§ MR. HAVELOCK WILSON (Middlesbrough)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the Returns of deaths of seamen, reported to the Registrar of Shipping and Seamen in 1907, show that fifty-eight lascar firemen and trimmers committed suicide on British foreign-going ships in that year; and, seeing that the number of Asiatics employed as firemen and trimmers was 15,582, and among whom the proportion of deaths from suicide is thus shown to be as one in every 268 men employed, will he say what steps he proposes to take.
§ MR. CHURCHILLI have had the Returns of deaths of seamen reported to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen in 1907 carefully examined, but the result does not bear out the statement that fifty-eight lascar firemen and trimmers committed suicide in that year. The returns show that seventeen lascar firemen and trimmers were known to have committed suicide, five were supposed to have committed suicide, and twenty-two disappeared, making 2138 a maximum of forty-four lascars who may possibly have met their deaths by suicide. Moreover, the figure 15,582, represents only the number of lascars firemen and trimmers who were actually on oriental articles of agreement on a certain day in 1906, and does not include the large number of such persons who may have been ashore and unemployed on that day. The proportion of deaths by suicide as calculated by my hon. friend is, therefore, subject to considerable modification. The facts are, however, sufficiently serious to demand earnest attention, and I am taking steps to secure that every case is thoroughly investigated with a view to the discovery and if possible the mitigation of the conditions which lead to such frequent suicides amongst lascars.
§ * MR. REESIs there any reason to believe that Europeans are available for and anxious for these duties, and that if they performed them there would be fewer suicides among them than among Asiatics?
§ [No Answer was returned.]