BOILER EXPLOSIONS.
A StrDDMq flush of boiler explosions has its uses in drawing more marked attention to a danger which is constant amongst us, al- though its actual visitations are not, in general, very frequent. They are quite frequent enough, however, to claim a painstaking investigation. Besides the constancy of the danger, there is ano- ther incident of steam-power, especially in the factory, which should not be forgotten : it is a danger to which numbers are exposed ; those numbers have no choice in the exposure, no alternative ex- cept to be exposed or to accept destitution ; and they can take no precautions to mitigate the danger. Yet the weaver must go to his daily work, be the boiler ever so much suspected. These cir- cumstances render it more incumbent upon the persons morally responsible to enforce every precaution. The persons morally responsible, in cases like the present, are the managers or owners of factories ; and while they neglect their duty, the responsibility of enforcing responsibility lies with the Legislature and the Executive Government jointly. The liability to danger and loss should be compensated, at least by the imperfect set-off of damages. In the case of railway accidents, the public sense of justice suggested those " swingeing" damages awarded by coroners' juries, but disallowed by law; the ultimate result, how- ever, being Lord Lyttelton's Act, which specifies the mode of seeking compensation for railway injuries the result of negligence. It would seem very desirable to extend the principle of Lord Lyt- telton's Act, not only to factories, but to mines, and to all places where the working of the ordinary machinery is attended by a danger to numbers. Such a provision would enforce substantial justice at once, and it would be attended with a further consequence of a very useful kind. One difficulty at present felt, is the obscurity involving the immediate cause of boiler explosions : the effects altogether trans- cend the causes to which they have been ascribed, and which are thus de facto refuted for insufficiency. Conjecture is leading investigation among that partially known class of causes called electric or magnetic, so rapidly undergoing elucidation and new classification with the progress of experiment. To hand over in- quiry to Government Commissions, often ends in a blue book sug- gesting some refined remedy, which practical men reject because it is not practical, legislators because it is not perfect; and so no- thing is done. Let danger to workpeople take the form of ex- pense to employers, and we should have one of the best stimulants to investigation and the practical application of progressive die- eoveries.
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