MR. HERBERT (Buckinghamshire, Wycombe)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether there is any Board of Trade regulation requiring passenger vessels to be provided with lifeboat accommodation for as many passengers as they are capable of carrying; and whether he is aware that the "Argonaut," which was capable of carrying 200 passengers, had on board only 108 passengers when she sank the other day, yet that all the boats were full, so that if she had had her full complement of passengers on board a large number of people would have been unprovided for; and will he say who is responsible for this state of affairs.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThere is no regulation requiring lifeboat accommodation to be provided for every person on board every passenger vessel, and I am advised that it would not be practicable in the case of very large vessels to carry the number of boats that such a regulation would require. The "Argonaut," however, which was certified to carry 338 persons in all, had at the survey held immediately before the last voyage boat accommodation for 378. The statement that all the boats were full, though there were only 108 passengers on board, will be investigated at the public inquiry which is to be held in the case.