Vice-Admiral CAMPBELLasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will examine the regulations governing the construction of ships, which recent casualties at sea suggest might be improved, with a view to ensuring that the regulations are adequate?
§ Dr. BURGINYes, Sir. If investigations into casualties at sea suggest that any feature in the construction of cargo ships is unsatisfactory from the point of view of the sea-worthiness of these vessels all possible steps are taken to secure improvement. In this connection I would refer to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Plaistow (Mr. Thorne) on 8th March last, in which I stated that special inquiry was being conducted into 1209W the question of steering gears on merchant vessels as a result of two recent failures in the case of ships which were subsequently lost.