§ MR. CHARLES M'ARTHUR (Liverpool, Exchange)To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will say when the accounts of the General Lighthouse Fund for the year ending 31st March, 1902, will be presented to this House; when each of the three lighthouse authorities rendered its accounts for the year ending 31st March, 1902, to the Board of Trade; when these accounts were sent by the Board of Trade to the Auditor General; when the Board of Trade received his certificate; and, if it has not yet been received, when the Board of Trade expects to receive it.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The lighthouse authorities render their accounts quarterly. Those for the quarter ending 31st March, 1902, were received at the Board of Trade at different dates during the months of May and June. The accounts are forwarded by the Board of Trade to the Auditor General in instalments so soon as they have been examined, the first instalment having been sent on the 26th May and the last on the 4th September. The full annual account is sent when the Board hear that the Comptroller and Auditor General has completed his examination of the last instalment.