§ SIR J. LENG (Dundee)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he has had his attention directed to the Atlantic Pilot Chart, dated February, 1894, in which are marked the places of 22 derelicts, which, when last seen, were drifting in the track of vessels between the coasts of the United Kingdom and the chief ports of the United States; whether one of them, the schooner Fannie G. Woolston, which appears in the chart a little to the north of Cuba, has had her drift marked since October, 1891; and whether, in concert with the Government of the United States, anything can be done to remove such dangers to the navigation of the Atlantic?
THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY (Sir U. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH,) Lancashire, ClitheroeThe Board of Admiralty have been in communication with the Board of Trade on the subject 1101 of floating derelicts, and it has been decided to appoint a small Departmental Committee to consider and report on the Memorials which have been received and the correspondence which has taken place on this subject. Pending the Report of that Committee questions like those of my hon. Friend, which are covered by this larger inquiry, will probably not be pressed.
MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)Will the right hon. Baronet also take into consideration the recommendations of the Maritime Conference which sat at Washington in 1889 on this subject?
SIR U. KAT-SHUTTLEWORTHI have no doubt the Committee will take the whole subject thoroughly into consideration, and, therefore, they can scarcely overlook those recommendations.