§ MR. WATT (Glasgow, College)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether his attention has been called to the fact that on the Fishery Board for Scotland, recently re-appointed by him, only one representative out of seven belongs to the West of Scotland; whether he is aware that the fish trade of Glasgow and the fishermen of the West of Scotland are unanimous that they should have further representation on the Board; and whether, under such circumstances, he is prepared to increase the number on the Board so as to give Glasgow and the West of Scotland further representation there.
§ MR. SINCLAIRStrictly speaking, the representative element upon the Fishery Board consists of four members; excluding the Chairman, the legal member, and the scientific member, in regard to whose appointment local representative qualifications cannot be the governing consideration. It is the case that of those four members, only one belongs to the West of Scotland, and he belongs to the Clyde. Representations did reach me not only in favour of more than one candidate for membership of the Fishery Board as qualified to 793 represent the Clyde, but also in favour of candidates qualified to represent other districts of Scotland, and I greatly regret that it was not possible for me in re-appointing the Fishery Board to meet their views. The number of members forming the Board is fixed by statute, and can only be altered by legislation. The wide distribution of the fishing population in Scotland makes it impossible that all the fishery districts shall be directly represented upon the Board.