§ Mr. HADEN GUESTasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been directed to the verdict of the coroner's jury on the deaths by burning of Mr. and Mrs. Rook and their infant child at a fire at No. 6, Borough Road, on 2nd October this year; and whether he will consider the advisability of amending the Coroners Bill by making the provisions of the City of London Fire Inquest Act applicable to the whole country, with a view to the adoption of methods of more efficient fire protection?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The second part of the question appears not to arise, for it is already the duty of coroners everywhere in England and Wales to hold inquests on bodies of persons killed by fires. As regards suggestions that coroners generally should be empowered, as in the City of London, to hold inquiries concerning non-fatal fires, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply, which appears in the Debates issued to-day, to a question asked by the hon. Member for Central Southwark (Colonel Day).