§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade, Under what section of the Merchant Shipping Act the Northern Lights Commission spent £70 10s. for dinners for 47 persons, and 100 guineas for wines and spirits to the same 47 persons, and if the Board of Trade have allowed the expenditure of the money?
§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade, Under what section of the Merchant Shipping Act or Acts expenditure of the following character is sanctioned:—
§ To the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, Edinburgh.
§ An account of articles supplied and work performed by John Grieve, Waterloo Hotel, Edinburgh, for the service of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses—
| 15 Jan. | £ | s. | d. |
| To 47 dinners and dessert | 70 | 10 | 0 |
| 10 bottles Amontillado | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 bottles Montrachet le Quiche | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 bottles Punch | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 bottles Madere | 4 | 4 | 0 |
§ and, whether it is the fact that objection was taken to the above expenditure by the Comptroller and Auditor General, but was afterwards allowed; and, if so, on what grounds?
§ THE SECRETARY (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)The matter to which the hon. Member alludes is the subject of a Report to Parliament by the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Mercantile Marine Account, and will, therefore, necessarily be considered by the Public Accounts Committee. Under these circumstances, I think the House will agree with me in thinking it undesirable to anticipate any action the Committee may think necessary to take in the matter.
§ DR. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)I beg to ask the hon. Gentleman if pressure was brought to bear on the Northern Lights Commissioners to induce them to give this information, which he was unable to bring to bear in the case of the Trinity House and the Irish Commissioners of Lights, respecting whose expenditure there is no information?
§ BARON HENRY DE WORMSI think I must ask the hon. Gentleman to give me Notice of the Question.