§ MR. LAWRENCE (Liverpool, Abercromby)To ask the President of the Local Government Board what Department of His Majesty's Government, and 1452 under what Act, brought to Liverpool negro sailors who deserted from their ship in the Azores; and whether he has suggested or will suggest to such Department that it should reimburse the expenditure of the Liverpool Select Vestry incurred in sending them to their homes.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) These distressed seamen from the West Indies were relieved at Fayal and Lisbon, and were sent to this country by the Consul at Lisbon under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act administered by the Board of Trade. There were no opportunities of sending the men to the West Indies either from Fayal or from Lisbon, and there are no funds at the disposal of the Board of Trade to which the cost of sending seamen from the United Kingdom to their homes abroad can be charged.