MR. HECTOR HUGHES, Labour M.P. for Aberdeen North, raised the question of recent bogus distress signals fired at sea off the Scottish coast in the House of Commons in January.

Emphasizing that Scottish life-boat men had put to sea on quests which proved fruitless, thereby wasting time, energy and fuel and depriving ships in genuine distress of their services, he asked the Right Hon. Ernest Marples, Minister of Transport, what inquiries he had made into these acts and what action he was taking.

Mr. Marples replied, "I know that on a number of occasions recently reports of flares in the vicinity of Westray Firth have had the regrettable results described by the hon. Member. Further inquiries are being made and I hope that these will enable us to discover what lies behind the reports.".