HC Deb 19 July 1938 vol 338 c1970
11. Mr. Benjamin Smith

asked the President of the Board of Trade the number of accidents occurring on coastwise cargo ships for which the ships' officers have been held responsible?

Mr. Stanley

The information available does not enable me to give a full reply. The findings in Formal Investigations under the Merchant Shipping Acts and Boiler Explosion Acts during the last five years have been examined, and there is no case in which an officer of a coastwise cargo ship has been held responsible. I have no statistics as to any judgments of the civil courts which might come within the scope of the question.