§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state why the relatives of certain apprentices who lost their lives in the "Primrose Hill" disaster were not allowed to be represented at the inquiry held upon the subject, and whether the next-of-kin of men who lose their lives in cases of this kind are entitled to be represented at such inquiries.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. RITCHIE, Croydon)I am informed that the relatives were allowed to be represented at the inquiry to the extent of their solicitor being permitted to cross-examine witnesses. But the judge declined to allow them to be made formal parties to the proceedings, and therefore refused to permit their solicitor to address the court at the conclusion of the evidence. By the rules made under the Merchant Shipping Act governing these inquiries, any person who can show that he has an 420 interest in the investigation has a right to appear and be made a party to the proceedings, but the question whether any person succeeds in showing that interest is for the discretion of the judge.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDMay I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman will make some new arrangement whereby in similar cases the relatives of all persons who are drowned in ships that are wrecked may have the fullest opportunity in every way of appearing before the court of inquiry? In this case the relatives of twelve unfortunate boys were refused it.
§ *MR. RITCHIEI have already stated what the requirements of the law are, and I have no power to vary the law. The judge, acting on his own discretion, refused to hear the representatives, and I am not prepared to say whether, in my opinion, it was aright or wrong discretion.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDI will call attention to this case at an early date.