asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the recent increase in smuggling, he has considered the advisability of a return to the coastguard system which obtained prior to 1919?

I have no reason to think that the existing arrangements for the protection of the revenue are inadequate for the purpose, or that the adoption of the course referred to would be in the revenue interests.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the annual cost of the coastguard service when administered by the Admiralty; and what is the annual cost of the performance under existing arrangements of all those duties formerly performed by the old coastguard service?

The normal annual expenditure on the coastguard service in respect of the duties of revenue protection, life-saving, coast-watching, etc., was estimated by the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Civil Duties of the Coastguard in 1922 at £607,450 per annum. To this amount should be added £17,000 provided by the Board of Trade for lifesaving apparatus, making a total expenditure of £624,450 per annum. The annual cost of performing the corresponding duties under existing arrangements is £288,000 per annum.