TITANIC INQUIRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1470, 19 June 1912, Page 5

TITANIC INQUIRY.

RECOMMENDATIONS IGNORED,

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. London, Juno 17. Mr. TV. D. Archer, Principal Ship Surveyor to the Board of Trade, in giving evidence before the Court of Inquiry into the Titanic disaster, stated that if his recommendations made in 1911 had been adopted, they would have given the Titanic boat accommodation for nearly three thousand people. The rule exempting vessels with watertight bulkheads ought to be abandoned, and the boat accommodation should be regulated according to the number of persons aboard, instead of the tonnage of the vessel. In his opinion, a committee should be appointed to consider the method of lowering boats.

■ SECOND OFFICER'S VIEWS. Sydney, June 18. Mr. Lightoller, second officer of the Titanic, in a letter to his mother-in-law, a Sydney resident, says:—"The accident was caused by a combination of circumstances which might not occur again perhaps in a century. It was a perfect, calm night, with an absolutely smooth s?a. There was no moon. The blue side of the berg was towards us. If there had been the slightest breeze the ripples breaking on the berg would have given a phosphorescent glow. A swell would have done likewise. A moon would have given a reflected light from the whita side, and wo would have discovered the berg in sufficient time to clear it."

DETECTION OF ICEBERGS. (Rec. June 19, 0.20 a.m.) Ottawa, June 18. Tests have been made on trans-Atlantic liners with a microtherrnometer invented by Professor Barnes, of M'Gill University. The instrument successfully showed the pressure of icebergs while still miles distant.