§ MR. BOURKEasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether the Government have calculated the amount of compensation which will become payable out of monies to be provided by Parliament under the Compulsory Pilotage Abolition Bill, and what the estimated amount of the compensation contemplated by the Bill will be during the ten years after which the Act comes into operation?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE, in reply, said, it was impossible to make any calculation of the amount of compensation that would be necessary within any given year, or within ten years after the passing of the Compulsory Pilotage Abolition Bill, because the compensation would only be given in the case of ships ceasing to take pilots where they were 625 formerly compelled to do so. The Bill would secure a fair amount of compensation; but experience had shown that where the employment of pilots was voluntary the amount of loss of employment, and, consequently, the compensation involved was very limited.