ABSTRACT
In 1910 there was a Committee of Inquiry into flannelette. The concern was that too many were dying because their clothes caught fire. It was not clear if the cause was open fires or flannelette clothes. The Committee considered remedial legislation. It said:
Prohibition being out of the question, the most that can be done by enactment would be to provide for due notice being given to intending purchasers of the true character of the material offered to them by dealers in flannelette. People who buy flannelette may do so in ignorance of the risk which they are running; or, knowing generally the character of the material, they may take the risk, putting cheapness before safety; or again, they may be misled by the specious description under which the article is sold.1
