§ MR. E. WASON (Ayrshire, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that there is no means of communication between Ailsa Craig and the mainland during stormy weather except by means of carrier pigeons; and, whether, Ailsa Craig, being so much in the fairway for shipping from and to the Clyde, he could see his way to placing it in direct communication with the mainland by telegraph or telephone?
§ MR. BRYCEI am informed by the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses that carrier pigeons are very successfully employed at Ailsa Craig as a means of communicating with the shore for lighthouse purposes. But the question of connecting outlying lighthouse stations with the mainland in the interests of saving life is now being considered by a Royal Commission, and I am afraid that, pending their Report, I cannot say anything as to the particular case of Ailsa Craig, though fully sensible of the importance as regards Clyde shipping which its position gives it.