The inquiry into the cause of the accident in the
Solent has continued through the week, the Coroner being assisted by an Assessor from the Board of Trade. An unexpected amount of feeling has been developed during the proceedings, the spectators and some of the jury being evidently of opinion that blame rests with the officers of the Royal yacht for excessive speed and failure to give the Mistletoe' a much wider berth. Mr. Heywood, the owner of the Mistletoe,' stated that opinion in the plainest words. The contention is that the Alberta " was going at seventeen miles an hour—this is admitted by the officer in com- mand—and that she had ample room to pass clear of the ' Mistle- toe,' and did not do it from want of a good look-out. It seems to have been expected on board the Alberta' that the ' Mistle- toe ' would keep away. The feeling is greatly, probably unfairly, deepened by the way in which the quartermastehliof the Alberta' gave their evidence, they being apparently Muter the impression, in spite of reassurances fronrtheir 'aft:leers, that they would be held accountable for their evidente. The verdict was to have been delivered on Friday, but too late for our impression. As we have endeavoured to show elsewhere, the real blame rests on a rule of the road inapplicable when the Queen travels. The line should be cleared for her in a channel like the Solent, as on a railway.
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