§ COLONEL ROPNER (Stockton)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called by the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom to the fact that, in return for the expenditure of about £80, the visibility of the light on Balfe Point, Perim Island, could be increased from five to ten miles, and that the Government of India have expressed themselves as being willing to bear a reasonable share of the cost of the desired improvement, which improvement in the visibility of the light would conduce to the safety of life and property on board of the steam vessels passing up and down the Red Sea; and, whether, if it be illegal to charge the cost of this improvement to the General Lighthouse Fund Account, His Majesty's Government will propose a special Vote to the House during the present session, whereby the sum of money required to effect this improvement in the visibility of Balfe Point Light, Perim Island, may be provided.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINPerini is within the Government of Bombay, and any expenditure for the improvement of the light there is consequently properly chargeable to Indian Revenues. The Board of Trade are advised that it would be illegal to charge it to the General Lighthouse Fund 1294 Account, whilst it would be contrary to the intentions of Parliament in passing the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act of 1898 to submit a special Vote to this House for the purpose.