MERCHANT SHIPPING (MIMCOY LIGHTHOUSE) BELL (Hansard, 17 May 1960)

§ The Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations (Mr. C. J. M. Alport)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
During the last few days I have been plagued by a song which my children keep singing. I am not quite clear of the words, but they seem to run as follows: Why was Minnie coy, boys? Why was Minnie coy? I shall do my best to explain why that was the case.
Minicoy Island is a small coral island between the Laccadive and Maldive Islands, off the south-west coast of India. It became part of the territory of the Republic of India after the passing of the Indian Independence Act in 1947, but the lighthouse, which had been constructed by the Board of Trade in 1885 with funds provided by the Public Works Loan Commissioners, remained the property of the United Kingdom Government. Hon. Members may think this rather strange, but I am advised that as the Government of India Act, 1935, did not transfer the ownership of the Minicoy Light to the then Government of India it followed that the title to this property remained undisturbed by the 1947 Act.
In 1950, the Government of India suggested that as the lighthouse was situated on Indian territory it was not appropriate that it should be administered by an agency functioning outside India, and they asked that it should be transferred "free of cost and with all its assets" to be administered by them.
The United Kingdom Government considered this request to be a proper one, and the management of the lighthouse was taken over by the Indian Government on 2nd April, 1956, it being understood that the legal transfer of the property and the clearance of the financial issues would be dealt with afterwards. At the end of 1958 the Indian Government asked for the early enactment of legislation to permit this to be done, and were promised that it would be introduced at the first opportunity. We have informed 1138 them of the action that we are now asking the House to take, namely to approve the Bill.
The financial position is rather complicated, and I will do my best to explain it. To do so I will give some of the history attaching to the earlier period of its ownership. The Minicoy Light was, from the time it was built until the Indian Government took over its management in 1956, administered jointly with the Great and Little Basses Lights, off the coast of Ceylon, first by the Board of Trade and then by the Ministry of Transport, under the category of a "Colonial Light". The cost of their upkeep and also the dues which were levied in the United Kingdom and in various Commonwealth countries on vessels deriving benefit from the lighthouses were brought to account in the General Lighthouse Fund, as provided by the Merchant Shipping (Mercantile Marine Fund) Act, 1898. Since April, 1956, the Indian Government have borne the cost of running the Minicoy Light but the dues, which have continued to be collected by us, are held in a separate account in the General Lighthouse Fund.
A calculation of the other assets in respect of the Minicoy Light as at 2nd April, 1956 has been made. The figure is assessed at £15,000, but it is not possible to determine the amount precisely because, as I have stated previously, no distinction was made between Basses dues and Minicoy dues in the accounts of the General Lighthouse Fund before 2nd April, 1956. The sum of £15,000, which we are now to pay to the Indian Government, was readied in the following way. First, an assessment was made of what the net excess of income over expenditure on the Basses and Minicoy Lights would have been if a separate fund had been maintained down to 2nd April, 1956. This figure amounts to £116,000. From this falls to be deducted a capital sum of £62,000, assessed by the Government Actuary for pension liability which has accrued in respect of the staff of the joint lighthouse service to April, 1956.
The balance of £54,000 was then divided between the Basses and Minicoy Lights on the basis of the relative costs, which were specially ascertained, of operation and maintenance of each establishment over a period of seven years 1139 up to 2nd April, 1956. The proportion relating to Minicoy was found to be 28 per cent. and this percentage of £54,000 amounts to about £15,000. That sum, plus the dues collected since 2nd April, 1956, estimated at about £10,000, and interest at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum on these moneys will, if the Bill is passed, be paid to the Indian Government from the General Lighthouse Fund. That is the story behind the Bill and its financial provisions. The Government of India has been given full information regarding this Bill and the proposed financial settlement and we have no reason to think that they regard it as other than fair and reasonable. I hope, therefore, that the House will not feel that a few minutes of its time has been wasted in dealing with what is a rather intriguing and in some degree a romantic subject—a lighthouse away in the middle of the Indian Ocean—and I hope that it will approve this minor piece of legislation, which tidies up and regularises the existing situation.

§ Mr. R. J. Mellish (Bermondsey)
I rise to indicate that hon. Members on this side of the House welcome and support the Bill and wish to get it through its remaining stages as rapidly as the hon. Gentleman wishes. We are indebted to him for the clear way in which he has explained the Bill. As he said, there is a certain degree of romance about it. I suppose the Minister of Transport would have moved the Second Reading of the Bill had he not been upstairs in Committee with my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, South-East (Mr. Benn). There is not much that one can say on the Bill, apart from the fact that it brings the Government of India and ourselves that much closer together, except perhaps that it means that the Minister of Transport will give up at least one of his many jobs. As I understand it, his Department was responsible for running this lighthouse.
In a way, I am glad that he was not the Minister who moved the Second Reading, because I am convinced that he would have conveyed to the House the impression that, by way of hovercraft or some other new machine, he was personally responsible for putting the light on and off. I cannot believe that he would have allowed such a 1140 golden chance to go by without taking some personal credit. Instead of that we have had the Minister of State, moving the Second Reading with kindly courtesy, and in a sensible tone. We are grateful to him for that, and we shall support the Bill.

§ Mr. Brian Harrison (Maldon)
I am grateful to the hon. Member for Bermondsey (Mr. Mellish) for explaining why the Minister of Transport and the hon. Member for Bristol, South-East (Mr. Benn) were not here. I began to be extremely suspicious, and wondered why a colonial light, which comes under the control of the Ministry of Transport, should have its legislation introduced by the Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations. The only reason I could think of was that it was as a result of a trip that my hon. Friend the Minister of State made to the Maldive Islands a few months ago that these negotiations had been completed with the Indian Government. Alas, he has disillusioned us about that. He has missed an opportunity to tell us a good story.
This is a fascinating subject. This lighthouse is between two groups of islands—the Maldives and the Laccadives. In fact, this island of Minicoy would appear to belong to the Maldives because now Malk, the language of the Maldives, is spoken there and two of the five castes are very similar to those of the Maldives.
I wonder whether my hon. Friend can explain that there is no distress in the Maldives about this piece of Indian colonisation, as one might almost call it, quite close to the shores of the Maldives Atolls? That is one of the things I should be grateful if he would clear up. The thought of a battle in these treacherous waters in the next few months—and treacherous they are— between the Maldive Government and the Government of India is too horrible to contemplate; particularly after my hon. Friend has been so successful in bringing negotiations there to a successful conclusion, despite the football match which the Navy, contrary to instructions, won in Gan. As a result of the successful conclusion of the treaty with the people of the Maldive Islands, 1141 perhaps my hon. Friend may be able to throw some light on their feelings, regarding this atoll and whether they have any claim on it themselves.