§ Mr. HARMSWORTHasked the President of the Board of Trade if his attention had been drawn to the number of shipwrecks which have occurred recently within the Pentland Firth; whether he has any information that such disasters were possibly the result of the insufficient lighting of Duncansby Head; and, if so, whether he will consider the possibility of the better lighting of the Firth at this point?
Mr. BUXTONI am aware that several shipping casualties have occurred recently in or near the Pentland Firth, but the courts of inquiry which have investigated them have not, I think, attributed them to the insufficient lighting of Duncansby Head, or made any recommendation for its improvement. I have been in communication with the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses regarding my hon. Friend's question, and they inform me that no application for a light on Duncansby Head has ever been made to them, but that they have had in view the question of ultimately establishing a light and fog signal on the Head when more urgent demands on the funds at their disposal have been satisfied.