58. Mr. PONSONBYasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the practice of deck loading now permitted on British merchantmen amounts to an abolition of the Plimsoll line; and whether the Government has considered the increased danger to the lives of seamen which such a change involves?
Mr. ROBERTSThere is no question of abolishing the load line. The deeper loading of shelter-deck vessels, to which the hon. Gentleman no doubt refers, is allowed under the Load-line Regulations when certain openings in the shelter-deck spaces are closed up, and what is being done now is to have these openings closed. The change does not, I am advised, involve increased danger.