§ MR. PLIMSOLLasked the President of the Board of Trade, If his attention has been called to the case of the steamship "Thornaby," lost with all hands, 1609 twenty-nine, which sailed from Cardiff for Bombay on the 10th of December, she having a mean clear side of 2 feet 10½ inches only, though drawing 19 feet 10 inches forward and 21 feet 2 inches aft, and having on board 2,122 tons of coal and patent fuel, her net register tonnage being 957 tons; and, whether he is prepared to institute a prosecution against the owners on a charge of sending a ship to sea unseaworthy by reason of her excessive over-loading?
§ SIR CHARLES ADDERLEYSir, I believe the ship Thornaby is lost, and probably with all hands. Before she left Cardiff she was reported by the Board of Trade surveyor as heavily laden; but owing to the length of her poop and forecastle he did not think it necessary to telegraph for immediate authority to stop her. He communicated by post, and it was then too late for the Board of Trade to take any steps further than to communicate the nature of the surveyor's report to the owners. We have now put the Papers in connection with the subject in the hands of the solicitor of the Department, and an inquiry is proceeding, and it will depend upon the issue of that inquiry whether there shall be material for a prosecution.
In reply to Mr. GOSCHEN,
§ MR. HUNTsaid, that Captain Fairfax's Report had been sent to the papers as being matter of public interest.