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

manning the ship by foreigners ; but he did not thick the
verdiot, was quite conclusive en the subject, because the
jury were simply silent upon the point. ti (Mr. Liddell)
was not a naval man, but still he did think, nuder all
the circumstances, there v e 17) points disclosed in the evi-
dence which required explanation. The right honour-
. able gentleman (Mr. Cardwell) had that night intro-
duced two hills ; and with regard to that which re-
pealed " the last rag of protection"—(ironical laughter
from the Ministerial benches)—such was the uncertainty
of the law as it at present stood as to what was constituted
" a British ship," that lucid though the right honourable
gentleman's statements were, he (Mr. Liddell) wished he
would on some future occasion define to the house what
did constitute " a British ship" in the eye of the law ;
because at present it appeared that a ship, if it only be-
longed to a British shipowner, though navigated by a
foreign commander and foreign seamen, might claira and
possess all the, advantages attaching to the British .flag.
In the present posture of affairs he earnestly hoped that
the repeal of this "last rag of protection" might not in-
volve us in consequences more serious perhaps than many
might anticipate ; that the spirit and courage of the
British seamen might not be affected by the universal
competition to which he was subjected ; and that in the
hour of trial, should it come, we might not look in vain
for that prowess which had made England heretofore the
mistress of the seas. (Hear, hear.)
Sir G. PECHELL complained that the house and the
country remained as much in the dark as to the real
he
causetat
of the loss of the Taylenr as if no inquest had been 11
all. The captain of this fine ship, of 1,974 tons, with his
double-class certificate, declared himself perfectly satisfied
with her, anti yet it appeared he could not turn her round
in the sea in leas than an hour, and in a less space than
five miles. It also came out on the captain's cross-exami-
tion, that it took twenty men an hour to furl the mizen
topsail. He also stated that he formerly commanded the
Australia, a very large vessel, which took forty minutes
cud a space of three miles to turn in.
h Those. circumstances
he (Sir G. Pechell) confessed astonished ; and if any
honourable member could elucidate, wawa hoinnow en-
he would be g a great
veloped in so much mystery,
service to the country:
Mr. HENLEY reminded the house that when the repeal
of the navigation laws was first propounded he expressed
his astonishment that the coasting trade was excepted—
(bear)—and having stated that as his opinion at that time,
of course now he could not object to the introduction of
a bill for doing away with such an exception. The rea-
sons, too, for ita abolition had been of late very much
stre'ngthened by the enormous demand which had sprung
up for shipping to carry on thl intercourse between the
gold regions and every quarter 4. f the world ; and so long
as the gold discoveries continued there could be no doabt
that there would be, in connection with them, a very ex-
traordinary absorption both of shipping and seamen. He
was surprised, however, that there had not been a greater
accession to the number of apprentices; because when la-
bour became dear masters looked out for apprentices, both
on the ground of economy, and because they knew they
could command their services. With respect to life-boats,
he did not know whether the Government intended to sup-
ply them, or only to regulate the use of those which were
now supplied by private benevolence and subscription. If
the latter, he hoped that no discouragement would be given
to those voluntary efforts, which, though not now so per-
fect as could be wished, were still exceedingly valuable in
emergencies. (Hear, hear.) He was happy to find that,
under the proposed plan, boys would have the opportunity
afforded them of receiving a good nautical education, if
they choose to avail themselves of it. The question of
passing tolls was one which he considered deserved the
serious attention of the Government. (Hear, hear.) Tolls
were now paid in many ports the revenue derived from
which was not applied in any way towards the benefit of
the shipping interest. When the question of dues of all
kinds were looked into, he hoped the passing tolls would
not be lost sight of, for it was absurd, when the country
had decided upon making changes in its commercial policy,
tnat certain corporations should still be allowed to levy
tolls granted to them when another policy existed. He
was glad to hear that it was the intention of the Govern-
ment to abolish the system of register tickets, for a greater
curse and nuisance to merchant seamen was never devised
than that of these tickets. With respect to the proposal
to consolidate the laws affecting the mercantile marine
there could be no doubt that the completion of such a
measure would confer a great benefit upon the shipping in-
terest, and he should be happy to afford every assistance
in his power in making such consolidation as complete
and as perfect as possible. He was glad to hear that a re-
duction of the light dues was also contemplated; but it
was due to the Trinity-house to state that the corporation
always acknowledged that the revenue was increasing, and
that the beoyancy which existed in them, notwithstanding
previous reductions, had led to the expression of their
opinion that other reductions would be made from time to
time. (Hear, hear.)
-

