§ MR. E. H. BAYLEY (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, the number of lives lost 287 by shipwreck round the coast during the recent gales, say from 20th December to 17 January; the number lost by capsizing of lifeboats; the number saved by coastguard, and the number saved by lifeboats; specifying separately the number saved by means of tugs and without tugs; and, whether, as the Board of Trade lifeboat at Ramsgate has become useless, he will arrange for it to be replaced by a steam lifeboat of modern design?
§ THE PRESIDENT of THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. BRYCE, Aberdeen, S.)The total number of lives lost by shipwreck on or near the coast of the United Kingdom between December 20th and January 17th is, according to the reports received up to the present time, 400. The number saved amount to 686, of whom 184 were saved by the coastguard, rocket apparatus, and help from the shore, and 173 by lifeboats. I am not able to state separately the number saved by means of tugs and without tugs. Two lives were lost apparently by the capsizing of lifeboats, but this is, I understand, contested by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The lifeboat at Ramsgate is the property of the National Lifeboat Institution, and is now being repaired. It has, in the meantime, been replaced by another boat belonging to the Institution. As the harbour tug at Ramsgate is always available for towing the lifeboat I do not think the question of providing a steam lifeboat need be entertained.