§ 46. Mr. HERBERT CRAIGasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether the rate of hire for each of the trawlers hired by the War Office to serve as examination vessels is approximately £650 per month; whether he is aware that exactly similar trawlers are requisitioned for the service of the Admiralty at £100 per month; whether he is aware that the monthly charges borne by the owners of the War Office trawlers, from which the owners of the Admiralty trawlers are relieved, are estimated at about £200; and whether any investigation is being made into the circumstances under which the owners of trawlers in the service of the War Office are receiving more than four times the net amount received by the owners of exactly similar trawlers requisitioned for the service of the Admiralty?
Mr. BAKERThe rate of hire in each case is approximately as given, but as I stated in a reply to a previous question, no exact comparison can be made, nor can £200 be accepted as an estimate of the extra monthly charges on the owners of the War Office trawlers. Future terms are under consideration in connection with the approaching termination of the present agreements.