The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-23 00:00:00

THE BALLOT BILL.

Mr. CROSS wished to know whether it was the
intention of the Government to proceed with the second
reading of the Ballot Bill on Monday, as arranged, after
the promise made yesterday that it would be in the hands
of members this morning, the fact being that it had not
been so delivered.

Mr. K. HUGGESSEN, who was the only occupant of the
Treasury bench, regretted, as no notice had been given of
the question, that he could not answer it. The hon.
member had better repeat the question on another occa-

sion.

MERCHANT SHIPPING SURVEY BILL,
On the order of the day for the second reading of this
bill,

Mr. PLIMSOLL said he had to advocate the cause of a
class of men who had been neglected for a very long time,
and had suffered very much from that neglect. For years
they had been legislating for workmen on land, but they
had not taken similar measures in regard to workmen off""
the sea, notwithstanding that they numbered some
738,000 men, who with their wives and families consti-

tuted nearly one-fourteenth of our entire population.
All the Acts which had been passed for the purpose of
improving the state of the working class had carefully
excluded seamen, who had been treated as though they
were subjects of another country altogether. He
would point out one or two of the differences
existing between working men on land and the same class
afloat. When a manufacturer became bankrupt, the
mens' wages were as secure as was the landlord's rent ;
but within a month he knew of a case in _which a ship
coming home after an 18 months' voyage was lost ; the
owner became bankrupt, the mortgagee took possession of
everything, and the men lost the whole sum due to them,
which was about £5O each, In Manchester, Birmingham,
or Sheffield, if a man broke his contract with his master
the latter had a remedy against him by civil action,
but in the -case of seamen they were impLisoned. In
support of this he instanced the case of the men at
NoAh Shields, who were committed for three weeks for
refusing to go to sea in a ship which was unseaworthy.
These poor fellows were as a rule left entirely to the ten-
der mercy of borough magistrates, and the House was
pretty
,well aware what that meant—borough magistrates
being, as a rule, moneyed mediocrities, or respectable
incapables. (A laugh.) In many towns they were ship-
owners ; so that the chances of the men would be seen at
a glance. Nov, while they regulated the building of
houses, a shipbuilder could use what material he liked,
and while we limited the number of passengers in omni-
buses, we had no supervision over the loading of ships,
though the lives of the crew might depend on it. (Hear.)
He expressed his disapproval of the system of ship in-
surance, as it was now a matter of pecuniary indifference
to ownors whether vessels arrived at their destination in
safety or not, and in many instances it was an actual
benefit to them if the ship became wrecked. This
deplorable state of things had resulted from the negligence
of Parliament in legislating on this particular subject.
The return issued by the Board of Trade chewed that
during the past year no less than 2,589 vessels were either
wrecked or had met with casualties, and the report from
the same quarter for the preceding year stated that one-
half the casualties oconrred• to unseaworthy, overladen
vessels of the collier class chiefly employed in the coasting
trade. The Royal Lifeboat Institution had repeatedly
strongly called attention to the terribly rotten state of many
ships, the crews of which when any casualty happened
perished before there was any possibility of a lifeboat
coming to their rescue; and in every gale it became a
certainty that a number of lives would be lost. In 1864
844 lives were lost through wrecks on the coast ; in 1865,
935 ; in 1866, 1,100 ; and in 1867, 1,215 ; in fact, it was
overwhelming to contemplate the loss of life in
these, in many instances, avoidable wrecks. The statistics
he had given did not afford an adequate idea of the
actual mischief which resulted from the negligence of Par-
liament, inasmuch as they ought to include the vast
numbers saved through the instrumentality of the Life-
boat Institution and other voluntary agencies. A great
many vessels were wrecked purely from the rotten state of
the wood of which they were constructed, and in many
instances the crew had great difficulty in avoiding shovel-
