§ MR. J. C. MACDONAI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that in December last information was received by telegraph at Lloyds from Cape Town that the Union steamship Mexican struck wreckage off Cape Agulhas, her keel being so greatly damaged that she had to go into dry dock immediately at Cape Town; that this steamer was to have left Cape Town on December 5 with the South African mails but in consequence of this accident her passengers and mails had to be transferred to another steamer; and what steps do the Government propose to take to prevent any further mishaps of a like character?
§ MR. BRYCEI hold in my hand a Report of a Court of Inquiry in re the stranding of the Mexican on a rock off Cape Agulhas. There is not a word about wreckage in the Report. The Court found that the vessel was unnecessarily close to the shore, and recommended the Master to give the coast a wider birth in future. Though the Board of Trade do all they 298 can to discourage such mishaps they are unable to prevent them.