§ MR. BURTasked the President of the Board of Trade, When the inquiry will be held, if it has not been already ordered, into the case of the steam ship "Prince," which foundered, with the loss of all hands, between Middlesbrough and Grangemouth in December last, and which vessel was loaded with more than 600 tons of pig iron, her gross registered tonnage being between 400 and 500 tons?
§ SIR CHARLES ADDERLEY, in reply, said, the Prince foundered off the Tyne in December in a heavy gale, and as all hands on beard perished no inquiry could be instituted as to the cause of the disaster, except with reference to the leading and stowage of the cargo, which consisted of pig iron. Another Middlesbrough ship, the Agnes Wyllie, was lost about the same time, loaded also with pig iron. This case has just been concluded before the Wreck Commissioners, and the judgment given is that blame attached to no one. These cases, however, led the Board of Trade to inquire more generally into the system of loading and stowage of iron at Middlesbrough, and a correspondence has been going on with the shipowners of that port. The Prince was detained for overloading on a previous voyage in October, and made to lighten her cargo of iron to about 600 tons. There is no relation between the tonnage of a steamship and the number of tons of cargo 1855 she can carry. The one is a measure of 100 cubic feet capacity, the other of weight, and it is possible a ship of 400 or 500 gross registered tonnage, as the Prince, might be made to carry safely 600 tons of iron properly stowed.