§ Captain Pluggeasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he can make any statement on the numbers of flying-boats and aeroplanes which are available for watching our liners within a few hundred miles of the Irish and British coasts; and whether he can, in this connection, indicate the exact precautions in the case of the "Empress of Britain"?
Captain BalfourI regret that it would not be in the public interest to reveal the information for which my hon. and gallant Friend asks. As regards the circumstances of the loss I understand from my right hon. Friend the First Lord of the Admiralty that these are the subject of a formal Board of Inquiry.