§ LORD TWEEDMOUTHMy Lords, I rise to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he has considered the damage to local fisheries that may be caused by the trials of warships on the new measured 1171 mile off Polperro; whether he has taken, or will take, the opinion of fishery experts on this subject; and what proposals are to be put forward by the Admiralty for compensation to the local fishermen for any damage done during the course of such trials to the fisheries or to their boats and gear.
The facts on which my Question is founded can be briefly stated, and, I think, involve no controversial matter. The Admiralty are in need of a measured mile somewhere in close proximity to Plymouth for the purpose of the speed trials of His Majesty's ships of war. I believe that the original intention was to have this measured mile somewhere in Whitesand Bay. There were also proposals for it to be between Rame Head and the Eddystone Lighthouse, and, so far as the fishermen were concerned, I am sure that locality would have been the one they would have greatly preferred. The Admiralty, however, after careful consideration, have come to the conclusion that the most suitable place is off the fishing village of Polperro, and arrangements have been made for the measured mile to be located there. The Admiralty have bought certain pieces of land on the rocks, on which they have erected two of the most successful eyesores that have been put up in any part of Great Britain. That, however, is no part of my business, though it does seem a pity that ugliness should necessarily be conjoined with utility. I am afraid the noble Earl opposite may hear a good deal of this subject from that brotherhood of artists who make their home on the Cornish coast, but I will not say any more about it.
The point I wish to bring out is what I believe to be the justifiable anxiety of the fishermen on the coast— in Fowey, Looe, Polperro, and the other fishing villages. All these little ports on the coast are inhabited by the same sort of fishermen—fishermen with small undecked or partly-decked boats, who rely for their fishing on the waters close to the shore, probably largely within the territorial waters. The measured mile is as I understand, to be within a mile and a half of the coast off Polperro. A mile and a half at sea is a very short distance indeed, and I 1172 think your Lordship will realise what a disturbance in the water one of these great battleships going along at full-speed must necessarily make.
The fishermen are anxious on three grounds. First, they are anxious as to what the result maybe to their comparatively small boats. They are afraid that the wash of these great vessels will subject them to some danger, and they also think that even boats lying in the harbour of Polperro itself— which is nothing but one of those little inlets running into the land so common on the Cornish coast —will be damaged by being knocked together as the result of the wash of these large men-of-war being, as it were, focussed up the channel of the inlet. Next, they are afraid of the actual disturbance to the fisheries themselves on the fishing grounds which these boats frequent, and in the centre of which this measured mile is to be located, It will be said, no doubt, that the trials of these ships will only take place on perhaps twenty or thirty days during the year. That may be so, but what I want the House to remember is this, that the real harvest for the fishermen on this coast, as in many other places, occurs when a big shoal of migratory fish is on their particular fishing ground. That is especially the case off the coast of Cornwall. These fishermen rely for their important harvests on the occasions when shoals of pilchards, mackerel, and the like are close in shore and when they can get at them. I do not think it requires great knowledge to realise that, if a big shoal of pilchards or mackerel was on the particular ground through which this measured mile runs at the time that a great battleship was being driven full speed through it, the fish would almost inevitably be dispersed, and the fishermen would lose their great chance of a large haul. That is one point. I will not press the possible damage that might be done to other more regular forms of fishing, but even to those there is a risk of some damage.
I now come to the danger of damage being done to the gear of the fishermen. The migratory fish to which I have referred are caught by drift-nets, which are set in the water at the depth at which the fishermen judge that the 1173 particular shoal is at the time. The usual depth to set drift-nets for pilchards and mackerel is from eighteen to twenty feet below the surface, and the damage which will be done to a fleet of nets by a great battleship running down the centre of them is obvious. It is, of course, a necessity that the Admiralty should have a proper site for a measured mile. I grant that at once. But if it involves loss and damage to other of His Majesty's lieges it is the country at large which ought to bear the responsibility for the cost. The case calls for a very favourable and a very kindly and generous consideration, and I would press it all the stronger on my noble friend because these fishermen are to a large extent the very class from which the Navy draws many of its best men.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY(The Earl of SELBORNE)My Lords. There is no class of civilians in this country for whom the Board of Admiralty naturally have greater sympathy than for the fishermen around our coasts. What the noble Lord has said in respect to them is perfectly true and the Board of Admiralty always has, and always will approach any question affecting their welfare as one of great interest to themselves and as indirectly affecting the welfare of the Navy. But so far as I am in a position to form an opinion, the alarm to which my noble friend has given expression is really unnecessary, and at all events premature. This is not a new question. The question of a particular site for a measured mile course—the need for which, of course, my noble friend fully admits — is a very old-standing question, and the site we are now discussing was fixed upon no less than six years ago, after very prolonged examination, as the best possible site. There has never been any secret in the matter. There was some difficulty in obtaining land on which to erect the leading marks, owing to the architectural difficulties to which my noble friend has made allusion, and it was only within the last few months that this land was finally acquired and these leading marks were begun to be erected. Although the question was raised six years ago, and although there was no mystery about it, it was only when the leading marks were practically 1174 finished and the measured mile was about to be used that any objection was made. My noble friend has not raised the aesthetic question and therefore I will not deal with it, but in respect of the fishing ho has not mentioned that this water is very deep. It is a deep coast and this question of possible injury to fishermen's gear has not been neglected. I am advised, however—and so far as I am in a position to form an opinion, although I am no expert, I am rightly advised—that the chance of injury to fishermen or their gear is very improbable. That being the case I cannot undertake to answer a hypothetical question as to what compensation the Admiralty would be prepared to give for injury which has not arisen, and which I do not think is likely to arise. I can only say, and my noble friend Lord Spencer will confirm me, that whatever questions as to injury to fishermen by His Majesty's Navy have arisen in the past, the Admiralty has never dealt with such questions either unsympathetically or in a niggardly manner.