Page 124 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 1 - 5

behalf of another group. I must have only one representative of the third-class passengers. Mr. J. P. Farrell: I am satisfied. The Commissioner: I quite understand you are satisfied. Mr. Harbinson: I am prepared, subject to other gentleman's approval, to do this. If he, as well as others, who are interested in the third-class passengers, will call my attention to any evidence or give me any information at their disposal, to make the best use of it I can according to my judgment. The Commissioner: That seems very reasonable, but I cannot be any party to that arrangement. Mr. Braddock: There were 113 Irish passengers on the “Titanic”; of that numbers, 69 were drowned, and the solicitor who instructs me represents 21 of those passengers. The Commissioner: Very well, then, put your interests into Mr. Harbinson’s hands, and let him look after them. Mr. J. P. Farrell: I am glad to see there is something in having been fellow Members of the House of Commons. The Commissioner: That is an insidious compliment. Mr. Champness: I was afraid there might have been some misunderstanding with regard to those my friend wants to represent. I am appearing on behalf of Irish, Scotch, and English passengers, third-class passengers, although few in number, I understand now your Lordship has granted leave to Mr. Harbinson to represent all the third-class passengers. Is that right? The Commissioner: Yes. Mr. Champness: That being so, I ask you to give me leave to represent the first-class passengers’ interests. The Commissioner: The Home Rule Bill is not law yet. I am going to allow them to be all represented together. The Attorney-General: With regard to the sittings, I have spoken to my friend, Sir Robert, about it, and I hope your Lordship will think it reasonable, that we should at the close of the proceedings on Friday, adjourn till Tuesday. There is a great deal of preparation to be made in connection with it, to put it in as short a fashion as possible before your Lordship. It really makes it shorter to give me a little time to consider. We are all anxious to go to the “Olympic” to see what your Lordship has already seen with the assessors. I am sure it is a considerable assistance in understanding the case, and we shall take advantage of that period to make that visit. The Commissioner: Very well. Then I shall rise on Friday and not sit again till Tuesday morning. The Attorney-General: If your Lordship pleases. The Commissioner: Now, is Sir John Simon here? The Attorney-General: Yes, my Lord. The Commissioner: Now, Sir John, will you be kind enough yourself to state what you understand to be the effect of the present Witness’ evidence up to this point? The Solicitor-General: Yes, my Lord. The Commissioner: I am very sorry to have to ask you to do it, but my mind is in a state of confusion, and I want to clear it up; and I think some of the assessors want an explanation of the matter. The Solicitor-General: I think I have a view of what he said. The Commissioner: If you state it to us now we shall be able to follow on with the remainder of his evidence. The Solicitor-General: My Lord, if I may say so, I think it would greatly help if your Lordship and the Assessors would look for a moment at what Mr. Wilding has just done for me on that model. He has tipped the model so that we can see more of the bottom than we otherwise should, and he has put on that model two pieces of white paper, a long piece which is perpendicular and