§ MR. LEAasked the President of the Board of Trade, If his attention has been called to the narrow escape from loss of life through the recent wreck of a vessel on Plymouth Breakwater; if it is true that the lighthouse keepers, on that occasion, sent up rockets at ten o'clock and after, during the night, and used every expedient in their power to attract attention, and that no notice was taken until their distress flags were observed next day; and, if he has yet decided upon the advisability of connecting lighthouses by cable with the shore?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINMy attention has been called to this matter, and the facts as stated in the Question are substantially 299 correct. My hon. Friend is probably aware that the shipwrecked crew were received into the lighthouse about 10 o'clock at night. At the time the rockets were sent up the crow were perfectly safe, and the fact of the rockets not having been seen did not in any degree add to their danger. With regard to the last part of the Question, I have to say that there is now in existence a contract for connecting the sunk lightship with the shore; but certain mechanical difficulties have intervened, and have not yet been overcome.