§ BARON HENRY DE WORMSasked the President of the Board of Trade, with reference to the statement that the Commissioners of Irish Lights had spent on their lighthouses £82,000, and had received for light dues only £21,000, the balance of £61,000 having to be paid over to the Commissioners from the dues collected in England and Scotland, to enable them to carry out the work of lighting the Irish coast, Whether the £21,000 referred to was collected solely in Irish ports; whether the light dues for Irish lighthouses collected in English and Scotch ports are all placed to the credit of the Irish Lights Commissioners in the accounts of the Mercantile Marine Fund; whether the alleged deficiency of £61,000 appears after the accounts have been credited with the amounts due on account of the benefits which the Irish lights confer upon vessels which pass them on their way to English and Scotch ports; and, whether a Return of the dues collected for Irish lights for each year since the passing of the Mercantile Marine Act will be laid upon the Table of the House?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINThe sum of £21,000 referred to was collected solely in Irish ports; but it includes sums collected in respect of English and Scotch lights as well as Irish lights. Light dues collected in Scotch and English ports in respect of Irish lighthouses are not placed to the credit of the Irish Lights Commissioners, nor are the Irish Lights Commissioners debited with the sums collected in Irish ports on account of English and Scotch lights. The deficiency of £61,000 is the difference between the actual amount of light dues collected in Ireland and the amount expended on lighthouses in Ireland. A Return of the amounts collected for Irish lights cannot be laid on the Table of the House, as the Board of Trade have not the materials for making such a Return.