HC Deb 10 February 1954 vol 523 cc1144-5
17. Mr. Stokes

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will now take steps to appoint a day after which no tanker or ship burning oil will be allowed into any United Kingdom port unless equipped with an oil separator and sludge tank.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

In their Report the Committee on the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil showed that oily-water separators were not required in tankers and recommended that this apparatus should be fitted only in those United Kingdom registered dry-cargo ships which use tanks alternately for oil fuel and water ballast. Legislation would be required to give effect to this recommendation and others made by the Committee and, as I informed the House on 16th December last, the necessary legislation will be introduced as soon as possible after the international conference on oil pollution which is to take place next April.

Mr. Stokes

While I am grateful to the Minister for that reply, it really is not sufficient. Will he give an undertaking that, following the international conference, he will not delay matters, that he will take the necessary steps, including the installation of sludge tanks, which is absolutely essential, and will not exclude from his consideration the possibility of imposing double port dues on any ships which do not conform to the regulations? Will he also find some way of rewarding the third engineers who see that the sludge is emptied in port and not on the high seas?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I should have thought that the right hon. Gentleman had sufficient experience of international conferences to know that it would be unwise to say in advance what measures one proposed to take against shipping belonging to countries which one had invited to the conference.

Sir T. Moore

While I applaud the motives of the right hon. Member for Ipswich (Mr. Stokes), how does he think he will get his petrol if his request is granted? His car will run no longer.

Mr. Stokes

That has nothing to do with it. Will the Minister assure me that he will bear in mind that what really matters is that the Gulf Stream flows in our direction and that nothing that he can do will make it flow the other way, and that whatever the international conference may decide, he will never get our beaches clean unless he takes prompt and energetic measures about it, quite apart from any international conference?