Hatchway Covers
18.
asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his experts consider that the use of loose wooden covers and tarpaulins as covers of hatchways in cargo vessels endanger the safety of the vessels in heavy weather; and, if such is the case, will he take steps to compel the use of watertight steel hatchway covers?
I am advised that wooden hatch covers of sufficient strength and properly fitted and secured are quite safe.
Apart from tankers, in which the hatches are small, there is very little experience of the use of steel hatchway covers. They are known to have certain disadvantages, and their compulsory use could not wisely be required.Health Conditions
21.
asked the President of the Board of Trade if the committee set up by his predecessor a year ago to advise the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Health on matters affecting the health of the mercantile marine has yet reported; whether the report will be published; and what action has been, or will be, taken to improve the conditions affecting the health of the crews and passengers concerned?
As the answer is a long one, I will, with the hon. and gallant Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPOET.
May we take it that the matter is really in hand now, and that an improvement is being made?
Without replying to the last specific point, I think the hon. and gallant Member will find a great deal of encouragement in the account of what is being done in this long reply.
Following is the answer:
The committee to which the hon. Member refers was set up to consider and advise on any questions affecting the health of the Mercantile Marine which the Board of Trade or the Ministry of Health might from time to time refer to them. The committee's advice on the various questions referred to it is submitted to the Departments as its consideration of each subject is completed and no general report is published. The subjects with which the committee has already dealt include the Ship Captain's Medical Guide which has been revised and issued, the Scales of Medicines and Medical Instruments and Stores for ships which do not carry surgeons, which also have been revised and issued, and the preparation of a code for facilitating medical consultation at sea by wireless telegraphy. This has been completed and forwarded to the International Code of Signals Committee. The subjects at present under consideration include an investigation of the statistics relating to the mortality of seamen and the hygiene of crew spaces on board ship.
Life-Saving Apparatus
26.
asked the President of the Board of Trade what report has been made by the deputy chief inspector of lifeboats as to the use of the Schermulz pistol-rocket apparatus; whether further experiment is being made as to any advantages the Schermulz pistol possesses for the firing of a stronger rope-line for the saving of life at sea?
The deputy chief inspector of lifeboats is an officer not of the Board of Trade, but of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and I cannot say what report he may have made to the Institution on the subject of line-throwing appliances, or what experiments are being made by the Institution on this subject. In pursuance of the Rules made under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Line-Throwing Appliance) Act, 1928, the Board of Trade have tested and approved the Schermulz and other line-throwing apparatus for use in sea-going ships, but it would be improper for me to express opinions as to the comparative merits of particular devices.