§ Mr. MILLARasked the Home Secretary what arrangements have been made to exclude Scottish quarry owners, operating quarries where silicosis is unknown, from the provisions of the silicosis order?
§ Mr. SHORTCertain representations have been received but my right hon. Friend is not satisfied on the evidence at present before him that there is any sandstone quarry to which the scheme applies, whether in Scotland or elsewhere, in which there is no risk of silicosis. The medical inquiry into silicosis among sandstone workers, which was arranged for by the Home Office and Mines Department in 1028, and which extended to Scotland, disclosed cases of silicosis in every area in which examinations were made and showed that quarrying was among the dangerous occupations. Fuller information will be obtained from the medical examinations which are now being made at the quarries by the medical board set up under the scheme, and my right hon. Friend's intention is, when these are completed, to review the position. I may add that the sandstones at the Scottish as at other quarries are highly siliceous, and do not, I am advised, differ geologically from sandstones worked in other parts of the country.