§ MR. COGHILL (Stoke-upon-Trent)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty why, on the launch of H.M.S. Albion, proper precautions were not taken to prevent the lamentable accident which occurred?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTYH.M.S. Albion is building by contract in a private shipbuilding yard, that of the Thames Iron Works Company, and, as is universally the custom in such cases, the arrangements for the presence of spectators at the launch remained entirely in the hands of the contractors. The honourable Gentleman will have noticed that an inquest is being held upon the deaths of the unfortunate victims by this deplorable accident, and all the circumstances attending the disaster will doubtless be brought to light.