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MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OP 
strongly confined; and there is no doubt that very considerably larger 
quantities, if set fire to, will not even need other confinement to 
develop an explosion than that to which the interior of the mass of ex¬ 
plosive is subjected by the external portions, and by the pressure of gas 
developed by the fierce burning of the substance. The degree of 
comparative safety with which explosive materials of this description 
may be stored is therefore regulated by the quantity and the extent of 
confinement, and hence great caution must be exercised in relaxing in 
their favour the precautions and restrictions applied to gunpowder. 
Indeed, the prudence of relaxing them at all is questionable, as the 
result may be the fostering a sense of security in those who have to use 
these substances, which, by encouraging negligence and forgetfulness 
as to the properties of the materials dealt with, may be productive of 
disastrous results. 
A regulation of the quantity of an explosive stored in one place, and 
of the mode of storage, by the nature of the particular material, and the 
circumstances which may tend to develop its violent explosion, would 
involve a combination of complex rules with an impractically compre¬ 
hensive system of supervision; and it is therefore obviously not only wise 
but also necessary to deal with the storage, upon an extensive-scale, of 
all explosive substances upon the broad general basis of their being 
susceptible of violent explosion from accidental causes; any relaxation 
in favour of the comparatively safe materials being suffered only to 
apply to small quantities. 
The safe transport of gunpowder and other explosive agents demands 
the application not only of many of the precautionary measures which 
should be observed in their manufacture and storage, but also of certain 
others of special character, to meet the liability to casualties arising 
out of the ordinary accidents of locomotion, and out of the more or less 
unavoidable exposure of the explosive agents during transport to treat¬ 
ment and conditions involving risk of accident. Thus the submission 
of packages of gunpowder and many other explosive substances to the 
continued concussion unavoidable in transit by road or rail necessitates 
the employment of strong and thoroughly sound or tight receptacles, so 
as to prevent the escape of fine particles or dust from the packages into 
the conveyances, and the possibilities of accident resulting therefrom. 
Again, the transmission of both large and small quantities of explosives 
by land or water must be governed by well-defined rules regarding the 
extent to which the transport of such materials should be kept distinct 
from that of other goods, and the manner of ensuring this ; the nature 
and construction of the conveyances specially devoted to, or occasionally 
selected for, their transport, and the conditions generally under which 
such transport shall be accomplished. 
The utter inadequacy of the existing regulations as to the conveyance 
of powder, &c., by land or water, and the flagrant manner in which even 
these defective regulations are but too frequently disregarded, are 
matters to which public attention has been much directed since the 
explosion in October last, and which are but in harmony with the 
negligence and ignorance displayed to so alarming an extent in connec¬ 
tion with the handling and storage of gunpowder. Thus, the packages 
