§ MR. ROWNTREE (Scarborough)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if statistics showing the quantities of the various kinds of sea fish landed in England and Wales are now systematically collected at the ports and fishing villages along the coast, and furnished to the Sea Fishery Department of the Board of Trade; if these important Returns are at present available for the information of those interested in the different localities, and particularly for the use and guidance of the local Sea Fishery Committees to be appointed; and if these figures, indicating to some extent the localisation of the various kinds of fish, cannot be included in the forthcoming statistics of the Sea Fishery Department for the past year?
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHMy answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The information collected would be at the service of the local Sea Fisheries Committees and of par-ties locally interested, on these applying to the Board of Trade, who would afford every facility which may not involve disclosure of individual returns. The quantities and value of fish landed at particular ports are already shown, in the annual Return with as much detail as has 1029 been found consistent with not unduly swelling it. If the hon. Member will intimate to the Department what further details may be desired, the matter will be considered.
§ MR. ROWNTREEMay I also ask how many applications for the formation of Sea Fishery Committees have as yet been received, and from how many County Councils and Municipal Corporations respectively; if there are any considerable portions of the East Coast of England concerning which no such applications have been made; and if copies of any Schemes for the representation of the different fishing interests affected, sanctioned by the Board of Trade, may be laid upon the Table for the information of Members of this House?
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHFifteen actual applications for the formation of sea fisheries districts have been received, namely, 11 from Councils of counties or county boroughs, one from a municipal borough, two from Boards of Salmon Conservators, and one from a Harbour Authority. But in the case of proposals for combined districts, one application usually covers several counties or boroughs. The applications, or notices of intended application, which have been received cover the whole East Coast of England, with the exception of the portion between Ingoldmells Point, in Lincolnshire, and Ald-borough, in Suffolk, Norfolk being the only entire county on that coast in respect of which no application, or notice of application, has been received. An Order conferring the powers of a Local Fisheries Committee on the Southampton Harbour Board was laid upon the Table of the House last Session, An Orders for the creation of the Cornwall and Northumberland sea fisheries districts will, I hope, shortly be laid before the House, and these will show the arrangements sanctioned by the Board of Trade for the representation of the different fishing interests affected.