§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that there is a dispute between the Humber pilots and the Humber Conservancy Board about the payment of certain sums due for piloting vessels from the roads to their docking berths and attendances where there has been a period spent lying at anchor in the roads; that, pending the reference of this dispute to the Board of Trade, the Conservancy Board are not forwarding demands for payment of these dues to ships' agents; and that in the case of foreign ships this will mean that the ship may clear and that, except by application to a foreign Court, there will be no means of recovering the money later; and whether he can state what action he proposes to take in the matter?
Mr. ALEXANDERI was not aware of the dispute referred to, which is not one in which the Board of Trade have any power to intervene. I have, however, been in communication with the Humber Conservancy Board, who inform me that the Humber Pilotage Committee, on which the pilots are represented, are still considering the matter, and that the pilots have given notice that they propose to take legal action. As regards the last part of the question, I am advised that, under the Pilotage Act, 1913, the agents in England for foreign ships are liable to pay pilotage rates legally due, and therefore there would be no need to seek the recovery of such rates in a foreign Court.