§ Mr. DUNCAN MILLARasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the price charged to miners of the various explosives in use in coal mines immediately prior to the date of the coming into operation of the provisions of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, and as at the beginning of the year 1914?
710W
§ Mr. McKENNAI regret that I am unable to furnish this information. Before the present Act the men in many cases provided their own explosives, and in the cases where the explosives were provided by the owners the Home Office has no information, except possibly in some isolated instances, as to the charges made. Under the Act, as my hon. Friend is aware, the price charged by the owner may not exceed the actual net cost, but the actual net cost will vary in different cases according to the explosive used, cost of carriage to the mine, and other circumstances, and no returns are furnished to the Home Office by the owners on the subject.
§ Mr. DUNCAN MILLARasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been directed to the instructions issued along with the new explosive monarkete to the effect that in all cases after a blast the material brought down or blown out ought to be carefully examined lest any cartridge or piece of cartridge should remain unexploded; whether it is a condition of the Home Office test that after the shot no appreciable amount of the charge shall remain unexploded; and whether he will consider as to making some further investigation in order to ascertain whether the explosive in question conforms to the test, in view of the maker's instruction as to the possibility of the cartridges or pieces thereof remaining unexploded?
§ Mr McKENNAI have seen the instructions in question, a copy of which my hon. Friend has been good enough to send me, but I am advised that they are not peculiar to monarkete, and that similar instructions are very generally sent out by manufacturers of explosives, as a measure of precaution, with each packet of blasting explosive. It is a condition of the Home Office tests for permitted explosives that after the shot no appreciable amount of the charge shall remain unexploded (and, as I informed my hon. Friend in reply to his question of 30th April, the explosive monarkete duly passed these tests), but in actual practice various circumstances may arise which will prevent a charge from detonating completely, and accidents due to boring into the unexploded residue or striking it while removing debris are unfortunately by no means infrequent. It is accordingly very desirable that, whatever may be the explosive used, the examination recommended in the instructions referred to should always be carried out 711W after a shot has been fired; and such examination is provided for in the general requirement contained in Clause 2 (g) of the Explosives in Coal Mines Order.