GUNPOWDER, LAWS RELATING TO. In order to guard against the frightful conse quences to the public likely to arise from carelessness in the preparation, preservation, or conveyance of this most dangerous article, the legislature in 1875 made stringent rules upon the subject. By 38 and 39 Viet. c. 17—an act which applies also to Scotland and Ireland—it is provided that DO gunpowder shall be manufactured except at a factory lawfully existing or licensed under the act, and it shall not be kept except in the where it is made, or in a magazine or stoic duly licensed, or in registered premises. The license is obtained from the local authority (usually justices), and approved by the home secretary. General rules are imposed for factories and magazines. There must be a lightning-conductor. No charcoal or oiled rags must be taken into the building except for immediate use. No smoking is allowed. Tools are to be made of wood or soft material. Workingmen's clothes are to be without pockets. Carriages and boats for conveying gunpowder must have in their interior no iron or steel exposed. Each building is to have affixed, so as to be easily read, the quantity of gunpowder allowed in each. Retail dealers must be registered, and must keep their poWder in a separate house or in a fire-proof safe, not exceeding 200 lbs.; but if kept inside the dwelling-house 50 lbs., or if in a safe inside, 100 lbs. The building or safe is to have no exposed iron or steel in the interior. A breach of precautions against fire or explo
sion is visited with heavy penalties. The local authorities must keep registers of licensed persons, and all ratepayers can demand a copy thereof. Retail dealers, if using less than 5 lbs. for cartridges at a time. are exempted from taking out is factory license. No powder must be sold to a child under 13. All powder exceeding 1 lb. weight must be sold in a canister or ease securely fitted, and with the word "gunpowder" visible. Also, powder must be closely and securely packed and labeled for conveyance, if exceed ing 5 lbs., and the amount carried is not to exceed 100 lbs. All railway and canal com panies are to make rules and have special times and places for loading and unloading powder. Firework factories, if making and keeping less than 500 lbs. of fireworks, need only a license from the local authority; but exceeding that quantity, one from the home secretary. To let off a firework in a street or highway subjects the offender to £5 penalty. A government inspector may at any hour of day or night enter and inspect any factory, magazine, or registered premises, and may require the occupier, under a heavy penalty, to make alterations, or take certain precautions. Search-warrants are also readily granted, and in urgent cases are dispensed with.