40. Mr. HAMILTON BENNasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, as regards the figures supplied for the years 1912 and 1913 of seamen failing to-join their ships after signing agreements to do so, he can state, out of the total number of seamen engaged at the different ports in the United Kingdom, what proportion of these seamen were engaged in liners and coasting vessels in regular trades where the employment of seamen is continuous; and whether he is able to give the actual percentage of failures to join in the case of seamen who have signed articles to serve in foreign-going cargo vessels only?
§ Mr. BURNSNo statistics showing the failure of seamen to join coasting vessels are available, nor are there any statistics showing separately the failure of seamen to join liners and cargo vessels.