Tue explosion on Saturday, by which it is now believed that about twenty lives were lost, was a very striking one and has naturally drawn attention to the whole question of the inspection of steam boilers both on land and in the waters of the Settlements. These accidents have been so rare, particularly with Chinese-owned craft, that the question though it has come up once or twice has been allowed to drop. The three previous explosions that we those of the "Daion Star, the General recall as having occurred on the river,
Ward, and the Spunkie were all in foreign-owned steamers that were bein, run by foreign engineers, and thong!
prion we should imagine that there was much more danger with Chinese-built craft run by Chinese engineers, in practice it has not proved so; which is of course due to the native engineers as they call themselves, and firemen as they mostly are, having been trained to caution under foreign engineers. The Chi-chuan, which disappeared on her trial trip, was we are happy to think an exceptional case. She was a launch built at a ridiculously low price; for we are informed that of the 'T'ls. 2,300 which she was to cost the Hangchow official who ordered her, only is. 1,500 was to reach the unfortunate builder, the remaining Ts. 800 sticking in the pockets of the go-betweens, as is the rule in China. For that sum, Ts. 1,500, it was impossible for the most economical builder to construct a launch of the size of the Chi-chuan with reliable machinery, and he was obliged to put in a con-denned boiler; " boiler which had been submitted to the head foreign engineer of the Old Dock, and had been most unfavourably reported on by him. Add to this condemned boiler a worn-out and inefficient pressure gauge, and what happened was inevitable as soon as the boat was pressed.
Asit happened in this particular case no foreign person or property was injured by the explosion, and it might be argued that it should be left therefore to the Chinese authorities to deal with. But the next one may occur when the launch is alongside one of the pontoons or a foreign vessel, and very serious damage may be done. 'I'here are, too, now a large number of steam boilers on land about the Settlements in use, and these, like the boilers of the launches that ply on the river and in the creeks are subject to no official inspection whatever. The Municipal Council, we believe, hold that the Land Regulations and By-Laws ive them no power to interfere with liers on land, unless they are complained of as an actual mis ance, but we do not believe that this objection is insuperable. Boiler users do not want their boilers to explode, and there are few of them that would not be glad to have their boilers inspected periodically by a competent engineer whose capabililad were loatnerre yy his reesiyi tts probably refuse to pay a moderate. feo municipal appointment, nor would the;
for the service. If they did refuse, pressure could be brought on them through their Consul and through the agent of the insurance company in which their remises were covered, nor would it be ficult to prove that an uninspected boiler was a distinct nuisance to its neighbours. It must not be overlooked, however, that an official inspection is not a guarantee against accident, and it sometimes does harm by lulling the owner of the boiler into a false state of security; that government inspection is not infallible was shown by the explosion of the Yotsai near
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.