§ MR. SOARES (Devonshire, Barnstaple)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the wreck of the schooner "William S. Green," at Downend, near Croyde, on the North Devon coast, and to the inquest held on the 23rd inst. on the bodies of the men drowned by reason of the wreck; and, if so, whether he will order an inquiry by the Board of Trade into the circumstances of the wreck, and will see that such inquiry shall embrace the question of the efficiency of the coastguard service in the vicinity of the disaster.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) Yes, Sir, my attention has been called to the case of the "William S. Green" to which the hon. Member refers, and I have ordered a formal investigation to be held into the circumstances which will, of course, embrace the efficiency of the coastguard in so far as it has any bearing on the case.