§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Is he aware that for 1,000 miles up the Red Sea there is no lighthouse; is he aware that the light dues of the Red Sea amount to £60,000 a year, and only £30,000 a year is expended on lights; is he aware that a very large number of valuable vessels, with cargo, have been wrecked during the past few years in the Red Sea, and that great peril and anxiety attends the navigation of those waters to British seamen; and, will he communicate these facts to the Egyptian or Turkish Government, and urge immediate attention to the danger alluded to?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)From Perim Light there is no light in the usual track of vessels for 840 miles. The facts stated in the second paragraph are approximately correct; but reductions in the dues are intended. The Egyptian Government are now erecting a new and valuable light on Shadwan out of their receipts, and one was erected two or three years ago on the outlying spit of Perim. Wrecks have occurred in the southern part of the Red Sea; and it is desirable that certain additional lights should be placed to guard against the existing dangers. Communications on the subject have been, and are, going on with the Governments concerned.