1882 has no bearing on the present case, Norway not having been one of the original signatory Powers to that Convention, and not having hitherto availed herself of her option to adhere thereto, which was expressly reserved in the additional The North Sea Fisheries Convention of sailing under a foreign flag. I think the be illegal for all persons of whatever Scottish Office, at any rate, ought to be nationality. obliged to me for that, and as far as I am concerned I will promise to do my best, pending the full consideration of the matter by the Government, to prevent any further difficulties of the sort arising. I would go further and suggest to His Majesty's Government that the Foreign Office might very well, now that the matter is under consideration, appeal to the Norwegian Government not to register English-owned vessels under their flag. At the same time I cannot admit that an Englishman should be the only man who is not entitled to earn a living on the high seas under a foreign flag. LORD HAMILTON OF DALZELL: My Lords, I think that all who have anything to do with the fishing industry will be sensible of the obligation they are under to the noble Lord who has raised this question for the interest he has always taken in that industry. On this occasion I am happy to say that the noble Lord has, to a trifling extent, been misinformed as to the facts. There is no intention to proceed against the fishermen on board these Norwegian trawlers for the same offence in respect of which the masters who had their fines remitted were convicted. The cases to which the noble Lord has referred have all occurred, I am informed, since those cases. The noble Lord shakes his head, but I am informed that that is so. That is the answer to the first part of the Question standing on the Paper in the name of the noble Lord. With regard to the second half, I have to say that His Majesty's Government have no special information as to the terms of the contract under which the fishermen are serving. No doubt they, like the master in charge of the vessel, had received superior orders, and it would seem that the responsibility for those orders and the consequences would properly lie with those who gave them. Under Section 7 of the Herring Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1889, as the noble Lord is aware, a by-law may be passed closing the Moray Firth. This by-law has been passed by this authority, and trawling within the specified limits has been declared by the High Court of Justiciary to Article. As a matter of international consideration the Government have remitted the penalty imposed upon certain foreign subjects in the manner and for the reasons stated by my noble friend the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in your Lordships' House on the 21st of last month. With regard to future action, it is intended to proceed against British subjects who are accused of violation of this municipal law. I may also remind the noble Lord that, as already stated in another place, the Norwegian Government have of their own motion intimated, through their Minister at this Court, that they have instructed a warning to be addressed to all owners of Norwegian fishing boats who are known to carry out trawling in the Moray Firth to cease this kind of fishing in present Petitions for Private Bills, That, in the EDUCATION (SCOTLAND). case of the following Bill, referred on the Copy presented, of Minute of the ComFirst Reading thereof, the Standing mittee of Council on Education in Orders which are applicable thereto Scotland, dated 9th March, 1907, prohave been complied with, viz. :-Metro-viding for the distribution of the General politan Police Provisional Order Bill. Aid Grant [by Command]; to lie upon the Table. Return [presented 8th March] to be printed. [No. 71.] England and Wales [by Command]; to lie ability of applying the condition of upon the Table. exemption to unregistered trade unions. PAUPERISM (ENGLAND AND WALES) (HALF-YEARLY STATEMENTS). Copy ordered, "of Statement of the number of Paupers relieved on the 1st day of January, 1907, and similar Statement for the 1st day of July, 1907, (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 272, of Session 1906)."-(Dr. Macnamara). QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CIRCULATED WITH THE VOTES. Promotion of Staff Officer in the Board of MR. DELANY (Queen's County, Ossory) To ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he is aware that in the buildings division of the Board of Works, Dublin, a staff officer who received an appointment before the retirement of Mr. Commissioner O'Shaughnessy has since applied to have his position. improved, and, seeing that he has not had any reply to his application, will he ask the Board of Works, Dublin, what is the cause of the delay; and whether it is the Secretary of that Department who is responsible for having this application ignored. (Answered by Mr. Runciman.) I am informed that the staff officer referred (Answered by Mr. Asquith.) The answer is in the negative. The exemption in favour of unregistered friendly societies is limited to those societies whose income does not exceed £160 a year. It depends on an express statutory provision, viz., Section 8 of The Finance Act, 1904, and there is no similar provision in favour of unregistered trade unions. The whole question of the claim of bodies, whether corporate or unincorporate, to share in the relief afforded to natural persons by the Income Tax Acts on the ground of smallness of income is receiving my careful consideration. Tenders for the Bellaghy-Castledawson MR. J. MACVEAGH (Down, S.): To ask the Postmaster-General whether it has now been decided to invite and consider tenders for the Bellaghy-Castledawson mail service. (Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) I have given instructions for fresh tenders for this service to be invited. Alleged Irregularities-Belturbet Post MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.): To ask the Postmaster-General whether his atten tion has been called to the fact that the post office at Belturbet, on 29th Dewho found official papers and postal cember last, was entered by the police, orders scattered about the place; that the police found the postmaster drinking to received his appointment in 1903. In 1906 he applied for an improvement of his position. The application was laid before the Board by the Secretary; and the Board, having considered it, wrote a minute refusing the application, in a public-house; and what action, if which was read to the officer on the any, has been taken in the matter. 