§ MR. LOWLESI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is aware that a Police Return has been issued, showing that 26 persons (mostly children) have been drowned in the Regent's Canal this year, and 33 others were rescued from drowning by the police; and, whether he will cause immediate steps to be taken to have the banks of the Canal properly protected, especially between the Rosemary Branch and Pritchard's Road Bridges, at Haggerston, where these lamentable accidents chiefly occur?
§ SIR MATTHEW RIDLEYI am not aware that any Police Return has been issued, but the Commissioner of Police informs me that he has given to a private correspondent particulars of such cases within the knowledge of the police, and 1459 that the figures quoted are correctly given. The canal banks are private property, and are not patrolled by the Metropolitan Police. I am not aware that I have any power to enforce the protection desired, but I will communicate with the canal company on the subject.