§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the only means taken by the Victoria Steamboat Association to give publicity to the regulation limiting the number of their passengers is to hang up the certificate in an obscure corner of the cabin; whether he is also aware that each ticket issued by them contains the following notice:—"The Association are not responsible for injury or loss of life to passengers travelling by their boats, from whatever cause;" and whether the Board of Trade will consider the means of securing the safety and comfort of passengers?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (MR. MUNDELLA,) Sheffield, BrightsideMy officers report that the passenger traffic of each of the vessels of the Association referred to by the hon. Member is put up in some conspicuous part of the ship, as required by the Merchant Shipping Act. In no instance, in their opinion, has it been hung up "in an obscure corner of the cabin." The tickets issued by the Association do, I understand, contain a notice in the terms quoted in the question; but whether such a notice has any legal validity is a question upon which I am not prepared to 240 express any opinion. The safety of passengers is provided for by careful survey in each case before a certificate is granted; but, as I have already stated, the question of comfort, as distinct from safety, is not one in which the Board of Trade have power to interfere.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANIs there anything shown on deck which gives the number of passengers allowed on board?
§ MR. MUNDELLANo. This information is usually exhibited in the saloon, and in the cabins; not on deck.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANIs it put in a conspicuous place?
§ MR. MUNDELLAI am informed that it is shown in a manner required by the Merchant Shipping Act.