§ Mr. DOUGLAS HALLasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state the reason why no representative of the officers and men of the mercantile marine has been appointed to the Advisory Committee which will assist the British representatives at the International Conference on the Load-line; and whether, in view of the fact that the safety of British sailors is dependent largely on the load-line, he will see his way to appoint an additional person who will represent their interests?
Mr. BUXTONAs I have already stated, the questions and calculations involved in the determination of the freeboard of vessels are of a highly technical character, and the Load-line Committee has been so constituted as best to deal with these questions. It appeared to mo that it would be inconsistent with the character of the proposed investigation to form a Committee representative of particular interests. It will, of course, be open to the interests concerned to furnish evidence to the Committee.