§ SIR ROBERT ROPNER (Stockton)To ask the President of the Board of Trade to state the number of seamen sent home, and the cost of their repatriation, for each of the four years previous to the coming into force of the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898—viz., the 1st April, 1899, and similar statistics for each of the four following years.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) I shall be happy to supply the hon. Member with a statement of the number of seamen sent home and the cost of their conveyance to this country in the years mentioned.