§ GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOUR (for Sir ALEXANDER GORDON)asked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether, in view of the loss of life and property every year on the East Coast of Scotland, he will cause a survey and report to be made, by competent officers, of the two places they may find most suitable for the formation of two harbours of refuge, one on the south, and the other on the north, of the Firth of Forth, to which vessels navigating the North Sea, and fishing boats from the Coast, may run to for safety, at all times of tide, when caught in a gale of wind from the east?
§ MR. PEMBERTONasked the Secretary to the Board of Trade, Whether it 1243 is the intention of the Government to take any steps for the formation of a harbour of refuge on the South Eastern Coast; whether their attention has been directed to the advantages possessed by Dungeness for that purpose; and, whether the memorials addressed to the Board on this subject will be printed?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAIN, in reply, said, the hon. and gallant Gentleman who had put the Question would see that it would not be right for the Government to propose an inquiry of the kind suggested unless they had made up their mind that at the conclusion of the inquiry they would recommend to Parliament the construction of harbours of refuge at the national expense. That was a very large question, which concerned not only the East Coast of Scotland, as was shown by the Question on the same subject by the hon. Member for East Kent. It would involve an expenditure of many millions in the provision of harbours of refuge which could be shown to be necessary at different parts of the coast of the Three Kingdoms. He was sorry to say that past experience, with reference to this matter, hardly justified the Government in taking any such course. The provision of harbours of refuge by the State had not been, on the whole, very economical or efficient. This subject was fully discussed some 20 years ago, and the proposal to construct large harbours at the public cost decided against. Under these circumstances, the Government certainly would not be prepared to recommend the House to embark in any considerable undertaking of the kind. In reply to the latter part of the Question of the hon. Member for East Kent, he had to say that only one Memorial had been received advocating the formation of a harbour on the South Eastern Coast. There was no intention on the part of the Board of Trade to print it; but if the hon. Member liked to move for it, he saw no objection to its publication.