§ MR. HEYWOOD JOHNSTONE (Sussex, Horsham)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state what sum was received in the last financial year in respect of fees charged for remittances by seamen in foreign ports under the money order and transmission systems referred to in the Report of the Committee on the Engagement and Discharge of Seamen Abroad ([C. 8577] 8th July, 1897). Is he aware that the Committee reported that the fees under these systems were, in the case of larger sums, unduly high, and deterred seamen from remitting wages home, and recommended that they should be abolished; and does he contemplate taking any steps either to abolish or to reduce them in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe amount charged to seamen during the financial year 1900–1901 in respect of foreign money orders and wages transmitted from ports abroad was £1,018. I am aware that the Committee to which my hon. friend refers recommended the abolition of these charges. The matter was brought to the notice of the Treasury at the time (1897), but they declined to sanction the proposal then, and I have no reason to suppose that they would do otherwise now.