§ 43. Mr. McNamaraasked the President of the Board of Trade what action he proposes to take on the recommendations of the coroner's jury at Scunthorpe on Thursday, 5th January that his Department should ask Parliament to make it compulsory for barges sailing in tidal waters and estuaries to be subject to periodic surveys and statutory loading lines.
§ Mr. J. P. W. MallalieuI am having the recommendation of the coroner's jury considered and will inform the House when I am able to reach a decision.
§ Mr. McNamaraI thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware that these regulations need making, but not only these, for we also need regulations governing health and general qualifications of barge skippers and crews? Does he not agree that it is more by luck than by good management that we have not had serious accidents in the shipping lanes of the Humber and other navigable rivers?
§ Mr. MallalieuThere is something in what my hon. Friend says.