HC Deb 10 June 1901 vol 94 c1466
MR. HERBERT ROBERTS

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, in connection with the recent wreck of the Layland liner at Cape Race, he has any official information to the effect that the crew of the steamer was composed almost entirely of Germans, and that they fell into a state of panic when the vessel went on the rocks; and whether he proposes to cause inquiry to be made into this matter.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, Central

The crew of the "Assyrian" on her last voyage, which commenced at Antwerp, consisted of thirty-five persons, of whom twenty-six (including nine Germans) were foreigners. On previous voyages, commencing in the United Kingdom, her crew consisted of thirty-one or thirty-two persons, mostly of British nationality. I have no official report of the behaviour of the crew when the steamer went ashore, but the circumstances of the case will certainly form the subject of inquiry, either in the colony or in this country.