If this rule had become applicable to the _Titanic_, then the total cubical lifeboat or raft accommodation which she would have been required to carry would not have been more than 7,562 (equivalent to accommodation for 756 persons). It did not, however, become applicable for the owners never required the board of trade to express any opinion under the rule as to the efficiency of the water-tight compartments. The _Titanic_, in fact, carried boat accommodation for 1,178 persons, a number far in excess of the requirements of the table and rules, and therefore no concession under rule 12 was needed. Speaking generally, recourse to this rule (12) by shipowners has been so insignificant that the rule itself may be regarded as of no practical account. The foregoing rules with the table were laid before Parliament in the usual way, and so received the required statutory sanction. After 1894 steamers were built of a much larger tonnage than 10,000, the increase culminating in the _Titanic_, with a gross tonnage of 46,328. As the vessels built increased in size, one would have thought the necessity for increased lifeboat accommodation would grow; but the rules and table remained stationary and nothing was done to them by way of change. The explanation of this long delay (from 1894-1912) was given before me by Sir Alfred Chalmers, who had served under the board of trade as nautical adviser from 1896 to August, 1911. He is now retired. I think it will be well if I give his explanation in his own words. He says: