§ Mr. Windsorasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his Department has considered the desirability of releasing a number of the Hull trawlers, that have been requisitioned, in order to rehabilitate the Hull fishing industry; and with what result.
Mr. AlexanderThe number of fishing vessels on naval service is constantly under review, but releases are inevitably determined by the state of the war. I am, however, glad to inform my hon. Friend that it has recently proved possible to release four Hull vessels, to be followed by ten more as soon as they can be sailed home from abroad. I can assure him that the Admiralty do not forget the very severe depletion of the Hull deep-sea trawler fleet necessitated by war requirements: nor, I need hardly say, are they unmindful of the splendid contribution made to the war at sea by all the fishing vessels taken up from Hull and from the other fishing ports of these Islands.