§ MR. GRAVESsaid, he would beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, Whether it is his intention to cause an inquiry to be made into the recent destruction of the steamer European, with fifty lives, at Colon, from the effects of a quantity of highly explosive oil, called glonoin or nitro-glycerine, which had been forwarded from Germany, through Grimsby, to Liverpool, where it was shipped on board of the European; and whether any, and what, steps have been taken to prevent the reception or transmission of this article without proper notice?
§ MR. MILNER GIBSONSir, it is not intended to institute an inquiry into the destruction of the European by the explosion referred to, as there has been an inquiry on the spot by a Naval Court under the Merchant Shipping Act. The Report has just been received, and will be published. In regard to preventing the shipment of the explosive oil except on certain conditions the law gives us no power now of interfering in the matter, but the subject is under consideration.