§ SIR GEORGE DOUGHTYI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Treasury have repudiated their liability to maintain the Spurn Breakwater at the mouth of the Humber; whether he is aware that the breaches in the banks made by the storms of last winter near Kilnsea have been entirely neglected; will he say what has been the amount annually contributed for the purpose of maintaining the Spurn during the last twenty years; what is the acreage of land reclaimed from the Humber (including Sunk Island), and what is the annual amount of rent paid into the Exchequer from such land; and whether in the event of the Humber Conservancy being willing to accept the obligation of the Treasury respecting the maintenance of the Spurn, he will transfer to them the income arising from these lands, such money to be expended in maintaining the Spurn and the Humber generally.
§ MR. KEARLEYI have been asked by my right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reply to the Question addressed to him by the hon. Member. The Treasury have neither repudiated nor admitted liability for the maintenance of the Spurn towards which a sum of £1,200 has been voted by Parliament for many years past. The area of land reclaimed at Sunk Island is estimated at about 5,000 acres. That reclamation has been effected partly by nature and to a great extent by works carried out at the expense of the Crown or its tenants. The gross rental of Crown property on Sunk Island is £10,000. The suggestion that such income should be transferred to the Humber Conservancy on their undertaking the maintenance of the Spurn cannot be entertained.