HC Deb 18 May 1908 vol 188 cc1665-6
DR. AMBROSE (Mayo, W.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that a Norwegian company is about to establish a whaling station on the island of Iniskea, on the coast of Mayo; and whether, seeing that whaling stations are detrimental to the fishing industry, and that the inhabitants who are about to be affected by the particular station in question have strongly protested against its establishment, he will decline to give permission to the company to erect it.

MR. CHURCHILL

An application has been made to the Board of Trade for their consent so far as foreshore and navigation are concerned to the erection of a wharf slipway and landing stage in connection with a whaling station at Rusheen Island, adjacent to Iniskea. The Board have caused the application to be advertised and have received a number of objections, which will receive due consideration on their merits and upon grounds of general policy. I observe, however, that these objections appear to relate not so much to the provision of landing facilities on the foreshore as to the establishment of a whaling station, which is a question to be dealt with by the Department of Agriculture under the Fishery Acts rather than by the Board of Trade, who have no jurisdiction to prevent or regulate the use of the buildings which have been erected above high water mark for whaling or other purposes. The Board are in correspondence with the Department of Agriculture on the subject.

MR. CATHCART WASON (Orkney and Shetland)

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Norwegians have absolutely driven whaling stations from their coasts on account of the damage done to the herring fishery? Is he also aware that their establishment on the west coast of Shetland was followed by a great diminution in the catch of her-rings there?

MR. CHURCHILL

That is an aspect of the case primarily for the Board of Agriculture to consider. I am in communication with that body, and if they report there is a likelihood of injurious results they may rely on the effective cooperation of the Board of Trade.

MR. ALEXANDER CROSS (Glasgow, Camlachie)

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware the whaling factories have simply followed the whales and for no other reason?

[No Answer was returned.]