§ Mr. B. S. STRAUSasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the remark made by the Southwark coroner at a recent inquest on a child whose clothes had been set on fire by a gas grill that such a case was not contemplated by the framers of the Children Act; and whether he will consider the propriety of amending the law in order to secure that all fires are properly guarded?
§ Mr. GLADSTONEThe coroner reports to me that in the case referred to in the question the child climbed upon a chair to reach a bag hanging on the wall over a gas grille stove, with the result that her clothes caught fire. It is impossible to provide by Act of Parliament against every source of danger. The provision in the Children Act was intended to meet the common cases of open fire-grates, but I am afraid that it would be impossible to prevent accidents in such exceptional circumstances as occurred in this case.