§ MR. BUCHANAN (Edinburgh, W.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been directed to the wreck of the ship Aristides at Rattray Head on the night of the 5th April, in which seven out of eight men on board were drowned; whether this calamity was in great measure caused by the want of a light on Rattray Head; and whether he will now take steps to have a lighthouse erected there at the earliest moment?
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHThe information at present in the possession of the Board of Trade on the subject of the wreck of the Aristides on the morning of the 6th instant, so far as it goes, appears to show that this wreck was not caused by the want of a light on Rattray Head. The Board of Trade have asked the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses to supply detailed estimates and plans of the lighthouse, the establishment of which, as I stated on the 23rd of last month in reply to a question of the hon. Member, has been 358 sanctioned. In the event of these estimates being satisfactory, the work will probably be commenced by the Northern Lighthouse Board during the present financial year.