The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-15 00:00:00

IBER.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
The Bishop of EXETER presented petitions from the
Dean and Chapter of Winchester, from Devon, and other
places, against the admission of Jews into Parliament.
Other petitions were presented by Lord Colville, the
Earl of Shaftesbury, and the Marquis of Breadalbane, to
the same effect.
The Marquis of BREADALBANE presented a peti-
tion from the Presbytery of Caithness, against the im-
position of religious tests on Scotch professors.
THE MERCANTILE LAW OF ENGLAND AND
T
SCO.
In answer to a question fromLAND Lord BROUGHAM,
The Earl of ABERDEEN said it was the intention of
her Majesty's Government to institute a commission to
inquire into the Law of Partnership ; and that the sub-
ject of the assimilation of the mercantile laws of Eng-
land and Scotland would form a fit subject for inquiry
for that commission.

PRIVATE BILLS.
On the motion of Lord REDESDALE it was re-
solved, that the house do receive petitions for private
bills on the first sitting day after Easter, provided that
such petitions shall be lodged at the Private Bill-office
on or before Monday the 21st of March.
MERCANTILE MARINE.
Lord COLCHESTER moved for " A return of the
number of persons who passed their examination for
masters and mates of merchant ships between the Ist of
January, 1852, and the Ist of January, 1853 ; also,
any correspondence between the Board of Trade and the
Committee of Council on Education, relative to the estab-
lishment of schools for merchant seamen and appren-
tices." He wished to take that opportunity of putting
some questions as to the consolidation and amendment
of the laws relating to the mercantile marine. After the
statement which had been made by the President of the
Board of Trade in another
place, as he learned by the
indirect means in which their lordships were able to ascer-
tain what passed elsewhere, it was not his intention at
all to enter on the question of the light duties, but sim-
ply to allude to the different laws regulating the rights
and duties of the officers and seamen in the British mer-
chant service. These questions had come under the
consideration of the late Board of Trade in the course of
the last summer, and amongst the grievances of which
the shipowners complained most loudly was the uncer:
tainty of the laws existing for this purpose. There were
no less than eight or ten different acts of Parliament
relating to the persons employed in the merchant service,
independently of the general laws bearing on the sub-
ject • and the importance of simplifying
and ascertaining
the law was prominently dwelt upon in a pamphlet lately
published by the well-known eminent shipowner, Mr.
Lindsay. He wished to know whether it was intended
to include in the act now to be passed such amendments
of the existing regulations as had been found necessary
in practice, and also to carry out to their full extent the
principles of the acts passed in 1850, which hitherto had
not been fully acted upon, in consequence of opposition
by persons engaged in the shipping trade. Those amend-
ments related to a great variety of subjects, of which the
first he might mention was that of registry. By the pre-
sent law every person wishing to enter the sea service,
whether in the royal navy or the merchant service, must
be provided with a register ; he was required to go to
the proper office and obtain a register ticket, describing
his person, place of birth, and other points fixed by the
schedule of the act. If this ticket were once lost, he
could not again be employed until he obtained a new
ticket. This he might do by going to the registrar, and
showing that the ticket had not been lost by any fault of
his, when he would obtain a new one without payment ;
but if he could not satisfy the registrar on this point he
was liable to a penalty. This was looked upon by the
seaman as a considerable hardship, and had induced
many of them to quit the service of their country in order
to obtain employment from foreigners. He believed the
registry ticket was regarded by many persons, whose
opinion on that subject was valuable, as a mere incum-
brance, because it did not produce the effect of detecting
a deserter and bringing him to punishment. The pre-
sent regulations, as their lordships knew, were fixed Trythe act of 1834, passed when the right hon. baronet
now at the head of the Admiralty was First Lord in
Earl Grey's administration, with the view of enabling
the Government to know the number of seamen through-
out the country who were available for the public
service, and to call them out when an exigency
arose. Another point to which he wished to direct
the attention of the noble earl related to the ex-
isting provision for the health and comfort of sea-
men on shipboard, which was generally admitted to
be very inadequate, and on this point he believed the
enactments of the act of 1850 had not been carried out.
