DR. MACDONALDI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if the Government are now prepared to act on the recommendations of the Western Highlands and Islands Commission of 1890, to grant a sum of £30,000, or other sum of money required, for the construction of a harbour of refuge at Portnaguran, in the Island of Lewis, so as to enable the fishermen to prosecute their avocation with some degree of safety and success, and if there is any intention of giving a grant, as similarly recommended, for erecting a lighthouse on Thumpan Head, adjacent to Portnaguran?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURA sum of £17,000 was voted last year, as the hon. Member must be aware, for the construction of harbours at Ness and Carloway, and there are at present about sixteen applications from the Island of Lewis for piers and boatslips under the consideration of the Secretary for Scotland, which, if granted, would involve a further large expenditure of public money in Lewis. The Government are, therefore, not prepared at present to grant a sum of £30,000 for the construction of a harbour at Portnaguran. Last year £4,500 was voted for the erection of lights, out of which sum £475 was expended on a light at Carloway. There is only a sum of £1,000 taken this year for lights, the main portion of which will be required for lights in Shetland; but the claims of Thumpan Head will be considered next year along with the claims of other places.