HC Deb 07 June 1894 vol 25 cc587-8
MR. PENROSE FITZGERALD

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will be good enough to state why all the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Electrical Communication with Lighthouses, &c, contained in the First Report, dated 8th December, 1892, have not been carried out, especially with regard to the Scarweather Light-vessel, in the Bristol Channel, and the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse; whether his attention has been called to the paragraph in the Second Report of the Royal Commission, dated March, 1894, in which they state that it is with regret that they have decided to confine their recommendations in this Report to shore lighthouses, but, until more has been done towards effecting the connection of those light vessels and lighthouses which were selected in the First Report as having the strongest claims to immediate attention, they hesitate to add to the list of light-vessels and island rock lighthouses with which electrical communication should be established; and whether, in the interest of saving of life and property round the coasts of the United Kingdom, he will, without further delay, take the necessary steps to carry out the recommendations of the Royal Commission in their entirety in order that they may complete the list of light-vessels and rock lighthouses with which they consider that electrical communication should be established?

MR. BRYCE

In the last financial year £10,000 was placed at the disposal of the Board of Trade for the purpose of effecting electrical communication with light-vessels, &c. That money was expended in connecting the "Kentish Knock" and "Goodwin (N. Sand Head)" Light-vessels and the "Gunflcet" Pile Lighthouse with the shore. In the present financial year £11,000 has been similarly placed at the disposal of the Board of Trade, and it is intended to expend this amount in connecting the "Haisborough" and the "Shipwash" Light-vessels with the shore and in laying a cable to the "Tuskar" Rock Lighthouse. I am afraid that the other works recommended by the Royal Commission must wait until the Treasury can place more money at my disposal.