§ MR. C. LUSHINGTONasked the President of the Board of Trade, whether it was his intention to take any steps to prevent the overloading of the passenger steamboats plying on the Thames?
§ MR. LABOUCHEREsaid, that by the provisions of the Steam Navigation Act all steamboat proprietors were directed to transmit to the Board of Trade every six months a report of the condition of their vessels; but this Act, although it inflicted 812 a penalty on the proprietors of steam vessels navigating the sea for neglecting to make such a return, inflicted no penalty whatever on the proprietors of steamboats navigating rivers for such neglect. The Board of Trade took the only means in their power to prevent the occurrence of accidents, by writing to all the proprietors of the river steamboats, reminding them of the necessity of making such a return, and cautioning them that if they neglected to do so, and any accident should happen, they would probably be visited with severe punishment. He believed, however, that it would be his duty to ask the House to adopt some more stringent measure for the regulation of the river steamboats.