poles, which, being constantly stolen, so as to leave gaps, be any protection to children, who would get through or under any fence.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a.