§ SIR J. LENGI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether the Court of Inquiry ordered by the Board of Trade into the recent stranding of the steamer Jasper on May Island reported that, in their opinion, a sound or fog signal on that island would have averted the casualty; whether it has come to his knowledge that, owing to the large number of trawlers frequently near the Carr Lightship, it is difficult to distinguish its fixed light; and whether he will suggest, for the consideration of the Northern Light Commissioners, the substitution of an occulting for a fixed light on board the Carr Lightship, and also the placing of a fog signal on May Island?
§ MR. BRYCEThe Report of the Court of Inquiry on the stranding of the Jasper is as stated. The Board of Trade have no power to require the establishment of fog signals, but the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses tell me that they hope it may not be long before 675 (other more pressing claims having been satisfied) they may be in a position to recommend the establishment of a fog signal at Isle of May. With regard to the North Carr Lightship, neither the Commissioners nor the Board of Trade have received any complaints as to the difficulty suggested in the question either from traders who do contribute or from trawlers who do not contribute to the Mercantile Marine Fund out of which the expenditure in connection with this light is defrayed.