§ MR. SUTHERLAND (Elgin Burghs)To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has any official information showing that the Norwegian Government has prohibited the continuance and the setting up of whaling factories on the coast of Norway; and, if so, for what reason that course was adopted.
(Answered by Secretary Sir Edward Grey.) By a law which came into force in 1904 the slaughter of whales is forbidden off the coast of certain Norwegian provinces. It is understood that the object of this law is to protect the fin-whale, on the ground that it is of use to fishermen engaged in the cod-fishing industry through its indicating the position of shoals of fish.