Safety in the Mines The Government was well advised to
accept on Tuesday night the Opposition motion deploring the conditions revealed by the Gresford Mine enquiry and demanding immediate and effective measures to protect mineworkers generally. On the culpability of particular officials it would be improper to speak here, for the Secretary for Mines indicated that the Public Prosecutor had that question under immediate con- sideration, but grave doubts are justified regarding the Minister's complete exoneration of the inspectorate. It is true that Sir Henry Walker, the Chief Inspector of Mines, who presided over the Gresford enquiry, found no justification for imputing any general neglect or incompetence to the inspectors concerned, but Captain Peake, the Conservative Member for North Leeds, himself a coalowner, found a basis in the Chief Inspector's report for the conclusion that the system of inspection in this case had absolutely failed. Sir Stafford Cripps, who had appeared for the Miners' Federation in the enquiry, developed this criticism into a strong attack on the inspectorate, quoting effectively from the report passages proving the failure of the inspectors to detect a series of grave breaches of the regulations. It may well be that mine-inspectors are too few and are therefore overworked. If so their numbers should be immediately increased. On that score Captain Crookshank failed rather conspicuously to relieve the anxiety which both the enquiry and the debate in Parliament have aroused.
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