§ MR. NORMAN (Wolverhampton, S.)To ask the President of the Board of Trade it he will state how many pilotage certificates in the London District, for the Humber, and at Newhaven are held by aliens: when these were granted; and for what reasons such certificates are granted to aliens.
1106 (Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) I am informed that pilotage certificates have been granted to masters and mates of foreign ships in forty-four cases in the London district, in seventeen cases in the district of the Hull Trinity House, and in seven cases at Newhaven, but I am not able to say when these certificates were granted. The provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, relating to the grant of pilotage certificates, apply to the masters and mates of all ships, whether British or foreign. The principle was established by the Merchant Shipping (Pilotage) Act, 1889, which was passed after the matter had been thoroughly considered by a Select Committee of the I House of Commons, who recommended the continuance of the practice of granting certificates to aliens.