The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-08 00:00:00

PILOTAGE.

The house having gone into committee,
Mr. CARDWELL said—ln rising to move for leave to
bring in a bill to amend the law relating to pilotage, I
must, with the permission of the committee, state what
are tho views of the Government with respect to the mer-
cantile marine. In doing so it will be necessary for me to
trespass to some extent on your time, for tho subject is
one on which the complaints and demands of the shipping
interest have been divided into numerous parts ; but I
shall occupy as short a time as possible, and to trespass
on no portion of your time by any needless observations or
superfluous remarks. With regard to the present state
and prosperity of the shipping interest, it cannot be neces-
sary to occupy your.time at all. It is well, known to the
committee that if you test the present condition of the
dipping interest by any a the tests which this house Can

apply to it—if you look to the aggregate amount of Bri-
tish tonnage entered inwards and cleared outwards; or the
amount of tonnage that is owned in the ports of the Bri-
tish empire, or the number of men that is employed in the'
mercantile marine, or the activity that prevails in all the
great ports where the building of ships is carried on—if
you measure the question by any one of those tests, they
present to yen but ono uniform result—a result of unex-
ampled prosperity. (Hear, hear.) Sir, it is no part of
my province—and certainly I shall not trespass into that
ground—to account for this prosperity. Perhaps the time
has come when I might enter into those topics without any
fear of reawakening ancient controversies ; but, irrespec-
tive of those controversies altogether, there are peculiar
reasons which present themselves, and enter largely into
the case;. but whatever they may be, I shall not run any
risk of awakening controversies on an occasion on which I
ammerely asking for permission to introduce a bill, and
may anticipate that I will receive the concurrence of the
committee. - (Hear, hear.) The committee are well ac-
quainted that, from the time of the peace to the time of
Mr. Huskisson, instead of there being an increase in the
number of ships owned by the subjects of this country,
there was a positive diminution, and also a diminution
iu the number of men employed. In 1815, the tonnage
amounted to 2,681,000; in 1825 it had fallen to 2,533,000,
and the men had fallen in the same proportion. From the
time of Mr. Huskisson down to the present, there is
scarcely an instance that does not continuously show the
reverse ; and if wo compare the year that has just expired
with the year 1849 we will find that, while the total
amount of British tonnage inwards and outwards
amounted in 1819 to 8,152,000 tons, it amounted in 1852
to no less than 8,727,000 tons. (Hear.) And if you take
the number of ships built in 1849 you will find them
amount to 121,000 tons, while in 1852 they had risen to
167,000 tons. (Hear, hoar.) But is it only in material
prosperity that the shipping interest has been elevated?
Hear, hear.) The community is indebted to the right
honourable gentleman the member for Taunton for a mea-
sure of great importance, and which has tended to elevate
the character of the mercantile marine. Ido not mean to
say that the details of the measure may not .be susceptible
of improvement ; that might naturally be expected when
he had to deal, for the first time, with a question that in-
volved such complicated arrangements ; but I think if you
look to the broad result, the house and the country have
reason to be grateful to my right honourable friend for the
policy which he has mainly inaugurated. (Hear, hear.)
Let me ask you to look to the result of that important
question—the examination of British piasters and mates.
(Hear, hear.) It was painful to see, during the discussion
on the navigation laws, the reflections that were made on
that hard working body of our fellow-countrymen; but it
appears that the total number of masters and mates that
have obtained certificates of competence in two years,
amounts to s,o69—(hear, hear)—and let me call your par-
ticular attention to this, that whereas my right honourable
friend had provided in respect to those that had already
served, that they should not be obliged to pass an exami-
nation td obtain a certificate of competency, their certifi-
cate of service entitling them to the same privileges as
those who had passed an examination, yet so great is the
value set in the mercantile marine on the circumstance of
having passed the examination, that out of this total num-
ber of 5,059 who obtained certificates of competency, no
less than 1,879 had already obtained certificates of service,
and need not be subjected to examination. (Hear, hear.)
There were to be found in the naval service, mon who were
thus coming in voluntarily to pass an examination and to
obtain certificates of competency, and this is a proof of the
moral progress that is being made by our mercantile marine.
(Hear.) The right hon. gentleman, as it appears to me,
most judiciously put an end to that baneful system which
went by the name of the Merchant Seamen Fund, from
which in return for a compulsory tax they had a precarious
provision for declining years, and also an insolvent fund ;
and I am happy to say that by the new arrangement that
which was a complicated process works most agreeably
under the officers appointed to manage it. (Hear, hear.)
There is now in progress a system for providing for the
comforts of sailors in their declining years, and for ad

