COASTGUARD BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 14 July 1925)

§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (VISCOUNT PEEL)
My Lords, this Bill authorises the Board of Trade by Statute to maintain a coastguard force in place of the coastguard maintained by the Admiralty since nearly 200 years ago. I understand this force is already in being, though it has not yet been authorised by Statute, and it has been paid for by Estimates presented to Parliament. Further, the Bill provides that the administrative work in connection with the acquisition of sites, buildings, the upkeep of buildings, and so on, of the coastguard stations should be done by the Commissioner of Works on behalf of the Board of Trade. The last object of the Bill is to provide for the transfer and control of the coastguard to the Admiralty in the event of war.
The action proposed to be taken in this Bill follows really upon a Report on the 51 whole subject which was issued in 1922, the Committee being under the Chairmanship of the present Postmaster-General. That Committee considered that the purposes for which the old coastguard was maintained could be better dealt with by a smaller force under the control of the Board of Trade and the establishment was fixed at about 935 officers and men for coast watching and life-saving services. Besides that there is a small force to be maintained by the Admiralty—I think something like 100 men—for wireless telegraphy and naval signalling, and, further, there is a small coast preventive force controlled by the Board of Customs and Excise as a supplement to the existing water guard staff which is for the protection of the revenue. Economy was really the motive for this change, and it is rather a remarkable fact that though you split up the coastguard into three parts and assign those parts to three different Government Departments, yet I believe that the saving that has been effected is something like 50 per cent.; that is to say, nearly £300,000 on a previous expenditure of £600,000 a year, which is a remarkable, though apparently paradoxical, achievement.
It is important that these buildings should be transferred to and managed by the Board of Works on behalf of the Board of Trade, because at the present time they are invested in the Admiralty and the leases and so on are very difficult to deal with. Again, a good number of them are surplus and are let to civilians, and difficulties arise in that way. There is further a clause in the Bill which gives power to acquire land compulsorily for coastguard stations, where necessary. This clause is taken from the Coastguard Service Act, 1856, and merely gives to the Office of Works powers that were already given to the Admiralty under that Act. It is important also as provided in this Bill that in any necessary emergency the coastguard shall be placed under the control of the Admiralty. This can be done by Admiralty Order and the force reverts to the Board of Trade after the emergency is declared to be over. I beg to move the Second Reading of the Bill.

§ VISCOUNT HALDANE
My Lords, this Bill has been discussed for twenty years 52 Within my recollection and no progress has ever been made with it. It was high time that the reform should be carried through, and I am glad to see that it is now to be carried through. The coastguard dated from a period when there was a great deal of smuggling, which Free Trade got rid of.

NOBLE LORDS
Oh!

§ VISCOUNT HALDANE
Yes, which Free Trade got rid of. There was also a great deal of faith that an enemy would somehow land in small boats and invade us from various points along the coast. There is not much smuggling now, and I think there will not be smuggling in the future. As for the other point we have completely got away from the notion that anybody can invade us so long as the British Navy is efficient. In these circumstances there is no justification for keeping up an Admiralty coastguard in the old form, and I am glad that it is to be in the new form, with the resulting economies of which the noble Lord has spoken.