23rd June, 1906. Unregistered Trade Unions and Payment of Income Tax. MR. CLYNES (Manchester, N.E.): To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether unregistered trade unions are, like friendly societies, exempt from the payment of income-tax on interest for investments; and, if not, what are the reasons; and will he consider the desir (Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) This matter has not been brought to my attention, but I am making inquiry and will communicate the result to the hon. Member. Pending Changes in Metropolitan Telegraphic Work. MR. BOWERMAN (Deptford): To ask the Postmaster General whether he can state the nature of the pending has received from Mr. C. Beatts, of administrative changes in telegraph work Dundee, a patent trenching tool; if so, in the metropolitan districts; and whether the same has been before the whether it is proposed to alter the propor- experts in his Department; and with tion now existing between the men and what result. women on the staff. (Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The change to which I referred in my former Answer to the hon. Member is the extension and completion of the metropolitan intercommunication switch. No change of policy is at present contemplated as regards the relative number of men and women employed in telegraph work. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) This gentleman has submitted patent trenching tools, all of which have been carefully considered by the War Office expert officials concerned. It is regretted that none of the tools come up to War Department requirements, and Mr. Beatts has been so informed. The Army Reductions. Postmen's Rounds-Cycle and Footwork. MR. CLAVELL SALTER (Hants, MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, Basingstoke): To ask the Secretary of W.) To ask the Postmaster-General State for War whether, in view of the fact what is the maximum limit of a postman's that, as shown by the Estimates for 1906-7 daily round when the duty consists partly and 1907-8, the Regular Army of cycle and partly of footwork; and has been, or is about to be, reduced what is the proportion of one to the by 19,189 officers and men servother. ing with the colours, viz., Cavalry 313, Royal Horse and Field Artillery 2,094, Royal Garrison Artillery 2,516, Royal Engineers 1,373, Infantry of Line 11,843, Foot Guards 838, Army Service Corps 212, these reductions, or any of them are to be regarded as temporary or permanent; and, if the former, to what extent is it proposed to repair the shortage, and in which branches of the service. (Answered by Mr. Sydney Buxton.) The maximum distance travelled by a walking postman is eighteen miles a day and that by a postman on cycle is twenty-eight miles. For a duty which is performed partly on foot and partly on cycle, the maximum length is between eighteen and twenty-eight miles, being fixed in each case according to the proportion between the distance travelled on foot and on cycle. Navy Officers-Counting of Service. MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis): To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether the officers in battleships and cruisers with reduced nucleus crews will count their time of service as sea time in the same way as ships manned on a higher scale; and whether all ships in the Home Fleet are on the same basis in respect of counting their time as sea time. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) I am unable to follow the hon. Member's figures for the Artillery or for the total reductions, but, generally speaking, there is no present intention of restoring the numbers reduced. Commission Charged by Crown Agents. MR. AUSTIN TAYLOR (Liverpool, East Toxteth): To ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will grant a Return of commission charged by the Crown agents during the years 1904, (Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) 1905, and 1906, similar to that granted This matter is under consideration. The Beatts Patent Trenching Tool. in 1904 by the then Secretary of State for the Colonies. (Answered by Mr. Churchill.) Certainly. The Return will be granted as soon as my hon. friend moves for it. Establishment of the Army-Number of Officers. MR. GODFREY BARING (Isle of Wight): To ask the Secretary of State for 1 Total General Total 11,707 War whether he will lay upon the Table Volunteer Motor Corps Establishment of Regular Troops. MR. GODFREY BARING: To ask the Secretary of State for War what was the establishment of the Army and the number of the First Class Army Reserve on 1st April, 1899; what is the establishment of regular troops proposed under the scheme of the Secretary of State; what number of recruits is required to meet the new establishment; what proportion of men it is calculated will pass into the First Class Army Reserve annually when the normal establishment is reached; and will he lay upon the Table 1907-8 the figures from which it is estimated that 72 the First Class Reserve will normally be maintained at 115,000. (Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) At this stage it is not practicable to give any figures for the new scheme beyond those contained in the Estimates for 1907-8. The number of officers provided for in Estimates 1905-6 and in 1907-8 are as follows: 751 277 4,256 458 1,021 1,126 10,513 |