§ MR. HAVELOCK WILSONI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if his attention has been called to the Peninsular and Oriental steamship Kaisar-i-Hind, which sailed from Portsmouth with over 600 men, women, and children on board belonging to the North Staffordshire Regiment, and which vessel was manned by Lascars; and will he inform the House whether there are any regulations providing that all vessels carrying British troops shall be manned by competent seamen; and will he state whether it is intended in future to take steps to prevent troop-ships sailing with a large number of passengers being manned by Lascars, having regard to the fact that at the recent inquiry into the loss of the steamship Roumania a British officer who had had considerable experience of Lascars stated that they were not reliable seamen in cold or stormy weather?
SIR U. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTHPerhaps I may be allowed to answer this question. There is no regulation precluding the employment of Lascars in transports or hired ships conveying troops; nor is it thought that it would he either desirable or possible to refuse to employ as freight ships passenger steamers, like the Peninsular and Oriental Company's vessels, which are manned by Lascars. The regulations require that troop freight ships shall be as completely equipped and manned as the highest class of passenger steamers of similar size. The opinion referred to in the last sentence of the question was given by an officer of the Indian Staff Corps. No naval officer was on board the Roumania.
§ MR. W. S. CAINE (Bradford, E.)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that those Lascar seamen are natives of British India, and are entitled to the same rights and privileges as the rest of Her Majesty's subjects?