§ MR. W. WILLIAMS (Swansea)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he will cause a special inquiry to be made as to the cause of the boat accident at Port Talbot, by which over 20 persons have lost their lives; and whether he will take stops, by legislation or otherwise, to secure that all boats hired out to pleasure parties shall be registered and placed under the control and inspection of a Local Authority?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERThere will necessarily be an inquest in the case of the persons who unfortunately lost their lives in connection with the boat accident referred to, and I will obtain from the Coroner a copy of the depositions taken by him. From the reports which have appeared in the newspapers, it does not appear that, if the boat in question had been licensed and had been under the inspection of the Local Authority, the accident would have been avoided. All Urban Sanitary Authorities are empowered to license pleasure boats and to make bye-laws enforceable by penalties with regard to the boats and the persons in charge of them.