ling up the bilge planks when they were shovelling up
the cargo. He contended most emphatically that
such vessels ought not to be allowed to go to sea without
first being repaired. Another appalling cause of disaster
to shipping was overloading, and he asserted that num-
berless vessels were laden with a positive design that the
loads should sink them. There could be no doubt but
that a vast number of ships were overloaded, and practi-
cally unfit to go to sea. It also frequently happened that
ships were over-insured. He knew of one case in which
an owner had given £3OO for a vessel and insured it for
£1,000; of another, at North Shields, in which the
owner, who did not expect to get more than £4OO for his
vessel, insured her for £BOO ; and in a third case an owner
who wanted £7,500 for a ship sent in a declaration to
Lloyd's that she was worth £13,000, and suc-
ceeded in effecting an insurance for £lO,OOO.
What other object could these owners have than that their
ships should go to the bottom ? The bill which he had
presented to the House provided for two things, viz., the
compulsory survey of unclassed ships, and preventing
ships going to sea overloaded. That was the principle
which had been adopted and recommended by the Asso-
ciated Chambers of Commerce. But though the bill was
limited to these two provisions, there were other causes of
disaster which he should ask the House to consider at a
later period of the session. The faulty construction of
vessels was one of the matter which would have to be
dealt with. A case had recently occurred at Sunder'
land in which forty feet had been added to the length
of a vesseL Now, whenever this was done great care
should be taken in adding to the breadth. In this case 9
shipwright had recommended that certain precautioas
should be taken, but the owner had refused to comply with
the recommendations of the shipwright on the ground of the
expense. Another subject that required investigation 011
that of bad stowage and ships going to sea undermannect
Within the present month he knew that a screw steamer
of 1,500 tons burden had left Liverpool with only eight
deck hands on board. The subject of defective engine;
power and the defective arrangements of boatmen a.
vessels in distress would also require to be investigate
Not only had the Associated Chamber of Commerce aP.
proved of his bill, but Chambers of Commerce in alM°st
every seaport had expressed their approval of the rneelr,e,
and he had received a letter from Mr. W. N. Ronda;
the Secretary of the Liverpool Board of underwrite 1);
fully endorsing the principle of the bill. It might to
urged that it was rather a matter for the underwrite r° lit
deal with, instead of ithe Government, but he thou 00
that this was a mistake. There was no difficulty in 6x be
a load line for each vessel, and this should certainly git
done. In the case of a person who insured his 1100-asty
happened that the insurer was weaker than the,ePease
giving the guarantee, but just the reverse was t'fixe to
of the shipowner. The person who willfully set
his premises in order to obtain the insurance Inc'e'ol'oer
posed himself more or less to detection, but the 811iPin the
need do nothing except keep on insuring,
allabottom.
course of time his vessel would go to the s which
The hon. member having detailed the various ciseisieded that
ccint
ships passed through as they became older, e
etei sutU°l4‘
they should be subjected to survey by comp them with
ties before owners should be allowed to load,,vouourable
precious lives, anal send them to sea. would
members asked if the remedy Propose that It
meet the case, and he should she's' were net
would. All shipowners, he was glad to LaY;vas
glad to
guilty of the practices he had alluded to. diniritY, the
say those who so acted were a very silt° due regard for
large majority being owners who had a
their ships
human life, and who did their best to du
their
ipernhe.r
afloat. Amongst the majority was thenwlo, with
for South Durham (Mr. Pease)'„ining from the
for South Durham (Mr. from
tet
his friends had a large number of vesselsvrere
on the wate.
Tyne to the Thames. These vessels
three-quarters rsei
single
-gqlue a rl
itfeer s theirhoafd
been
ltime,ost, andnenr othilwadietarhas.t)saillzildgiihielgeeft:llscisitianweat:/:,
occurred in connection with them. (
rly manned'
overloaded,
applied the
nerveeir)ajorsverlowaedreed,
looks
wand ere
eir
It was therefore fair to argue that If they
dPr°Pcleosely
sole