asked the Secretary for Mines whether, in view of the increase in the number of accidents in mines in recent years, he will state whether any mineowners have been prosecuted in connection with those accidents, and how many?

Prosecutions are not for accidents but for contraventions of the law. Full statistics of prosecutions of owners and others for offences against the safety provisions of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, and of the General Regulations made there under, are given each year in Table 58 of the Annual Report of the Secretary for Mines, to which I would refer my hon. Friend.