§ Mr. C. EDWARDSasked the Home Secretary whether, during the last three years, managers of any collieries have caused roads, either in new pits or in districts of old pits, to be driven in the boundaries of such pits before they have started to get coal; if so, in how many cases the practice has been adopted; whether it has been regarded by the Mines Department of the Home Office as a practice tending to the greater safety of the workers underground; and, if so, whether he has any power to enforce such practices in other collieries?
§ Mr. SHORTTThis practice has been in use for many years in various localities, but the number of collieries adopting it could not be given without special inquiry. Whether or not it tends to greater safety or the reverse depends, I am advised, entirely on the particular circumstances of the mine, such as the number, inclination, and character of the seams. I have no power to require its adoption.