§ 75. Mr. SPOORasked the President of the Board of Trade whether it is the considered policy of the Board of Trade to allow foreign shipmasters to pilot their ships in home waters now that hostilities have ceased; whether he has considered the desirability, in the interest of the nation, of making pilotage on all ships entering and leaving British ports compulsory; and whether measures will be adopted to require every ship entering or leaving a British port to employ a registered and certificated pilot?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI am proposing to ask the Advisory Committee on Pilotage, 1419 which I hope will meet shortly, to consider whether, and to what exent, it is desirable to apply the principle of compulsory pilot age to ports in which pilotage is at present non-compulsory.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYIs the hon. Gentleman aware of the distress that exists at the present time among pilots on the East Coast?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI shall be glad to hear further particulars about it.