§ MR. HERBERT LEWISI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has any information in his possession to communicate to the House with regard to the loss of the Drummond Castle?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINI am sorry to say I have nothing consolatory to communicate to the House. The only information I have beyond what appears in the papers is the following statement:—
This afternoon the owners of the Drummond Castle have received telegraphic information that up to the time of dispatching the telegrams only one passenger, a quartermaster and a sailor had been saved; that the weather was hazy and Ushant light invisible; and that the captain and officers of the watch were on the bridge at the time of the accident. The French Government had promptly sent a steam tug to the spot. The two gentlemen dispatched by the owners by different routes will reach Brest tonight.I understand that Messrs. Donald Currie and Co. have received from Her Majesty a gracious message with an expression of sympathy with all who have suffered by the sad loss, and that Her Majesty has asked to be supplied with further information, to which the owners have promptly replied, and they have made Her Majesty's message public.
§ COLONEL LOCKWOOD (Essex, Epping)Arising out of that answer, may I ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether he has in his possession any information derived from Royal Naval sources as to this sad disaster?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTYNo, Sir. I saw a rumour in the papers that Her Majesty's ship Sybil had been in the neighbourhood, and that a telegram had been received. This is an entire error. The Sybil is at Crete, and no news of any kind has reached the Admiralty from any of Her Majesty's ships.