§ Mr. MUNROasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the fact that on 4th December, 1910, on the sandbank of the Gizzin Briggs, at the entrance to the Dornoch Firth, the ss. "Sterlina" was wrecked and two lives were lost and a third imperilled; whether he is aware that there was then and is now no lifeboat or life-saving apparatus nearer than Nairn, which is twenty-six miles distant from the scene of the shipwreck; and whether in these circumstances he will take steps to secure the provision of a lifeboat and life-saving appliances, either at Portmahomack or Embo, with a view to preventing the recurrence of so grave a casualty?
Mr. BUXTONMy attention has been called to the wreck of the s.s. "Sterlina" with loss of life on the Gizzin Briggs, Dornoch Firth, on 3rd December last. The nearest life-saving rocket apparatus was at Helmsdale, but such an apparatus could not have been of any use in a case of this kind owing to the distance of the wreck from the shore. The nearest lifeboats were at Nairn and Lossiemouth, and I am informed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution that, unfortunately, neither of these boats was summoned when the wreck occurred. Means of communication are available, and if the Lossiemouth boat had been called it could have reached the wreck in time to rescue the crew. A notice has been issued by the Institution with a view to preventing a similar failure to summon a lifeboat in future.