§ BARON HENRY DE WORMSasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is the fact that the Transport Department have lately chartered vessels for the conveyance of navvies and other passengers to be employed on the projected railway from Suakin to Berber, and that such vessels are not certificated as passenger ships by the Board of Trade; and, if so, why the Law with regard to ships carrying passengers has not been complied with in this case; and, whether he will place upon the Table of the House a copy of the rules which shipowners are supposed to comply with before their vessels can be placed upon the Admiralty list for the purposes of transport?
§ MR. CAINEThe Transport Department have lately chartered five transports, in which navvies and other passengers have been, or are about to be, conveyed. Two of them are passenger ships under the Passenger Act, 18 and 19 Vict. c. 119, the others are not passenger ships under the meaning of that Act, which exempts from its operations "ships in the service of the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral." All these ships, whether passenger ships or not, have been duly surveyed and passed by the Surveying and Engineer officers employed by the Transport Department. There is no Admiralty list for the purposes of transport. The only Admiralty list is that prepared by the Controller of the Navy for other purposes.