§ SIR T. SUTHERLAND (Greenock)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether it is the case that he has appointed a Committee to investigate the question of arranging a system of watertight bulkheads and compartments in merchant vessels; if any of the members of such Committee are shipowners, actually at the present time carrying on business in that capacity; if he will state the names of the members of the Committee, and the terms of the Reference placed before them for consideration, and Report; and whether they have been authorised to take evidence on the subject?
§ *SIR M. HICKS BEACHAs stated in my reply to a question by the hon. Member for Sunderland on the 13th of March, 1890, the Board of Trade have appointed a Special Committee consisting of the following gentlemen:—Sir Edward Harland, M.P., Mr. James G. S. Anderson, Professor Philip Jenkins, Mr. A. C. Kirk, Mr. James Laing, and Mr. T. B. Royden, M.P., to consider and Report upon the question of the efficient subdivision of merchant ships by means of watertight bulkheads, and I shall be happy to furnish the hon. Member with a copy of the terms of Reference. All the members of this Committee, with two exceptions, are shipowners. The Committee are still engaged upon their Inquiry, and have no doubt obtained such evidence as they required; but they have received no special authority for this purpose, beyond that implied in their appointment.