§ MR. DONAL SULLIVAN (Westmeath, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, with reference to the request made last Session by the light-keepers of the United Kingdom for a Committee of the House of Commons to inquire into their grievances, and the statement of the President of the Board of Trade that until the light-keepers addressed their respective boards on the subject and received their replies, he could not interfere, but he would see that justice was done, whether, inasmuch as the light-keepers having respectfully addressed their various boards so far back as last November on their complaints, and have not received any reply to their communication, he will now deal with the grievances of this body of public servants himself?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. C. T. RITCHIE,) CroydonI must repeat, what I have frequently stated before, that the powers of the Board of Trade over the Lighthouse Authorities and their staff are limited by statute to sanctioning expenditure proposed by those authorities. As intimated in my reply to the honourable Member for Argyllshire last week, I have been informed that the three Lighthouse Authorities were then engaged in joint conference upon the subject of the light-keepers' petitions.