§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate if he will explain why the sum 1072 of £4,847 was surrendered out of the Vote for the Fishery Board for Scotland for the year ended 31st March, 1898, seeing that there are so many places around the coast of Scotland in need of harbour accommodation; and, in view of the damage done to fishing boats at Avoch, Ross-shire, during the storm of the 18th February last, owing to the want of harbour accommodation, will the Secretary for Scotland state the cost of a harbour at that place, and consider the expediency of providing the requisite grant out of Fishery Board funds.
§ *MR. A. GRAHAM MURRAYFor a detailed answer to the first paragraph of the hon. Member's question I must ask him to follow up his researches in the Appropriation Accounts by a reference to the Estimates of 1898–99, where he will find that the necessary provision for the services included within the amount surrendered were duly provided for under their respective heads. The sum of £4,847 consisted largely of money voted for building a Fishery Board cruiser which, from the exigencies of the shipbuilding industry, could not be all spent within the financial year, and, as the hon. Member must be aware, could not be spent except on the specific purpose for which it was voted. No exact estimate of the cost of a harbour at Avoch has been made, but as I have already informed the hon. Member, it would involve a large expenditure, and the Secretary for Scotland is not at present prepared to recommend a grant in aid.