§ Mr. HAVELOCK WILSONasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the steamer "Mohawk," of Bristol, signed a crew on board at South Shields, on 22nd March, 1909, instead of engaging the crew at the mercantile marine office; whether he is aware that only seven deck hands were engaged instead of nine, as provided by the Board of Trade Regulations; whether only four of the deck hands were qualified A.B.'s; 879W whether the men signed on as sailors produced any continuous discharge books to prove they were qualified; whether the manning of this ship was reported by the deputy superintendent to the principal detaining officer; whether any of the Board of Trade surveyors visited this ship for the purpose of testing whether the crew were efficient; and whether he intends to take any steps with a view of seeing that all crews engaged under such circumstances are tested for the purpose of ascertaining whether they are efficient for the duties for which they are engaged?
Mr. TENNANTThe crew of the s.s. "Mohawk" were engaged on board the vessel at South Shields on 27th March last. The deck portion of the crew consisted of one carpenter, four duly qualified A.B.'s, and three sailors, of whom two produced discharge books and the third had a satisfactory reference from another similar vessel. The vessel, whose tonnage is less than 5,500 tons gross, accordingly carried eight efficient deck hands, the number required by the Instructions recently issued. The deputy superintendent, who witnessed the engagement of the crew, had no reason to believe that the requirements of the Instructions were not complied with, and he did not, therefore, communicate with the detaining officer, as he would have done if the requisite number of efficient deck hands had not been engaged. As at present advised the Board of Trade do not propose to issue any further instructions on the subject of manning.