HC Deb 23 June 1904 vol 136 cc973-4
MR. GILHOOLY (Cork County, W.)

To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that sailors aboard merchant ships who sign or contract to be supplied with butter are, as a rule, supplied with margarine; and whether he will give the matter his attention.

(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.)Butter is not one of the articles which the Board of Trade officers have power to inspect under Section 206 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and I am not aware to what extent, if at all, margarine is supplied in cases in which the ship's agreement provides that butter shall be given. If the terms of the agreement are broken in the manner suggested by the hon. Member, the crew would presumably have their remedy at law.