§ MR. EDWARDSsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Council, Whether the Privy Council do not very much rely upon the information supplied by Pilots for the detection of infectious disease on board of vessels arriving from infected ports, and whether the abolition of compulsory pilotage would not have a tendency to remove one of the best securities for the enforcement of the Quarantine Laws, inasmuch as under an optional system of Pilotage, masters would not, by declining to take Pilots, hope to conceal the fact of infected cases?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, he had found on inquiry that the Privy Council did not rely upon the information given by pilots, because they were not bound by any statutory regulations to furnish it; but he did not doubt that in some cases they obtained such information. With regard to the latter part of the Question of the hon. Member, the proper time for him to give an answer would be when the Bill referred to was under discussion.