HC Deb 03 June 1869 vol 196 cc1206-7
VISCOUNT BURY

said, he wished to ask the President of the Board of Trade, Why detailed accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the Trinity House, the Commissioners of Northern Lights, and the Irish Ballast Board have not of late years been laid before Parliament; and, whether he will lay before Parliament a full and detailed account of all monies received and expended during the last ten years by the Trinity House, the Commissioners of Northern Lights, the Irish Ballast Board, and by the local authorities to whom the management of coast or harbour lights in the United Kingdom is entrusted?

MR. BRIGHT

, in reply, said, he had procured a memorandum on this matter, and it seemed that detailed accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the three Lighthouse Boards were given to that House in 1860, and in a most minute form and at a very considerable amount of labour and cost. Since that time no periodical account of the receipts from those Boards, or of the tolls from each particular lighthouse had been given, the accounts having come tinder the control of the Board of Trade. Before that time each Board had its separate fund, arising from lights under its own control, and as the dues for lights were leviable throughout the United Kingdom, each Board collected the dues for lights from ships within its own jurisdiction, and afterwards made over to the other Boards the proportion which was due in respect of lights coming under their management. Thus the Trinity House collected at Liverpool all dues payable by ships coming to that port, and made over to the Scotch Board the amount of the rates collected which was due from the ships for passing the Scotch lights, and to the Irish Board in like manner the proportion which was payable for the Irish lights. In order to do this it was necessary to keep separate accounts of the dues collected in respect for each lighthouse, and thus it was easy to give separate Returns. When the accounts were, amalgamated, all this was changed, for it was no longer necessary to keep those separate accounts: each Board made over the dues to the common Mercantile Marine Fund, and as keeping separate; accounts was exceedingly inconvenient and troublesome, it was discontinued, by order of the Board of Trade. To re-establish them now would involve great expense and trouble to the Mercantile Marine Fund. As regarded lights established by local authorities, the Board of Trade had no control over them and such Returns as the noble Lord wished with respect to harbour lights could not be given.