§ 35. Mr. JOYCEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the recent case of a man named Frederick Jansen being drowned in the Bristol Channel while returning to the pilot cutter after putting a pilot on board of a steamer; is he aware that the Cardiff pilots, with the consent of the Cardiff pilotage authority, have decided to substitute a steam pilotage service for the present sailing cutters, and if the Board of Trade must consent to this change before it can be made; and, if so, will the Board of Trade see that the change can be made without any more delay in order to minimise the danger of lives being lost and a more efficient pilotage service being maintained?
Mr. ROBERTSONA report of the case to which my hon. Friend refers has been received by the Board of Trade. The Cardiff Pilotage Board have submitted for confirmation by the Board of Trade a new code of by-laws relating, amongst other things, to the institution of a steam pilotage service. The Board of Trade have no power to confirm the by-laws in the form submitted to them pending the making of a Pilotage Order modifying or repealing the Bristol Channel Pilotage Act, 1861, some of the by-laws being in contravention of provisions of that Act, but the Board have informed the pilotage authority that they will consider an application for the confirmation of amended by-laws dealing only with the proposed steam pilotage service.