§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Contract dated 6th day of December, 1907, between the Postmaster-General and the North of Scotland and Orkney and Shetland 1170 Steam Navigation Company for the conveyance of Mails between Aberdeen and the Shetland Islands (printed in Parliamentary Paper, No. 41, of Session 1908), be approved."—(Mr. Hobhouse.)
§ MR. MOONEY (Newry)said that before the House decided to approve this contract he would like some information with regard to it. He noticed from the Treasury Minute that the provisions of the contract in general were in the ordinary form of Post Office contracts, but the contract itself provided for the use of the contractors of certain piers. He wished to know whether those piers were in private hands or were the property of the Government. If they were the property of the Government, were the contractors to pay rent to the Government for them? He asked this question, because he noticed the hon. Gentleman took powers to terminate this contract by a six months notice. He wished to know whether the Government could take away the piers the user of which had been in the contractors, and, if so, whether they were going to follow 1171 the precedent of Queenstown Harbour where no notice whatever was given. He also wished to know whether there was any difference between this contract and that entered into between the Government and the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company.
§ MR. WILLIAM RUTHERFORDsaid the contract was a perfectly simple matter, and had really no reference to the question of piers which the hon. Member wished to raise. Under the existing arrangement £3,600 a year it appeared was paid for certain postal services in these remote islands. It was very desirable that there should be an increased service in the herring season, and that had been now arranged for. It would be of very great use to all those engaged in what was practically their only paying industry, and for that increased service the extra amount per annum was very small. It seemed to him that the Postmaster-General and the Treasury had made a very excellent arrangement, and he suggested that this was one of the matters which might be allowed to pass without very much discussion. This was a very desirable thing to do, and it had been done at very cheap cost.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HOBHOUSE,) Bristol, E.said that, as far as he had been able to ascertain, none of these piers were under the control of the Government, and the question of the hon. Member for Newry, therefore, did not arise in this case. With regard to what had been said by the hon. Member for the West Derby division, he thought the Government had made an excellent bargain, and perhaps even better than it appeared on paper, because they had a very small sum of money to pay for better communication between the mainland and the islands.
§ MR. ASHLEY (Lancashire, Blackpool)said the hon. Gentleman was no doubt right in saying that they had made an excellent bargain in the way of getting good value for their money, but he had not pointed out whether the extra expenditure was justified because there were more letters passing between 1172 these islands and the North of Scotland than there were some years ago. If it could not be shown that the number of inhabitants of these islands had increased and that trade had increased so that it was necessary to have increased facilities, and if it was simply that the inhabitants might have easier means of communication with the mainland, then he did not see why they should pay this amount.
§ THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON,) Tower Hamlets, Poplarsaid the whole matter had been very carefully gone into. A great increase of correspondence had taken place in the last few years, and therefore these islands were entitled to improved communication. He was sure they had made a very good bargain.