There were other provisions relating to discipline which
also required revision. It had been the intention of his
right hon. friend the late President of the Board of
Trade (Mr. Henley) to pass an act explaining the powers
of masters of ships to punish for breaches of discipline,
and to place the law in an intelligible form, and also to
extend the powers of the marine boards appointed under
the act of 1850, for removing masters who were rend-
ered incompetent to command ships from insanity and
habits of drunkenness. Another clause in the act of
1850 related to men volunteering from merchant ships
for the navy, a matter which, if he was not mistaken,
had attracted the attention of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, and on this subject he thought it would be very
desirable that regulations should be passed respecting
the payment of wages, which would prevent temptations
to the seamen to leave their ships. Another point re-
spected the examination of masters and mates respect-
ing ability to take the command of ships. He believed
the number of those who had passed the regular exami-
nation last year, was about 6,000, the total number of
masters being 18,000. At first no means of educating
persons to be called to these duties existed, but by the
act of 1850 the Board of Trade was empowered to apply
surplus funds at its command, arising from certain spe-
cified sources, to any purpose for the benefit of seamen,
and in the course of 1852 it was determined to institute
a number of schools proportioned to the funds that might
be in hand. Liverpool and London had both sailors'
homes, and it was desired to establish schools in connec-
tion with them. The Committee of Council on Educa-
tion communicated with the Board of Trade, requesting
instruction as to the best mode of carrying out this ob-
ject, and communications were held on the subject with
London and Liverpool. He wished to have copies of
these communications produced, in order to show what
were the intentions of the late Government, and he
wished to know whether it was the intention of the pre-
sent Government to carry out the system of schools which
had been thus commenced. There was another point to
which he wished to direct attention ; he meant the re-
strictions requiring a British crew to consist of at least
three-fourths British seamen. It was difficult to overrate
the importance of these matters, for no one denied that
it was necessary for this country to have a sufficient
number of seamen to man the navy ; and if these were
not procurable from British merchant ships, where should
we be able to find them when the exigency arose ? It
was a provision of the existing act that no foreigners,
after having served a certain number of years, might be
considered British seamen. He could not help thinking
that, if it was intended to throw open the manning of
British ships to foreigners this might hereafter be a sub-
ject of the deepest regret, and he would express his ear-
nest hope that her Majesty's Government might be in-
duced to reconsider this point. With regard to the
comfort and welfare of the seamen, that was an object
on which he need not enlarge, as its urgent importance
was admitted by all the foremost shipowners of the pre-
sent day. It was well known that the ships of Mr.
Green, whose attention to the moral and physical wel-
fare of those in his employment was above all praise,
never wanted men ; and this was a proof that seamen
knew how to appreciate integrity and kindness on the
part of their employers. He should be glad were the
noble lord opposite to favour the house with some infor-
mation as to the points on which he had touched.
Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY trusted that he
would be able to give a satisfactory answer to the noble
lord on many of the points he had referred. With regard to
the grievance of the mercantile marine arising from
the many and multifarious acts relating to their interests,
the subject of the consolidation of those acts was under
the consideration of the Government, but while so many
bills were at present before the house of Parliament af-
fecting the mercantile marine, it would not be expedient
afterwards. With respect
to introduce any general measure of consolidation at this
of the
be e
donesession,
overa s
again
whatever Was done now might
to the system of registry tickets for seamen, he admitted
have all all to
e
that vexatious evils might have arisen in the carrying of
that system into execution ; but it was well known that
the registry was established as much for Admiralty pur-
poses as for the mercantile marine. The subject, how-
ever, was before the attention of the First Lord of the
Admiralty, by whom the whole matter would be consi-
dered. With regard to the subject of the naval courts
abroad, it was very desirable that those tribunals should
possess some greater powers ; but this point involved
the calling upon the naval courts in foreign ports to assi-
milate their law to ours, and whatever was done to in-
crease the power of those courts must be done with due
care and deliberation. He believed the plan that had
already been proposed in the other house of Parliament
would not differ materially from the scheme of the noble
lord opposite for the consolidation of these acts. The
present Government proposed that the sailors on board
of merchant ships should not be deprived of the right of
volunteering to enter her Majesty's ships in foreign
ports, but it was not intended that the captain of the
merchant ship should be required in all cases, as had
hitherto been the practice, to pay all his wages to the
seamen so volunteering, and transfer all his property to
her Majesty's ship. The men's wages would not in
future have to be paid till the ship returned home, and
compensation would be allowed, upon certain conditions,
to the captain of the merchant vessel who had sustained
injury by being deprived of the services of part of
his crew. These, he thought, were all the points
which the noble l•rd said he meant to touch upon
in relation to the consolidation of the acts relating to
the mercantile marine. The noble lord would see that
they were not very numerous in themselves, and if they
were all, he (Lord Stanley) would grant that it might
be possible to introduce
a bill for the consolidation of
these acts. But when the noble lord considered that,
besides the points to whichie had alluded, there were
also the questions of pilotage, light-houses, salvage, de-
sertion and many others, which were now the subject
of legislation, he would see that it would be advisable
to postpone for the present the introduction of a mea-
sure of consolidation. The noble lord had called atten-
tion to the system of examination for masters and mates
of the mercantile
marine. That system was working
exceedingly well, and he trusted that the effect of it