Wreck Aftermath

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 17, 8 June 1914, Page 5

Wreck Aftermath

THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND ENQUIRY. MR. HOLMAN SUGGESTS WIDER SCOPE. OWNERS SHOULD HE PUT ON TRIAL. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright Ottawa, June 0. Air. Hasten, Minister of Marine, announced in Parliament, that the Empress of Ireland enquiry would begin on June 1(1 at Quebec or .Montreal. Lord Mersey h expected from England on June 13. The assessors appointed to assist the commission include Commander Caborne, of the Royal Naval Reserve; Professor Welsh., of Newcastle, England; Captain Deraers and Engineer-Commander Howe, both of the Canadian service. Sydney, June 0. Mr. Holman, replying to the Canadian resentment at his remarks on the Empress of Ireland disaster, maintained the view that the enquiry ought not to be confined to a few unfortunate seamen or officers, but ought to extend to those chief in responsibility. Where commercial men agree to send the public from Canada to Europe, and as a matter of fact send them from Canada to the next world, that alone was sufficient ground , for putting those men on trial. He did ' not say that they ought to be convicted if they can show as they effusively assured their press backers that the ship represented the last word in naval architecture. Then the trial would not . hurt them, but until they can show that, since the calamity occurred under their direction to men and women who trusted themselves to the vessel at their invitation, there is a prima facie cas« against them. Mr. Holman further held up the Cunard Company's boast that they had never lost a passenger or a letter as an illustration of what naval skill could ac : complish in the way of securing the safety of the travelling public when those powers were directed primarily to maintaining public safety and not to inflating dividends. Received 7, 5.5 p.m. London, June 6. The Mansion House Fund hag now reached £24,(loo,'and Liverpool's fund) £1.1,758. General Bramwcll Booth conducted a memorial service at the Albert Hall. The upper tiers were crowded and every seat on the floor occupied, excepting the chairs representing the Salvationists lost on the Empress of Ireland, each being ornamented with the Army's white mourning badge, surmounted by a crown. The Church of England, and the NonConformist churches were specially represented. The Queen sent a sympathetic message. VARIOUS CABLED ITEMS. Received 7, 5.5 p.m. Montreal, June 6. The Board of Trade is opening a relief fund for the stricken. Burvivors of the Empress of Ireland. The Cauadian-Pacilic Railway Co. has not decided yet whether to attempt to raised the liner, though it hits been announced that they have determined to recover the bodies from her, if at all practicable. Mrs. Kendall has gone to Canada. Professor John Welch and Commander W. V. Caborne have been appointed British assessors at the Empress of Ireland enquiry.