HC Deb 23 July 1888 vol 329 cc185-6
MR. LEATHAM BRIGHT (Stoke-upon-Trent)

asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether it is correct that the Government has paid the sum of £20,000 as compensation for the damage done by H.M.S. Sultan to a French steamer run down in the Tagus; whether it is true that a steamer of the same French line, on April 7, 1884, ran down the British steamer Nith whilst at her moorings, also on the Tagus, in broad daylight, and that, owing to a mere technicality, no compensation was paid to the owners of the British steamer, nor to the crew for the total loss of their effects, but only to the French merchants for the loss of their cargo; whether the Government is prepared to make such representations to the French Government as shall recompense the owners and crew of the Nith for their loss; and, whether, if the £20,000 was paid as an act of courtesy to the French nation, it is possible to arrange for any friendly reciprocity in the matter?

THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)

The sum of £20,000 paid by the Government in consequence of the collision referred to in the Question was given to the French Ambassador for the relief of the families of those who had perished and of those who had lost their personal effects by the accident; but in no way was it compensation to the owners of the vessel for damage done to the ship or cargo. It is the case that the owners of the Nith were non-suited owing to her captain not having given the notice required by French law, by which they forfeited their claim to compensation. It would be outside the province of the Admiralty to make representations for recompense to the owners and crew of the Nith.

MR. HANBURY (Preston)

asked if the £20,000 was provided for in the Estimates?

MR. LEATHAM BRIGHT

asked, whether it was not possible to obtain from the French Government some small compensation to be applied for the benefit, not of the owners of the Nith, but of her crew?

LORD GEORGE HAMILTON

said, that the hon. Member must address his Question to the Foreign Office. The £20,000 came out of savings.