§ MR. HARMSWORTHI beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that in the Sheriff Court at Wick, on the 17th October last, a Norwegian seaman described as master of a trawler, was convicted of illegally fishing within the three-mile limit off the coast of Caithness, and that it was elicited in evidence that the real master belonged to Grimsby, and that the owners of the trawler were a Grimsby Company who had the vessel registered in Norway; and, in view of these facts, will he state what steps he proposes to take to prevent a recurrence of such cases, seeing that British trawlers are excluded from trawling within the Moray Firth.
*MR. A. GRAHAM MURRAYThe information in the possession of the Secretary for Scotland goes to show that the facts of the case are correctly stated in the early part of the hon. Member's Question. Enquiry was made at Brevig through the Norwegian Government, and, according to the information supplied, a decision was come to on the 25th August last by the Maritime Court there, to the effect that the documents and other evidence produced by the Company were satisfactory and entitled the ship to registration as a Norwegian ship. In view of what occurred at a Wick on 17th October, the matter has been made the subject of a further communication to the Foreign Office for presentation to the Norwegian Government.