§ MR. DOUGHTY (Great Grimsby)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he has received a copy of a resolution passed at a conference of representatives of the sea fishing industry on the 31st March, held at Fishmongers' Hall, urging that steam fishing vessels with their gears down should not be regarded as free to act and manœuvre in the same manner as vessels under steam and without encumbrance; and whether, having regard to the loss of lives and property annually occurring among fishermen and others whilst conducting fishing operations in the North Sea, and elsewhere, and to the fact of the impossibility of navigating a trawler under such circumstances with the same facility as ocean-going steamers or vessels running free, he will undertake to provide for the exemption of such steamers from having to give way to other vessels?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADEYes, Sir. The resolution to which the honourable Member refers was received and acknowledged by the Board of Trade in April last. The subject referred to has for some time been under consideration by a Committee, of which the honourable and learned Member for the Holborn Division was Chairman. This Committee has now sent in its Report, which will be presented to Parliament, and which will receive my careful consideration.