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MINUTES OE PEOCEEDINGS OF 
of the danger to which the public has been continually exposed by the 
profound oblivion which appears to have reigned in the minds of those 
engaged in the transport of powder by water-traffic as to the explosive 
nature of this material. The arrangements made by Government for 
the transfer of gunpowder by barges from the factory to the depots, 
illustrate the nature of the precautions which are regarded as indispen¬ 
sably necessary by those who have well considered the subject. No 
iron whatever is allowed to enter into the construction of the barges; the 
men engaged in stowing the powder wear special shoes and clothing; 
every particle of grit or dust is most scrupulously removed before the 
powder packages are introduced, and these are very carefully and se¬ 
curely covered in. The bargemen are strictly prohibited from smoking 
and carrying lucifer matches either about them or in any part of the 
vessel; no fire is permitted on board during the loading, carriage, and 
unloading of the powder, and the strictest regulations exist with regard 
to the manner in which the journeys are to be performed. The barges 
are, moreover, provided with valve-arrangements by means of which 
they may be sunk in a very short space of time, should danger of fire 
arise from neighbouring barges or other sources. 
In other vessels used occasionally for the transport of powder by 
Government the foregoing precautions are carried out as far as possible; 
the vessels are not specially constructed, but, in order to exclude all 
iron fastenings and accidental grit from contact with the powder barrels, 
hides and thick woollen covers are spread over the bottom and sides of 
the vessel. Although the barges of canal owners and others are sub¬ 
jected to this practice when carrying powder for Government, it has not 
been so with regard to the freights of powder carried for merchants; 
and regulations respecting abstinence from smoking, or exclusion of 
fires or matches, have been avowedly of the most lax description, or 
have even become a dead letter, although the existing law is thus set at 
defiance. The practice of carrying lucifer matches about the person, 
and of smoking, has unquestionably been among the most prolific 
sources of accidents connected with gunpowder, and it need scarcely be 
stated that they are almost the most important dangers to be guarded 
against in the transport of powder in barges. During the inquest 
which followed the great explosion at Erith in 1864, it transpired that 
lucifer matches were allowed, as a rule, on board the barges and vessels 
carrying merchants^ gunpowder; and while one powder barge was 
unloading, another empty one by its side was seen to have a fire on 
board. The falling of a match from a m.affis pocket while he was 
engaged, in a stooping attitude, in moving the powder packages from the 
barge to the magazine was considered by Colonel Boxer, after careful 
investigation, to have been the most probable cause of that explosion. 
Another source of danger, which, viewed in conjunction with the 
non-exclusion of sources of fire, is of a most alarming nature (and which 
has evidently been of common occurrence), is the carriage of gunpowder 
in barges as part of a miscellaneous cargo. There are obviously many 
goods which may be transported together with powder without danger 
to the latter, although the special care which gunpowder should 
always receive renders its isolation from other goods desirable under all 
