_7 Whitehall Gardens, London, S. W., April 24, 1912_.
SIR: With reference to previous correspondence between this department
and your committee respecting the revision of the statutory rules for
life-saving appliances on British ships, and particularly to the letter
from this department of April 16, in which you were informed that the
question of the proposed amendment of the rules so as to admit of decked
lifeboats being stowed one above another or one under an open lifeboat,
was under consideration, I am directed by the board of trade to state,
for the information of your committee, that the board of trade will be
glad if the committee will consider whether any, and if so what,
amendments of the rules, and in particular of the rule of April 19,
1910, and the rule of June 14, 1911, are, in their opinion, desirable
with the object of supplementing the boats immediately under davits by
as much additional boat accommodation as is practicable, having regard
to the new situation which has been created by the recent disaster to
the steamship _Titanic_.
A plan illustrating the principle is being prepared so as to be in
readiness for your committee by Friday.