50 Report of the Select Commitiee 
Mr. Winch in particular, Geologists are already so deeply it~ 
debted, and from whom, still, so much is expected by manyg in 
particular by, Sir, 
Your humble servant, 
July 12, 1817. A Constant READER. 
VIII. Report of the Select Committee appointed to consider of 
the Means of preventing the Mischief of Explosion from hap- 
pening on board Steam-Boats, to the Danger or Destruction 
of His Majesty’s Subjects on board such Boats. 
Yous Committee entered on the task assigned them, with a 
‘strong feeling of the inexpediency of legislative interference with 
‘the management of private concerns or property, further than 
the public safety should demand, and more especially with the 
exertions of that mechanical skill and ingenuity, in which the 
artists of this country are so pre-eminent, by which the labour 
of man has been greatly abridged, the manufactures of the coun- 
try carried to an unrivalled perfection, and its commerce ex- 
tended over the whole world. 
_ Among these, it is impossible for a moment to overlook the 
‘introduction of steam as a most powerful agent, of almost uni- 
versal application, and of such utility, that but for its assistance 
a very large portion of the workmen employed in an extensive 
mineral district of this kingdom would be deprived of their sub- 
sistence. . 
A reference to the evidence taken before your Committee, will 
also show with what advantage this power has lately been ap- 
plied, in Great Britain, to propel vessels both of burthen and 
passage, how much more extensively it has been used in America, 
and of what further application it is certainly capable, if it may 
not be said to be even now anticipated in prospect. 
Such considerations have rendered your Committee still more 
averse than when they entered on the inquiry, to propose to the 
House the adoption of any legislative measure, by which the 
science and ingenuity of our artists might even appear to be fet- 
tered or discouraged. 
But they apprehend that a consideration of what is due to 
public safety has on several occasions established the principle, 
that where that safety may be endangered by ignorance, avarice 
or inattention, against which individuals are unable, either from 
the want of knowledge, or of the power, to protect themselves, it 
becomes the duty of Parliament to interpose. 
In illustration of this principle, many instances might be given; 
the 
