§ MR. HERBERT LEWIS (Flint Boroughs)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade to what extent the annual revenue raised by the light dues charged on shipping is in excess of the annual expenditure on lighting the coast; whether the only European nations which charge the shipping industry with the cost of maintaining lighthouses are the United Kingdom and Turkey, and whether the United States and Canada have abolished the light dues charged on shipping; and whether, having regard to the importance of the shipping trade of the country, the Government will consider the desirability of abolishing the light dues on shipping?
§ MR. RITCHIEIf the hon. Gentleman will refer to the Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Mercantile Marine Fund he will see that, taking the years from 1883–84 to 1894–95, the excess of light revenue over light expenditure was for that period £675,000. The average annual excess for the five years ending March 3, 1896, was £130,955. It must, however, be borne in mind that the Legislature has provided that the fund to which light dues are paid shall bear many charges. As stated in my reply to a Question by the hon. Member for the Kirkdale Division of Liverpool on the 19th ult., it is not a fact that the United Kingdom and Turkey are the only European nations which charge the shipping industry with the cost of maintaining lighthouses. In some cases dues, though not levied under the name of light dues, are applied to the maintenance of lights and other works connected with harbours and navigation; but it is impossible in a reply to a question to state the exact circumstances of each country. I am 293 unable to hold any hope of introducing a Bill for the abolition of light dues.
§ MR. JAMES O'KELLY (Roscommon, N.)asked whether it was not the fact that an enormous amount of money was spent for the benefit of the shipping trade of the country?
§ MR. LEWISasked how the charge of t he present light dues was justified, seeing that the receipts exceeded the expenditure?
§ MR. RITCHIEI am not aware to what particular assistance the hon. Member for Roscommon refers. As to the other Question, there is no doubt that within the last three or four years there has been a considerable excess in the dues collected over the moneys expended on the lights. On the other hand, for a series of years the fund was in great financial straits, and a considerable amount of money had to be borrowed at various times—as much as £300,000 in all—to provide for the necessary expenditure on lights. That money has now been entirely repaid, but I have already undertaken that, if time can be found, I shall be glad to introduce a Bill for the purpose of rearranging the light dues; and, of course, if it be possible at a future time to reduce the contribution, we shall be glad to do so. But we are proposing to spend considerably more on the light service than has been spent in the past.