§ 77. Sir A. FELLasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Shipping Controller if his attention has been called to the 36 almost complete extinction of the pre-war coasting trade of this country; if this trade was the best school for the training of seamen for the Navy and Mercantile Marine, and what steps he proposes to take to enable the coasting vessels to resume their work and provide a means of carriage of bulky goods which should never be sent by rail?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of SHIPPING (Colonel L. Wilson)I agree with my hon. Friend as to the importance of this trade, and, while under the exceptional conditions hitherto obtaining, there has been no difficulty in finding employment for the whole of the available tonnage, I fully recognise that there are grounds for apprehension as to the future. The establishment of a parity between railway goods rates, which have hitherto been maintained at a prewar level, and coasting rates, which must, of course, reflect the very great increase in running expenses, lies at the foot of the problem. While I am not in a position to make any definite statement at the present time, I can assure my hon. Friend that the matter will not be lost sight of and that representations have been, and are being, made by my right hon. Friend on this question.