It is impossible to summarize the evidence given before the
' Titanic' Court of Inquiry which has continued its work during the week. On Monday the Court visited the Olympic,' the sister ship of the ' Titanic.' On Tuesday some curious statements were made as to the absence of proper equipment in the lifeboats. It was said that no stores, water, or com- passes were taken. The general impression one has is that a ship like the ' Titanic' is too vast for a handful of officers to control the situation in an emergency. It is as though half a dozen men should try to keep order in a small town with a population of three or four thousand people when feeling is running high. The thing is not humanly possible. We hope that Lord Mersey may feel himself able to look into the question of what we have previously, i.e., before the wreck of the Titanic,' called " policing disaster " and to make some recommendation. There ought, we think, to be some selected portion of the crew trained to put theinseves under the officers as a special police force. It is not to be supposed that the coolness and restraint which distinguished the passengers of the ' Titanic' would away-s be present, and then coercion of a severe kind might have to be brought to bear in the interests of the passengers themselves.
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