§ Mr. WEIRasked the age, tonnage, and passenger accommodation of the Stornoway mail steamer, and for how many years she has been employed on the service; is he aware that, although her contract speed is only eleven nautical miles an hour, she is constantly late in her arrival at Stornoway; have any penalties yet been inflicted on the owners for not running to time; and, seeing that the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company run a steamer at the rate of fourteen nautical miles an hour on the mail service between Liverpool and Douglas, Isle of Man, will he state whether there is any reason why the present Stornoway steamer, serving a population of 30,000 in the island of Lewis, should not be superseded by a faster and more commodious boat?
§ Mr. HERBERT SAMUEL:The steamer "Sheila" has been employed on the Stornoway mail service since she was built in 1904. Her tonnage is 280, and she is reported to have accommodation for 279 passengers. The "Sheila" fulfils the contract requirement that the steamer employed shall perform the service at a speed of 11 sea miles an hour, and shall 320W maintain the scheduled hours unless prevented by bad weather. Her speed according to Lloyd's list is 14 miles an hour, and her normal speed is 12 miles an hour. The unpunctuality in the arrival at Stornoway is chiefly due to the late running of the trains from the south, in connection with which the steamer works. Little time is lost on the voyage between Kyle and Stornoway; and that loss being in every case due to bad weather, no penalties have been incurred by the contractors.
Under the Contract for the Isle of Man mail steam service, to which my hon. friend refers, the speed prescribed is 12 sea miles an hour for the seven winter months, and 14 for the five summer months; but I need hardly point out that the mail and passenger traffic between Liverpool and the Isle of Man is very-much greater than that between Kyle and Stornoway. The cost of the Stornoway mail service, including the steamer subsidy, is already more than 2½ times the revenue, calculated in the usual way, and I regret that I should not be justified in incurring the additional expense necessary to secure the provision of a faster steamer.