§ SIR E. WATKINI beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade if inquiry will be made into the circumstances of the loss of the fishing boat Camelia (232), believed to have been run down by a steamer between Dungen-ness and Folkestone in the night of the 8th May, the master, Donaldson, and the two fishermen, the brothers Harris (being the crew) having apparently lost their lives, as their bodies have not been recovered, nor have any tidings of them been received; if the Bremen steamer the Truce, bound east, and the west bound steamer Essequibo, were passing the point of accident at about the same time; and if he is aware of the many narrow escapes of fishing boats in the Channel, and of the reckless speed and course adopted by the foreign steam liners?
§ *SIR M. HICKS BEACHThe question of directing an inquiry in the case of the Camelia must depend upon the possibility of obtaining evidence of the facts. The German steamer Trave and the British steamer Essequibo are believed to have been in the vicinity at the time of the accident, and inquiries have been set on foot to ascertain whether either of them was in collision with the Camelia. I am not aware that foreign steam vessels are especially dangerous to fishing boats in the English Channel.