Mr. I,A.BOUCEERE observed with great satisfaction

the reception which the house had given to the proposals
of the Government, the total absence of anything like

party spirit, and the' general desire which had been ex-
pressed to co-operate in giving effect to important mea-

;tires &fleeting the interests of our mercantile marine. In
the bill for the repeal of the navigation laws, which he (Mr.
Labouchere) had proposed, the coasting trade was included;
for, indeed, he could see no reason why, if they threw open
their general tradJ, they should not act in the same man-
ner with the coasting trade. He could understand that
persons might feel apprehensive as to the competition of
foreign ships in the foreign or colonial trade, but whatever
laws might be passed, there could not be a doubt but
that the coasting trade of the country would always, in
the main, rest in the hands of the British shipowners.
He believed that any attempt to pass a bill consolidating,
while it at the same time proposed to amend, the law af-
fecting the commercial marine, would'be attended with
considerable difficulty, and he would suggest whether it
would not be more advisable to pass, in the first instance,
a bill proposing to effect such amendments as were thought
desirable, and at a later period of the session to pass a
simple consolidating bill. That was the course which had
been usually adopted in similar cases, and he thought it
might be adhered to with advantage. He thought that
the proposal to encourage the formation of nautical schools,
although an exceedingly important one, was, at the same
time, one which required to be cautiously dealt with, for,
since the passing of acts which required qualification on
the part of captains and seamen, a great =any private
schools had sprung up in different parts of the country,
which afforded the necessary amount of instruction. It
was desirable that in any step taken by the Government
nothing should be done calculated to counteract the bene-
ficial influence of these schools. (Hear, hear.) During the
last session he had ventured to express some doubt with
respect to the propriety of totally removing all restrictions
on the manning of the ships. He was not actuated in this
opinion by any feu F that it would have the effect of lower-
ing the wages of seamen, but because he thought that in
the event of war it would-be found that vessels essentially
foreign would, upon the mere colour of British ownership,
be claiming the protection of the British flag, and involv-
ing the country in disputes, which might be excessively.
inconvenient. (Hear, hear.) His fears, however, were par-
tially removed by the opinion of Dr. Lushington, that he was
not apprehensive of any difficulty arising from that source.
But it appeared that, under the apprehensions which
existed at this moment ofa war with Russia, certain Russian
ships at Liverpool had been transferred to English ship-
owners, and that the English purchasers of these ships had
been so accommodating as to take also the captain and
crew as part of the bargain. (A laugh.) These ships,
therefore, which a day or two since were Russian ships,
were now, to all intents and purposes, English ships. It
would be satisfactory to know, whether in the event of
war such a course would produce any difficulties. (Hear,
hear.) All the measures proposed appeared to be in the
right direction, and he believed that the house could
scarcely employ itself in a more useful or more honourable
manner than by doing all that lay in its power to promote
and encourage that great branch of the service of the
country, upon the prosperity of which its power and
greatness mainly depended. (Hear, hear.)

