§ 17. Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEasked the President of the Board of Trade if the health advisory committee on the mercantile marine have yet reported the results of their investigations into the statistics relating to the mortality of seamen and the hygiene of crew spaces on board ship; and whether the report will be published?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMI would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the replies given on the 1st April to my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton (Mr. Morley) and on the 6th May to the hon. Member for Barnstaple (Sir B. Peto), to which at present I am unable to add.
§ Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEDoes the right hon. Gentleman realise that this body of men alone have been left out of the arrangements for looking after the health of the people, and that they are a most important body. Why has this selection been made? Why is no effort being made to overtake this melancholy lapse in our organisation?
§ Mr. GRAHAMI have never underestimated their importance, but at the moment the inquiry is taking the form of a review of certain-months of statistics, up to the end of September of this year, and until that is completed it is quite impossible to do more.
§ Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEThe question of the hygiene of crew spaces has nothing to do with statistics and will have to be dealt with by an entirely different body.