Captain CRAIGasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that discontent exists among lightship keepers because the recent rise in salary was confined solely to light keepers on coast lighthouses; whether he is aware that the former, at £6 per month, nothing found, perform even more important duties under less favourable conditions, than the latter at £6 10s. per month, all found; and whether he will take steps to bring the pay and allowances of the former up to the level of the latter?
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§ Mr. BURNSI am informed by the general lighthouse authorities that the facts of the case as regards pay and allowances of lightship men are not correctly stated in the question. The general lighthouse authorities point out that a general comparison of the two services can hardly be made satisfactorily, the conditions being so dissimilar. They consider that the pay and allowances of lightship keepers should be compared rather with the rates of pay and allowances obtaining in the mercantile marine and that taking into consideration their continuity of employment, prospect of pension, and various allowances, the pay of light-vessel men compares very favourably with that of men of a like grade in the Mercantile Marine.