The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-17 00:00:00

CHANNEL ISLANDS.

Mr. EWART wished to ask the Right Hon. Gentle-
man the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it was his
intention to introduce any measure this session for car-
rying out the recommendations of the Commissioners who
had reported on the state of the criminal law in the
Channel Islands.
Sir G. GREY said the matter was now under his
consideration, and he hoped shortly to be able to intro-
duce a Bill upon it.
COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

Mr. CAYLEY wished to put a question to the
Right Hon. Baronet the Home Secretary relative to a
painful occurrence which had recently taken place in
the county which he had the honour to represent.
It must be in the knowledge of the Right
Honourable Baronet that an explosion bad taken place
at one of the Derbyshire collieries which had resulted
in the loss of many lives. Similar accidents had fre-
quently happened before at the same place, and it was
the opinion of the coroner and jury who had sat upon the
bodies of the deceased sufferers, that they were caused,
and caused alone, by unskilful and defective ventilation.
The question he wished to put to the Right Hon. Baronet
was this—whether he had ret..-ivcd a report of the in•
•
quest upon the unfortunate • persons that had been
killed; whether he was prepared to recommend
to the House any mode for the regulation and
inspection of mines, and whether he could suggest any
other course by which a repetition of such a fearful oc-
currence might be avoided ? _ .

Sir G. GREY said he had received a communication
from the clerk of the magistrates in the district im-
mediately after the accident happened, accompanied by a
suggestion, that it was desirable that some gentleman
should be sent by the Government to attend the ad-
journed inquest. He (Sir George Grey) communicated
immediately to the coroner, and told him that Mr.
Horner Smith and Mr. Tremenhere would be sent down
to inspect the pit, in order that they might give evidence
at the inquest with respect to the cause of the accident.
He had received a local newspaper containing a report
of the proceedings at the adjourned inquest, the evi-
dence given by those two gentlemen, the summing up of
the coroner, and the verdict of the jury, which was "acci-
dental death," accompanied by a recommendation that
pits and mines should be placed under the inspection of
responsible officers appointed by the Government. That
however, was not the first time that the subject had been
brought under the attention of the Government. A Bill
had been submitted to the House by the Hon. Member
for Finsbury, but the House declined to entertain it, on
the ground that the provisions were too complicated. It
was extremely difficult to secure the proper inspection of
mines in order to keep them in a proper and fit
state for working. He had, however, placed Mr. Tremen-
here, who was an inspector under the Act relating to
the employment of children in mines, in communication
with various persons largely interested in mining opera-
tions in this country, and iu communication with large
establishments on the continent, and that gentleman had
furnished him with an interesting report, which would
be laid before the House in a few days. The regula-
tions which it recommended were too strict and minute
to lead him to hope that they could be adopted in this
country, but at the same time he thought it would he
desirable that the Government should have power to in-
spect mines where the safety of the persons working in
them was endangered, and to compel owners to udopt
some measures for their protection. The subject was
still under the consideration of the Government, but the
difficulty was to provide an efficient system of superin-
tendence without involving a large amount of expen-
diture.