27 and 28. MARQUESS of TULLIBAR-DINEasked the Secretary for Scotland (1) if there are upwards of 2,000 people from the Highlands and Islands engaged in the fishing industry at present at Fraserburgh; and whether any inspection of their quarters is made by a local government inspector; and (2) whether, in 58, Castle Street, Fraserburgh, there are a number of young women lodged in connection with an adjoining herring-curing yard; whether there are six grown-up young women sleeping three to a bed in low rooms fourteen feet square, the bedding being of straw; whether there is no through ventilation; whether the skylights are sealed with cement; whether the occupation of herring-curing is wet, dirty, and odoriferous; whether as a result there has been considerable sickness, the sick having in some cases to sleep three in a bed along with the healthy; and if he will say what steps he will take to remedy matters?
Mr. McKINNON WOODI am informed that the number of persons from the Highlands and Islands at present engaged in the fishing industry at Fraserburgh is, approximately, as stated by the Noble Marquess. A medical inspector of the Local Government Board is at present in Fraserburgh examining the conditions, but I have not yet received information on the detailed statements contained in the second question.