ministering to their material as well their moral ne-
cessities. There has grown up a system called a system for
the establishment of sailors' homes, having comfortable
accommodation, a registration, savings banks, and all other
appliances calculated to secure the comfort of the seaman
and to elevate his character. (Hear, hear.) With the
permission of the house I shall read a short extract from
the report of the Sailors' Home, with which I happen
myself to be more particularly acquainted, having known
it from the time it was founded, in the year 1846, by
Prince Albert, up to the present time. (Hear, hear.)
I think the committee will listen with interest
to a passage . from the report that describes its
material progress. The following extract is taken from
the report in reference to the Liverpool Sailors' Home :
" All sea&en visiting this port have now not only the
'great advantages, hitherto presented to them under the
temporary arrangements of theinstitution for the last seven
years, of recording a good character, of depositing their
money in safety, and of having it transmitted to any
.

quarter they uciaY desire ; but' they have now the oppor-
tunity afforded them of enjoying in this spacious and
splendid establishment a degree of substantial comfort
and security to which they have hitherto been strangers."
Now, sir, I mention these things bacause in introducing
this subject to the house it is right you should know what,
is the present state, both material and moral, of the dif-
ferent branches of the service to which my measure refers.
I have endeavoured to compress this within the shortest
space that would allow me to give an 'accurate view of the
subject to which I call attention. And now permit me to
tell you what are the subjects which the Government have
had under their consideration with regard to themercantile
marine. (Hear, hear.) First, they haVe had under their
consideration the question of lights ; secondly, the. question
of passing tolls ; thirdly, the restrictions that' exist with
respect to the manning of the mercantile marine • fourthly,
the question of volunteering into the navy ; fifthly, sal-
vage ; sixthly, desertion ; seventhly, the fees to consuls ;
and eighthly, the question of pilotage. (Hear, hear.) On
every one of these it will be my duty to trouble the com-
mittee, but I shall do it as shortly as possible ; and first of
all I ill enter upon that important subject of the lights.
The complaint made by the mercantile marine is this, they
say that under the system as it now exists in this country
dues are compulsorily levied on the mercantile marine and
disposed of by the independent action of a self-elected body,
without being subject to the control of Parliament. That

is a grievance of-which the mercantile marine complains.
To the principle involved in that demand the Government

strictly and without reserve subscribe, and I hope I shall
satisfy you before I conclude that the object which the
mercantile marine has in view will be efficiently and com-
pletely met. (Hear, hear.) Now let us bear in mind what
is the history of this question. By the original law the
erection of beacons and lights at sea was part of the royal
prerogative, but so long ago as the Bth of Elizabeth the
Trinity House was entitled to exercise that power. (Hear.)
The mode in which they proceeded was this—when the
mercantile marine desired to erect lights they memoralisecl
the board of the Trinity House : they required them to
advance their capital in erecting the light, and they agreed
to contribute a certain toll as a remuneration for that out-
lay ; and the usual provision was, that the surplus revenue
should be employed for the purpose for which in part the
Trinity House was incorporated, namely, for the relief of
distressed persons engaged in the mercantile marine service.
(Hear, hear.)— The practice has continued from that day to
the present time. With regard to the lights in Scotland
and Ireland, they are placed by statutory provision under
two bodies known as the Commissioners of Northern Lights
and the Ballast Board of Dublin. (Hear, hear.) Now
the question is, how have the powers possessed by them
being exercised—have the lights of this country been effi-
cient, and have the powers been exercised for the purposes
for which they were given ? In the year 1845 a committee
was presided over by my hon. friend the member for Mon-

