§ 23. Mr. Thorneasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can give any information about the accident at Tilbury Docks on Wednesday, at which a man was killed; whether the crane hook was defective; and what was the cause of the accident?
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Sir Samuel Hoare)I presume the hon. Member refers to the accident on the steamship "City of Marseilles" on Tuesday, 7th December. This accident has been fully investigated, and I am informed that it was not due to a defective crane hook, but was probably due to a sling hook having been inserted into the eye of a tray with the point outwards and catching in a bale of jute when the sling was raised, so that the bale was displaced and fell.
§ Mr. Benjamin SmithIs not this a case of obvious neglect, in putting on the sling hook with the point upwards so that it could catch? Surely, in that case, the neglect has been proved?