MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, as stated in Lord Salisbury's dispatch to Mr. Phelps, dated 17th November, 1887, there was referred to the Board of Trade the invitation, dated 15th August, 1887, to co-operate with the Government of the United States in abolishing all lighthouse dues, tonnage taxes, or other equivalent tax or taxes on, and also all other fees for official services to, the vessels of the two nations employed in the trade between the ports of Great Britain and the United States; and whether the Board of Trade have now completed the inquiries they were stated in that dispatch of 17th November, 1887, to be then making, as to whether there were any ports in the United Kingdom where the lighthouse dues in the trade with the United States are lower than the tonnage dues then leviable in the United States, so that, as regards those ports, British vessels would be entitled to the reciprocal treatment promised in Mr. Bayard's circular of 9th July, 1887; and, if so, will he state the results of those inquiries?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADEThe invitation in question was referred to the Board of Trade. It was not, however, proceeded with, apparently, because it was found that no precise comparison could be made between the amounts levied in the United States as tonnage tax and those levied at any particular port in Great Britain as light dues.