§ MR. NIELD (Middlesex, Ealing)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, whether in consideration of the official statement that the Coastguard Service is for the present to remain on the same footing and conditions as have recently prevailed, pending a renewed inquiry, the Admiralty will consider the desirability of recommending that all stations which only have a staff of six or less should be brought up to their full strength until some final decision is arrived at as to what is to be the future of the Coastguard Service.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) I must refer the hon. Gentleman to my statement in the House on 3rd March, in which I said that there was a recognised redundancy both of men and stations, and that certain necessary reductions, which had been postponed last year, must be effected now, I am not prepared to go beyond that statement in the direction indicated in the Question.