§ 10. £20,000, Supplementary, Post Office Telegraphs.
§ MR. LODER (Brighton)I should like to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Postmaster General (Sir James Fergusson) whether this Vote is for the purpose of carrying out the Resolution recently passed in the House to the effect that better communication should be established between lighthouses and lightships and the coastguards and lifeboat stations along the coast? My recollection is that the Government promised to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into this question, and I should be glad if the right hon. Gentleman can inform the Committee when it will be nominated.
§ *THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.This sum has no reference to any further experiments in placing lighthouses or lightships under telegraphic service. That question is delegated to a Royal Commission which I understand will be immediately appointed. This £20,000 is to be devoted to increase telegraphic communication with selected parts of the coast which are peculiarly liable to be the scenes of shipwrecks, and where 1076 experience has shown that more speedy communication with coastguard stations and lifeboat stations is necessary. I may say that some of the principal points are on the south and west coasts of England and on the coast of Aberdeen.
§ Vote agreed to.
§ Resolution to be reported To-morrow.