HC Deb 03 May 1944 vol 399 cc1303-4
17. Mr. A. Edwards

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport whether production of steel lifeboats for oil tankers has now commenced.

Mr. Noel-Baker

As my hon. Friend is, no doubt, aware, the production of steel lifeboats for tankers began some years ago, and more than two-thirds of the tanker fleet are already provided with steel lifeboats. Some wooden lifeboats have been converted to embody the latest devices for protection against fire, and work on others is going on. When thus converted, they are very little, if at all, inferior to steel boats of the latest type. I hope that the production of this latest type of steel boat will be begun in the early summer.