§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the Government are aware that the average cost of a suitable fishing boat and nets is about £400; whether, in view of the evidence contained in the Report of the Royal Commission on Crofters and Cottars, as to the inability of crofters and cottars to furnish such a sum of money, it is the intention of the Government to continue to impose the conditions stated in the Memorandum of the Secretary for Scotland in January last, by which crofters and cottars, who desire to borrow money from the Fishery Board for the purchase of fishing boats and nets, are compelled to pay down one-third or one- 898 fourth of the cost of fishing boats; and whether any money has yet been lent to crofters and cottars under the Crofters Act; and if the present conditions are found to be prohibitory, will the Government re-consider the matter?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)The average cost of a fishing boat and nets suitable for fishermen in crofting parishes is about £350. Of this sum only one-fourth, or about £88, need be found by the fishermen, while the Fishery Board advances the remaining £262. As from six to eight men are required as a crew for boats of this kind, the sum to be provided by each fisherman would not exceed about £12. These terms are more liberal than those recommended by the Royal Commission referred to by the hon. Member. A very large number of applications have been received by the Fishery Board for loans on the present terms; but no money has been actually advanced as yet. As the present conditions have not yet had a fair trial, the Government are not now prepared to reconsider them.