§ MR. T. SUTHERLAND (Greenock)asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to demand relief for shipowners from the very heavy dues they are now called upon to pay in Egyptian ports, in contravention of the arrangements entered into between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the Khedive (wherein it was declared that the tariff should be increased or lowered according to the state of the Lighthouse Budget); whether approximately the dues thus levied amount to about £90,000 per annum, while the total expenditure falls below half that sum; and, whether the dues in question ought, according to the terms of the said agreement, to be less than half the amount at present levied on British shipping?
§ THE SECRETARY (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)Her Majesty's Government have not lost site of this question; but they do not feel justified in pressing a reduction of the Light Dues in view of the present state of the Egyptian Revenue and of the urgent claims upon it arising from the military necessities of the situation in that country. But the earliest favourable opportunity will be taken to remind the Egyptian Government of the arrangement referred to by the hon. Member. From the Lighthouse Accounts that have been received, it would appear that the receipts and expenditure are practically as stated in the second and third paragraphs of the hon. Member's Question.