§ MR. LENG (Dundee)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been directed to the ingenious invention of Captain James Fairweather, of Dundee, under which, at the cost of a few shillings, by the addition of a single lamp to those required on board of all steamers, the commercial code of signals can be utilised during the night; and whether, considering the importance of vessels being enabled easily to communicate with each other between sundown and sunrise as well as in daylight, the Board will facilitate this nocturnal extension of the commercial code?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. MUNDELLA,) Sheffield, BrightsideMy attention has been directed to Captain Fairweather's system of signals. But having regard to the opinion adverse to use of coloured lights for night signalling at sea, as expressed in the final Act of the Washington Maritime Conference, I am not prepared, as at present advised, to recommend any general system of signalling at night. The conclusion of the Conference to which I refer is printed at page 61 of Parliamentary Paper C. 6664 of 1892.