§ 73. Major Bruceasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty how many officers and ratings are at the present time engaged in maintaining a continuous guard on the Motor Vessel "Torous" 189W lying in Portsmouth Harbour; and whether he will state the cost of the maintenance of the guard and give the reasons for it being instituted and maintained.
Mr. DugdaleNone. A guard consisting of one officer and two ratings was maintained on board the vessel continuously from 9th August to 13th October, 1948, under Section 692 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894, to enforce a detention order made by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport. The pay of the guard for the period amounted to about £600 and their victualling to about £110, but these sums would have been disbursed in any case and the additional cost of maintaining the guard was negligible.