trose, whose service; on this subject have been eminent,
and that committees had the satisfaction of reporting ac-
cording to the evidence laid before them, that generally
the lights on the coasts of England, under the ma-
nagement of the Trinity House—on the coasts of Scotland,
under the management of the Northern Commissioners in
Edinburgh—and the lights on the coasts of Irelind, under
the management of the Ballast Board in Dublin, were all
maintained in an efficient state. I beg to read the follow-
.

ing passage from their report :—" Your committee has
the satisfaction of reporting that, according to the evidence
before them, the public general lights on the coasts of
England, under the management of the Trinity House in
London ; those on the coasts of Scotland, under the ma-
nagement of the Northern Commissioners in Edinburgh ;
and the lights on the coast of Ireland, under the manage-
ment of the Ballast Board in Dublin, are all maintained
in an efficient state. Among the witnesses, Captain
Moore, who has been for 23 years in the trade between the
United States of America and England, states that he
considers the English lights, on the whole, better than
those of the United States. Captain Washington, R.N.,
of the surveying department on the coast, says that ' ge-
nerally speaking tho lights, light vessels, buoys, and bea-
cons are efficient ; the lights brilliant, and the lighthouses
clean, and in high order. Captain Denham, R.N., also a

marine surveyor, and long employed on thc; coasts, bears

the same testimony to tlie efficiency of the lights of the
United Kingdom. On the 19th of February, 1844, the
secretary to the Trinity House in London, in a letter to
the secretary of the Ballast Board of Dublin, expresses
the great satisfaction with which the Trinity House had
received the report of their visiting committee, and of the
efficient state of the lighting apparatus throughout Ire-
land.' And, on the 21st of February, 1844, the secretary
to the Trinity House, in a letter to the secretary of the
Commissioners of Northern Lights, states :—" I have it in
command to request you will express to the commissioners
the satisfaction of the elder brethren at being enabled to
communicate that the lamps and entire apparatus were
found to be in perfect and efficient order throughout the
lighthouses in that part of the United Kingdom. " Now,
sir, those were the opinions which the committee thought
it only due to those bodies to place emphatically on record.
(Hear, bear.) But, sir, it is some time since 1845, and the
committee will naturally ask, are you in possession of any
evidence with regard to the present state of the lights of
the'United Kingdom, and can you show from unimpeach-
able testimony the state they have been in down to a later
and whose example or authority
tee
lwhethir, er
allmai
tntsetri
st uo f-
material prosperity and maritime supremacy, if we seek
in maritime supremacy,
period. (Hear, hear) ? Now, sir, who are our great rivals
tdioonwsoaareppineala whensouna wean
d desiree
ffi ci en tt state
for a rival amongst other nations, the palm will be assigned
to our competitors in the United States ; and certainly,
in the committee of 1845, the comparison that ran through
the. minds of its members was, as my hon. friend the
member for Montrose will remember, a comparison chiefly
between Great Britain and the United States. (Hoar.)
In the year 1851, a board of inquiry was ordered by the
American Government to inquire into the condition of the
lighthouse establishments of the United States, and in the
year 1852 their report was laid before the Senate. The
committee will naturally be very anxious to hear what they
say about the lights in Great Britain, and I bog to call
attention to a remarkable passage in their report, which
finds fault with the system as it exists in the United States,
and quotes, for emulation by the United States, the example
of Groat Britain. (Hear.) The following is the passage
to which I beg to call the attention of the committee:—
"That the lights of the United States do not compare
testing
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itihrLeoerne
mathematicaldn otn, the
descriptions
combustibles
faVourably, either in efficiency or in economy, with those of
Groat Britain and France. In the Trinity House corpora-
tion
subject
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out of anarchy and. confusion, and perfection out of such