The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

had communications of the most pressing kind made to me,
extracts of which I hold in any hand, from agriculturists
in the north of Scotland, complaining that they cannot find
carriage for their produce, from owners of quarries com-
plaining that they cannot get their stone to market, and
others in the same strain. I may refer more particularly
to a communication I have received from a gentleman at
Newcastle, who states that he is a very large manufac-
turer of alkalies, and obtains much of the raw material
from Dublin. Vessels from Norway go to Dublin with
timber, then from Dublin to Newcastle with ballast, and so
return to Norway with coals. But your law will not allow
them to bring that raw material from Dublin to Newcastle,
of which the manufacturei at Newcastle stands in need,
and thus he is debarred from the supply of an article in-
dispensable to him to carry on his business with profit.
What, then, becomes of the ballast that is taken in at
Dublin? It is discharged into the Tyne, and the trustees
of the Tyne navigation are at the expense of sending it to
the German Ocean. So that whilst it is impossible to pro-
cure a sufficient number of English vessels to bring the
necessary supply of the material, you have daily examples
of foreign vessels entering the Tyne with ballast, a corn •
mediae, with which the banks are already laden to such an
excess, that the river commissioners have been latterly ad-
vertising for the construction of barges to convey the bal-
last to be deposited in the German Ocean. (Hear, hear.)
It is not very easy perhaps to say what will be the precise
extent of benefit afforded by the operation of this measure;
but I have obtained a return from the customs, by which
it appears that foreign vessels to the amount of 415,000
tons—and the return does not give the whole—went in the
year 1852 from one quarter of the kingdom to the other. I
ask you take a course that will give the public the full bene-
fit of this new supply of carrying vessels, and let us consider
whether there is any reason to be afraid of making the con-
cession. Tonnage has increased ever since the year 1849,
and the wages paid to the men have risen to rates higher
than were ever paid before. In the last session of Parlia-
ment we were told by those who made gloomy prognostica-
tions, that the youth would not enter into the naval ser-
vice, and that the number of apprentices had fallen off. Now
I find that from the year 1850, when the number of appren-
tices reached its minimum, it began rapidly to increase,
and while in 1852 the number was only 5,800, last year
it was 6,800, an increase of 1,000. (Hear, hear.) What
does the example of foreign countries teach us ? In the
year 1819 we threw open our navigation,
neighbouring State now United to traybf-C ,ate sy
—I mean France— made no change in its laws. What was
the immediate consequence? A transit trade sprung up
from France to America through England, which in the
year 1852 attained the value of 2,500,00 m; and which, I
believe, when the returns of 1853 are completed, will be
found to have exceeded in that year 3,003,0001. (Cheers.
That is, those who were not afraid of opening their trade) have carried that amount of produce on account of others.
(Hear.) We live in an age when scientific discovery is
yearly increasing the facilities of human intercourse. The
progress of sound economic views, and the, multiplying de-
mands of civilisation, bid us break down the artificial bar-
riers that have been raised, interposing useless impedi-
ments to the intercourse of nations. (Cheers.) In former
years this policy has been pursued under more favourable
circumstances ; it is proposed to complete it at a time when
the nation has not been blessed with a propitious harvest,
and other circumstances are adverse; We see that our .
foreign trade has been doubled within the last twenty
years, and that although an immense proportion of our
taxation has been reduced, what remains is more produc-
tive than the former imposts. In terminating the fortieth
year of peace, we may reflect with satisfaction that we
have not been unmindful to cultivate those arts which
flourish through peace, and that if clouds now darken the
prospect, we have at least strengthened the foundations of
our resources, and confirmed those feelings of amity and
goodwill with which we are regarded by the most civilised
and powerful nations of both hemispheres. (Cheers.)
Mr. HORSFALL expressed his hope that time would be
given to consider the measure before its second reading, and
also that measures would be taken to prevent any evasion
of the law. There was reason to believe that such an eva-
sion had taken place last week in the port of Liverpool,
from the fact of a Russian vessel of between 400 and 500
tons having been transferred to a publican in the town on
nine months acceptance upon a penny stamp. He was given
to understand that this vessel was fitting out for the
Brazils, commanded by a Russian captain, and manned
with Russian officers and seamen, but was intended to sail
under the British flag. That, he thought, was not the in-
tention of the change whichlad been made in the naviga-
tion laws, and he trusted that, in the measure about to be
brought in, provision would be made to prevent such frau-
dulent transactions. The right hon. gentleman having
alluded to the unfortunate and melancholy loss of the ship
Tayleur, he might be permitted to mention that he had re-
ceived that morning a letter from the charterers of that
vessel, expressing themselves a little aggrieved at some ob-
servations which fell from his hon. friend and colleague
(Mr. Liddell) in the house a few evenings ago, to the effect
that the loss of that vessel was owing to her being manned,
to a great extent, with foreigners of various countries, Nu-
bians, Lascars, and Chinese. The fact was, that there
were but fourteen foreigners in all among the crew, not so
large a number as the ship might have carried under the
old navigation laws, so that the argument founded on this
misinformation must fall to the ground. The writer
of the letter he held iu his hand also stated that the
master of the vessel had a first-class extra certificate, that
the chief officer, or mate, had a master's certificate, and
the second mate a first mate's certificate. He could not
withhold his meed of approbation to her Majesty's Govern-
ment for having suspended the register ticket, the operation
of which had driven l large number of our seamen into
American and other foreign services, and would assure the.
right hon. gentleman the President of the Board of Trade
that the mercantile interest would cordially co-operate in
rendering the measure as effective as possible.
