§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, in view of the fact that, under the International Scheme for North Sea Fisheries Investigation, the annual sum of £4,800 will be required for the maintenance of the central organisation of Copenhagen, and that Great Britain, Germany, and Russia will each contribute £1,250, and other countries £262 10s., will he indicate the names of these other countries; and will he state whether all the Powers, signatories of the North Sea Convention, were invited to contribute.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds, Central)It is proposed that £262 10s. towards the maintenance of the Central Fishery Organisation at Copenhagen shall be paid by Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The Powers who were parties to the Convention were Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France and the Netherlands. France and Belgium were not invited by Sweden to take part in the first Fishery Conference at Stockholm but have since been asked to participate in the investigations. I understand that France has declined the invitation, and Belgium has the matter under consideration.