§ 72. Mr. Awberyasked the Minister of Transport to examine the effectiveness of the inflatable oil boom for preventing the spread of oil in enclosed waters, details of which have been sent to him by the hon. Member for Bristol, Central; and if he will invite all port authorities where oil is handled in large quantities to install in their ports these inflatable booms so that any oil falling into the dock area can be easily confined to a particular place and prevented from spreading and doing extensive damage.
§ Mr. Marples:My technical advisers have been keeping in touch with the development of inflatable booms and other 57W means of dealing with oil spillages. They are familiar with the boom to which the hon. Member has drawn attention and have been invited to trials which the Admiralty are going to conduct with the manufacturers in the spring. Port authorities and shipowners already have much information about the use of booms of this kind, but I will see that any useful developments are brought to their attention.