Mr. HUME had never expected to hear so gratifying a
speech from the Treasury bench as that of the right hon.
gentleman, remembering all the difficulties and appre-
hensions by which every attempt to effect any change in
the navigation laws used to be met. He entirely concurred
in the propriety of removing the last rags of restriction
that remained in our mercantile and maritime legislation,
and, perhaps, even the right hon. gentleman had not yet
got to the bottom of the subject. The tonnage law had
long operated to the prejudice of British shipbuilding, and
he fully approved of Capt. Moorsom's plan of measurement,
charging the solid contents of the vessel instead of the outer
capacity. But he would suggest to the right honourable
gentleman that the best course would be to get rid of the
tonnage duty altogether, and charge for cargo, not for ton-
nage. He would strongly urge on the Government to make
provision for instituting an officialinquisition into the loss
of vessels whenever it shall occur on any part of the coast.
He had heard it stated, on unquestionable authority, that
in the short space of 9 months no fewer than 45 ships had
been lost between Newcastle and London, from bad com-
passes, want of proper charts, and similar causes. Was it
to be tolerated that when an unfortunate individual could
not fall down dead in the public streets without an inquest
being held to ascertain the cause of death, hundreds of souls
were to be lost in connection with shipping on the coast from
year to year without a similar inquiry taking place ? Such
an investigation appeared to be an act which humanity
called for, and a measure which the position of this great
mercantile country rendered absolutely necessary. He would
therefore suggest there should be an inquest in all such cases ;
and the mode of holding it might be extremely simple.
We had no fewer than 6,400 officers stationed along the
coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, within 10 miles
distanco of each other, some of whom could in the shortest
possible space institute such an inquiry, whenever the
necessity arose in their different localities, and take evi-
dence and furnish information to the Government in a
shape never heretofore obtained. On this very day he had
read in the newspapers an account of the loss of an emigrant
ship on the Canadian coast, with 120 souls. That only
confirmed him the more in the conviction that there must
be something radically wrong in the mode of navigating
ships of that description. We had heard of more melan-
choly loss of life in that way from time to time than had
ever taken place under any other circumstances. He
would, therefore, press on the Government the necessity of
seeing that emigrant ships were in future placed on a bet-
ter footing than heretofore. Adverting to another point
in the speech of the right hon. gentleman, he (Mr. Hume)
had always been of opinion that life-boats ought to have
been supplied by the Government all along the coast.
(Hear, hear.) He thought that a part of the naval esta-
blishments in the dockyanls might be much more usefully
employed in building life-boats for such a service than in
pulling ships to pieces, in which they were often engaged.
In Liverpool and other large towns along the coast there
would of course always be life-boats supplied and main-
tained at the expense of the local community, but it was
otherwise with small obscure places, bordering on the
sea, where shipwrecks were quite as frequent. The Duke
of Northumberland, when at the head of the Admiralty,
much to his credit, offered 1001. as a premium for the best
life-boat, which was won, among a great number of compe-
titors, by, he (Mr. Hume) believed, a person in Yarmouth.
Had his grace continued in office, the next step which he
(Mr. Hume) expected would have been taken was the
placing, at the public expense, a life-boat at every desir-
able spot on the coast. He had hoped, too, that there
would have been a further change with respect to the light
dues. The mercantile navy paid in 3845, in the shape of
light
and
carrieddues,
out thhye t
hr eec
Gi
vo
ec
Itnmy seanntc, t
2i own e,
odo 0
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ah;hvaiyatenhi hdn, os
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ereinstead
the Government
must now iunpcorneasthed to 400
the
mercantile
of taking it upon themselves, as he contended they ought
to do. He thought the light dues in their present shape
ought to be abolished, or merged in the general expendi-
ture of the country. He believed, if proper economy were
exercised, 60,000/. or 80,0001. would defray the whole
charge in respect of the light dues, instead of about
400,0001., the sum at present collected. He would say let
the first charge be on the goods and not on the ships. He
held that a merchant sending goods from Manchester,
Birmingham, or any other place ought to be as much under
an obligation to pay a charge of that kind as the shipowner.
Let the Government go at once to the goods, and they
would simplify the whole matter. That would be, in fact,
a substitution of the advantages of direct for indirect
taxation. The hon. member concluded by expressing his
great satisfaction at the change which was made in the
matter of pilotage,
Mr. H. T. LIDDELL said his honourable friend and col-
league (Mr. Horsfall) had adverted to some observations
which fell from him on the first night of the session touch-
ing the melancholy loss of the Tayleur. He (Mr. Liddell)
was sorry to find that those observations had given some
umbrage to the owners of that ship. It appeared that in
referring to that catastrophe, and connecting it with some
supposed inadequacy in manning the vessel, he had acted
on some misinformation. He was the last man who would
heedlessly seek to aggravate the distress which those gen-
tlemen must necessarily feel on such an occasion ; but,
nevertheless, considering the statements that had appeared
in the public press, especially one in the Liverpool Mail of
Saturday last, in which it was said that all the narratives
of the few survivors of the crew and passengers as yet con-
curred in the assertion that the vessel was insufficiently
manned, he could not but fear that great blame rested
somewhere. He could not remember the language held
last year by the honourable member for Bath (Captain
Scobell) and several other naval members, and the strain
of triumph uttered by the honourable member
of fore Mon-
trose (Mr. Hume), as to theindisputablo success
mea-
sures passed for giving freedom to navigation—(hear,
hear)—and he did think, perhaps
herronoonuereaubsiley,mthematbiner
those cases of shipwreck, which the
(Mr. Hume) admitted had been more frequent thandid r
theesyt,
ought to have been, blame and responsibility
someionwn defeqnuoaer, tetrh.at
made nothing of a premeditated
Shoe
hwaidshed, however, now to say; in his
on
accusation against the ownaersreallottftstrithretellstsuenftihidritiyunate ship
the occasion in question. been laid on
blame to the
the fact of the jury pot "TiDg