§ MR. A. P. VIVIANasked the Post-master General, Whether, with the view of lessening the great suffering and loss of life occurring on such occasions as the recent loss of the "Schiller" off the Scilly Isles, he will take into consideration, if necessary with the Board of Trade and Trinity House, the establishment of telegraphic communication between isolated lighthouses and the nearest land; and, in the event of no special fund being now applicable for this purpose, the Governmnt will consider 1129 how the necessary expenses should be met?
§ LORD JOHN MANNERS, in reply, said, he understood that neither the Board of Trade nor the Trinity House was very favourable to the suggestion contained in the Question. From a purely Post Office kind of view there were serious objections to it; but, as his right hon. Friend (Sir Charles Adderley) had just announced, an inquiry into the loss of the Schiller would be commenced to-morrow: and if, in the course of that inquiry, anything transpired tending to modify the opinion of the Department on the subject, it would, of course, be his duty to communicate with the two Departments he had mentioned, and he should be very glad to communicate the result to the hon. Gentleman.