§ MR. SUMMERBELL (Sunderland)I beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland if he is aware that a number of Grimsby fishermen have been summoned to appear at Elgin; that such prosecution has been instituted by the Scottish Fishery Board for alleged contravention of the local Scottish fishery regulations in vogue in 1166 the Moray Firth; and, if so, whether he is aware that these men occupied subordinate positions on board of the trawlers and took service on board with the sole desire of earning an honest livelihood, and that it has always been recognised by them that, being engaged on these boats with a captain superior to them, they were amply protected from interference under the Scottish regulations, and that the vessels on which the defendants were engaged were none of them within the three mile limit, some of them being from ton to twelve miles from low-water mark; and whether, in view of all these circumstances, he will use his best endeavours to have such prosecution set aside.
§ MR. SINCLAIRThe facts regarding intended prosecutions are as stated by the hon. Member. The policy of the Government to proceed against British subjects engaged in illegal trawling has been already intimated to the House, and I am unable to adopt the course suggested in the Question.
MR. STANLEY WILSON (Yorkshire, E. R., Holderness)May I ask if the right hon. Gentleman knows that the men mentioned in the Question were heavily fined for being employed on foreign trawlers?
§ MR. SINCLAIRThey were fined, not for being found on foreign trawlers, but for breaking the laws of their own country.
§ SIR GEORGE DOUGHTY (Great Grimsby)Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware that the persons fined yesterday were employed on foreign trawlers?
§ MR. SINCLAIRThat is so, and the responsibility rests with those who employed them.
MR. STANLEY WILSONMay I ask whether it is the intention of the Government to allow English fishermen to be heavily fined and imprisoned for doing what foreign fishermen have the right to do?
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Sir H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN,) Stirling BurghsThe intention of the Government is to compel obedience to the law.
§ SIR GEORGE DOUGHTYIs it an illegal act for an Englishman to serve on a foreign ship?
§ SIR. H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI do not think it is, but it is an illegal act for him to go into the Moray Firth and break the law of Scotland.
§ SIR GEORGE DOUGHTYBut foreign trawlers are doing that daily, and these men are employed on foreign trawlers.
MR. STANLEY WILSONMay I ask if the House is to understand that the Government is in favour of giving preference to foreign over English fishermen?
§ [No Answer was returned.]