§ MR. HENEAGEasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether he is aware 1537 that the use of coloured lights by trawling smacks was unanimously condemned by a Select Committee presided over last Session by the Secretary of the Board of Trade; and, further, that the masters and owners of trawlers are unanimous in their opinion that considerable loss of life and damage to their property would be the result of the use of a coloured masthead light, in which opinion the smack owners' insurance offices fully concur; and, whether he will undertake that the Report of the Select Committee shall not be set aside without giving the House an opportunity of judging the question on its true merits, and the trawling smack owners of having their case fairly stated by those Members specially representing their interests?
MR. GLADSTONEThe hon. Member's Question appears calculated to convey an impression that the law relating to the carrying of white lights by trawlers ought not to be altered. On this subject the Government are collecting information. Before anything is done, Papers on the subject will be laid before the House.