§ MR. DILLWYN (Swansea Town)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if his attention has been drawn to the pecuniary disadvantages the pilots of most of the ports of Great Britain and Ireland labour under by their inability to provide funds for the payment of Parliamentary and legal charges incurred in obtaining the necessary Provisional Order to enable them to obtain the unanimous recommendation of the Select Committee on Pilotage (1888), and the benefits of the Merchant Shipping (Pilotage) Act of 1889, which granted to the pilots a seat on every Pilotage 3oard; and whether the Board of Trade has any funds at their disposal which could be used in assisting the pilots to obtain the Provisional Order for direct representation, or whether he will introduce a clause in the Merchant Shipping Bill to facilitate the pilots in obtaining the requisite Provisional Order?
§ *SIR M. HICKS BEACHPilots who apply for Pilotage Provisional Orders are in no worse position than applicants for other Provisional Orders, such as those for Oysters and Mussels, Piers, Tramways, Gas and Water, &c. Applicants in all cases have to pay, towards the expenses of settling the Order, a fee the amount of which has been fixed by the Treasury; but they have no Parliamentary or House fees to pay, as Bills to confirm Provisional Orders are introduced by the Department. Legal charges in defending an application against opposition would, of course, fall on the applicants. There are no funds at my disposal which could be applied to the relief of one particular class of applicants; but if special circum stances should arise which would justify a representation to the Treasury to forego the fee, or a portion of it, I will direct such a representation to be made.