The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-23 00:00:00

BOARD OF TRADE COtiTROL

TO TETE EDITOR CF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—lt is to be hoped that on the meeting of Parliar
ment, a bill will be introduced by the Government, to
extend to the mercantile, trading, and general public, that
beneficent supervision of the Board of Trade, which has
proved so conducive to the interests of the shipowner and
the merchant service generally.
In order that the greatest possible benefit should accrue
to the public, it would be necessary that in all places
containing more than twenty inhabitants, local or district
boards should be established for the supervision of each
profession and occupation, subject to the control of the
central board in London; and that NShero less than this
butnto-r of persons are located, the necessary business
should be transacted at the nearest district board.

To those acquainted with the provisions and operation
of the Merchant Shipping Act, the functions of the Board
of Trade, wt.ea fully and properly extended, will be clearly
understood ; though a portion of the public may not be
fully alive to the many advantages which would accrue to
them by extending the sphere of usefulness of this board.
In the first place, operatives of every description would
have to obtain from the dist rict boards Q passport or ticket
setting forth their trade, name, place and ,ate of birth, com.
plexion, height,and marks on person, and the official number
assigned to them, without which valuable thtcument no
employer could, under heavy penalties, engage them.
This distinctive badge might,, perhaps, when the System
is fully developed, be dispensed with.
Shops would be inspected twice a year, and a certificate
granted (for which, of course, the proprietor wild be
charged), stating that the public might enter witkout
danger, and tenants would also be similarly protectea
from unprincipled and designing landlords.
Tradesmen, before commencing business, would undergo
a searching examination, to ascertain that they thoroughly
understood. their business, and if they did not conduct it
properly, thougleit might be with only loss to themselves,
would not be allowed to .follow it again, but, whatever
their age, must learn another.
Railway companies, blind to their own true interests,
lately rejected the kind offices of this board ; it is to be
hoped, however, that they will soon be convinced of the
error of their ways, and demand, as a right, that super-
vision which has only yet been conceded to the shipping.
interest. The board, for instance, would particularly look
after the register department of such companies, so that
o's were not added to proprietors' stock, and hundreds thus
converted into thousands, and railway clerks would not
be permitted to occupy more than one house, the rent of
which not to exceed, say 15 per cent. on their salaries.
The board might also exercise a wholesome control on
bankers, whereby no depositor's hard earned savings was
appropriated by managers or directors ; a baronet and
an ex.M.P. or two might be prevailed upon to take the
supervision of this department.
The public would not in future be suffered by the board
to be made the dupes of designing tradesmen. If a shoe.
maker sent -home. an article which- pinched the public
foot, he would be suspended from his trade, nor must any
one employ him whilst under interdict, under a heavy
penalty, his shop indeed would be closed, and as his
ticket would be taken from him, he could not of course
engage ticketed workmen of his craft at the shoemakers'
district office or board.
The board would also extend to all operatives that •
guardianship which is at present only conceded to sea-
men; and railway labourers, factory hands, artizans of
every description, and dock labourers, would have equal
protection ; their wages would be paid under the board's
supervision, so that nothing would ,be abstracted there.
from except the board's share for counting the money.
Another important advantage of this system is, that it
would obviate the necessity of education amongst the
working classes; and a knowledge.by them of the first
rules of arithmetic, either mentally or otherwise, would
no longer be required.
For the engagement and payment of dock labourers, suits
liable offices might be erected near Edge hill, where the usual
day's notice before engaging or paying one could be giver.
As so long a notice, however, might not at all Vales be
convenient with respect to ticket porters on the pier
head,- sub-district offices might be established on the
landing stage and at the cab stands, and a shorter notice
allowed. These sub-offices, like the present shipping
offices, would periodically forward to head quarters copies
of all contracts with the sums stipulated for, and the
character of the porter whilst under engagement. The
privilege now legally enjoyed by shipowners, of making
deductions from a seaman's wages, "so far as they will
extend for wilful or negligent loss or embezz'ement," would
also doubtless be extended to passengers 'analog at the
stage with respect to their luggage while being conveyed
to the " first car."
If the hoped for extension of the Board of Trade control
takes place, you will of course, Mr. Editor, not object to
that supervision of the newspaper department, whereby
the space occupied by the advertisements shall not exceed
a certain portion of the whole sheet. You will also, I have
no doubt, be but too hap! y to keep an official journal for
the inspection of the board, and record therein all cases
of insubordination amongst your staff, and cheerfully pay
any fines inflicted for not making the required entries, or
reading them to the aggressors when made.
As the system of having purely nautical questions
decided by magistrates and justices of the peace has
worked so admirably, so it would be desirable, to prevent
trade prejudices, and sympathetic tendencies, when
workmanship, or the qualities of an article are called in
question, that those of the samo trade or profession should
not decide on the matter. It would, therefore, for

example, be more just that a hatter should be called upon
to decide whether a watch, which did not go well, was
properly made ; and that a baker, instead of two or three
surgeons, should certify whether a broken leg had been
properly set or not.
A feminine department might advantageously be added
to the present board, which should be composed of the
wife of a lawyer, and those of a 'few naval and military'
officers, presided over by a peeress. Such branch board
should supervise and regulate the employments of the fair
sex, from the business of the Court milliner to the occu-
pation of the wet ours-• ; and, in cases of delinquency of
any of the latter class, would be competent to d side
whether the milk or her beer should be " suspended."
• By the extension of the board's function, another
" important advantage would be gained"—l hope the
Underwriters' Association will pardon the plagiarism
whereby that remnant of the semi-barbarous ages—trial
by jury—would be dispensed with ; and the assumed cul-
prit would only have to be placed in the witness box, and
examined on oath on his own trial, so as if possible to
convict him out of his own mouth ; when punishment was
impending, exculpatory evidence would be of course
excluded, and as unnecessarily taking up the time of the
court, the prisoner's counsel Igeuld not be allowed to
address it in his behalf; the prosecutors would be both
judge and jury, so that there would be no difficulty in
jumping at their foregone conclusions ; and it would make
no difference to the presumed aggressor if he ' was not
informed of his sentence for a month or six weeks,
although, in the meantime, he was legally debarred from
earning bread for himself and family.
It is much to be wondered at that employers and em-
ployed have not before insisted on that the Board of
Trade guardianship, which has only been hitherto
accorded to a privileged few—shipowners, officers, and
seamen of the merchant service—whereas the benefits of
its extension to all the ramifications of trade are incalcu-
lable, and if fully carried out it would doubtless prove,
like Mrs. Johnson's American soothing syrup to mothers—
"a real blessing" to the public- FAIR PLAY.
April 18, 1857.