§ MR. GOURLEYasked the President of the Board of Trade, If his attention has been called to the recent loss of thirty deep sea fishing smacks, together with one hundred and eighty lives, belonging to the Humber; if it is his intention to ask the Treasury to make a grant in aid for the benefit of the widows and orphans of the fishermen who are missing; and, whether in future he will endeavour to arrange with the Admiralty that some of the seagoing cruisers of the Navy may be told off for attendance at the fishery grounds in the North Sea and around the coasts of the United Kingdom, for the purpose of rendering assistance to those engaged in the fisheries in the event of an emergency?
§ MR. J. HOLMSSir, the President of the Board of Trade has already stated that he had ordered an inquiry into the serious losses sustained by fishermen engaged in the deep-sea fishery on the East Coast during the gales of last month; but it is not his intention to apply to the Treasury for a grant in aid for the benefit of the widows and orphans of the fishermen who are missing. The information in the possession of the Board of Trade tends to show that even if Admiralty cruisers had been present it would have been impossible for them to have approached the smacks to render assistance.