Admiral WALCOTT concurred in the opinion expressed
as to the impropriety of confiding British carriage, capital,
and honour to the keeping of the crews of vessels entirely
foreign. He doubted, inded, whether it would be possible
to secure subordination among such motly and heterogeneous
crews as those of which many vessels were now composed.
With reference to the loss of the John Tayleur he would
call the attention of the right honourable the President of
the Board of Trade to the consideration, whether, it would
not be desirable that the Government should take care
that no ship should go to sea without having it made
clearly manifest to some competent officer that there was a
sufficient number of able seamen on board properly to na-
vigate the ship. If there was one point more than an-
other which gave him pain in connection with the loss of
the Tayleur, it was that, with scarcely an exception,
the whole of the women and children on board had
perished. It was always considered the first point of the
profession to which he belonged, that officers and seamen
should always disregard their own lives, when they could
give succour to a woman. [Hear, hear.)
Capt. SCOBELL considered that the throwing open of the
coasting trade was but the natural consequence of repeal-
ing the navigation laws. He suggested that, as captains
and masters of vessels were compelled to undergo an exa-
mination, it would be desirable that steps should also be
taken for ascertaining whether the crews of vessels were
fit to go to sea, for he had no doubt but that it would turn
out that an insufficient crew was the main cause of the
loss of the John Tayleur. A larger proportion than one-
third of landsmen would be found in working the ship to
be positively in the way, and a greater hindrance than as-
sistance. He regretted that the laws as affecting appren-
tices in the navy had been repealed. for they might as well
expect to reap without sowing, as expect to obtain a suffi-
cient and constant supply of men, especially in time of
war, except the apprenticeship system were encouraged,
andevery vessel was bound to have a certain number on
board. One of the results of the act already passed had
been es was stated, that Russian ships had been enabled
to registeerurer the British flag. These vessels might be
insulted by
Engzritocan, Spanish, or Portuguese ships, not
a single
would be conspellecian might be on board ; but England
offered to the honour to come forward to avenge th I insults
Goff heri flag, and which she had placed
entirely in the hands
Mr. PHILLIPI's eemeureidgners. (Hear.
ierstood to suggest that ves-
sels engaged in foreign enravoenoiLialt trade should be com-
pelled to leave Milford
of Liverpool, as by
so doing they would avoid manyser risks to which they
shields
st of Ireland.
were exposed in getting clear of thesh
Mr. INGHAM stated that at
and other ports
on the Tyne a system of voluntary examination f
men had been introduced by the fauna °- sea"
awarded certificates of competence to AcZnere, who
showed a due amount of proficiency. A voluntLyerscrnesap.a:
went had also been entered into by the shipowners:
we;tej,-7,--
spect to providing the most efficient life boats. The u„-Zi.
these life-boats had scarcely ever been unsuccessful, except
in one unexplained and melancholy instance, in which the
boat upset, and twenty-one out of twenty-three lives were
lost. A day or two after this sad occurrence, the life-boat
was required to put out again on its errand of mercy, and
the first man to volunteer and jump into the boat, was
one of the two seamen who had so narrowly escaped a day
or two previously. (Hear, hear.) During the late gales
there had been not less than 120 vessels lost between the
Tees and the Clyde, and although a large number of life-
boat stations were provided along the whole of the coast of
Northumberland, they were unable to afford that amount
of assistance which it would have been desirable to pro- ,
vide. He hoped that the attention of the Government
would be directed to the absolute necessity of providing
some harbour of refuge on the coast, into which vessels
overtaken by storm, might run with safety.
Mr. LAING desired to express his thanks to the Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade for the measures he intended
to introduce, and the strong sense he entertained of the
practical benefits which they were calculated to produce.
During the past year the whole bearings of this question
had been brought before him in a variety of ways, and he
was strongly impressed with the vast commercial inconve-
nience and injury which had been sustained from the ex-
travagant rates to which freights had risen in the coasting
trade. Great loss had been sustained by individuals en-
;aged in the trade from the entire impossibility which ex-
isted of getting vessels to transport materials from place to
Place. It was not, therefore, the question now whether the
Coasting trade should be carried on by British ships and