The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-15 00:00:00

COURSE OF EXC.

:ANGE.-THIS DAY.

Am5terdam............ 11 13%1 Gibraltar •• ••• • • •
Ditto, three months .. 12 Coil Leghorn 224
nterdaux ............ 12 Genoa .......... 35 el*.i
Antwerp .. •.••.•.•.• •• 25 60 Milan ••••••••• • •• •• • • ---
Brussels .............. 25 60 Venice........ • •
llamburgh 13 11 Naples 441,i
Altona .. • • .......... •• Palermo ....
Paris ••.••• • • •••••• • • 25 45 Messina •• • .•• 1334
Ditto, three months .. 25 823 Lisbon .... 53
Marseilles •.••••••• .• .• 25 82,0: Oporto ••••.• • • • • . ..... 53,4
Bourdeaux Rio Janeiro ..... • • ..
Frankfort -on Maine .... 120 N Buenos ..
Berlin .• •• •• •• •••• • • •• New York,6o days' sight --
Vienna.......... • • 10 41 Philadelphia
Trieste— •• .• .••• •• •... 10 46 FRIcEs 01 IMLLICN, Tel oz.
Petersburg ............ Foreign Gold in Bars £3 17 9
Madrid 497; I Portugal Gold Coin .. 0 0 0
Cadiz ......... • • ...... 501,,8 Mexican Dollars .... 0 0 0
Barcelona .• •• •• •• •• •• , New Dollacs ....•• 0 0
Seville.... .......... I Silver in bare ...... 0 5 IIA

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

Meeting This Day.

The usual weekly meeting of the tntrubers of this
board was held this morning at the Council-chamber,
Guildhall ; Mr. Thwaites in the chair.

The miuntes of the last meeting were read by the
clerk (Mr. Woolrych), and confirmed.

DEPUTATION TO THE DOAED.

The CHAIRMAN said that he had received an aPPliea"
tion during the week requesting the hoard to receive a
deputation. It being the first application of the kind,
he suggested that the board should decide on receiving
deputations in future immediately after the confirming
the minutes of the previous meeting.
This suggestion was agreed to, and it was decided
that the application of the deputation should be read,
and the deputation called in.
The CLERK then read the notice from the Vestry Clerk
of St. Saviour's, Southwark, asking the board to receive
a deputation from that parish and a section of the St.
Saviour's District Board of Works.
The deputation was then called in. The Vestry.

LEEDS, FEB. 14.
STOOK EXCHANGE.—Thinks, 15 1415—Craven Moors
18s. t;d., ')d.—Lancashire and Yorkelniro, 82.

yf:7 ::1:' kf:=,•;-* '--t,,,1.a,
--zgeli. ve ,4
MARKET NEWS.---(f his Da .-- 1-,.. ir .p...,,t . i_.,
...-
CORN EXCHANGE. ' *-34;:_i.:
11,4070ij' , 41,5'''.1.0,
Only a limited supply of English -vies, t anti fist -ir.," . . '.fl4l`l,
very poor condition, was on sale Into-day 'market. hus- ':- J
dry samples were in fair request, at full prices, but oth a
kinds moved off slowly at Monday's currency.
Over 18,000 qrs. of foreign wheat have come to hand
this week. Importers, however, were very firm, and the
value of all kinds was well supported.
We had a very slow inquiry for barley and malt, at the
late decline in value.
There was a moderate demand for oats, the arrivals of
which were small, at Into rates.
525 --sia,
Beans and peas were dull, but not cheaper. Flour was
inactive, on former terms. Upwards of 11,000 barrels have
arrived from the United States.
ARRIVALS TSUI WAR&
Wheat. Barley. Malt. , Oats. 1 ronr.
4ngllals .. 1.730 2,010 2.060 I 12) i 720
Irish .• .• _ _
I
0 ni
eke
Foreign •i
1 18,110 i __ i 2:940
METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET.

Although the supply of beasts in to-day's market was
very limited, and chiefly the refuse of Monday, the beef
trade was heavy, at barely stationary prices. We were
scantily supplied with sheep, in which very little business
was transacted, at Monday's currency. Calves, the sup.
Dly of which was short, moved off slowly, at the late de-
cline in value. We had a very dull sale fur pigs, at oar
quotations. The general quality of the stock was iu forier.
Mitch cows were heavy, at from 131; 104. to 181. 10d.
each, including their small calf.
Per 81bs to sink the olfals.
5. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.
Inferior 80a5t5....2 10 to 3 o,PrimeSouthdown 4 4 4 ti
Second quality 4 2 3 o,Large erse. calves 4 4 5
Prime largo oxen 3 8 4 2 Prime small 5 2 5 8
Prime Scots, dtc. 4 4 4 0,13,,arge hogs
Inferior Sheep ...2 10 3 2. mall porkers 4 4 4le
Second quality ...3 4 3 SlSuckling calves-22 029 0
Prime crse.-wlled.3 10 A 2,Quarter old pigs.2o 0 28 0
TOTAL SUPPLY.

FOREIGN sePPLT•
Beasts ..•• •• ........ 950 8ea5t5......•..... •• •••• • 120
Sheep. •••• ..•• •• •••• ••.. 3,300 Sheep ,••••••••••
Calves • • ..•• .• •• .. 120 Calves.••• •.•• e• ........•• 41
Pigs •••••••••• •••••••••• 295 Pigs.- •••••••••••• ..••••
NEWGATE AND LEADENHALL.

The supplies of meat were good, and the trade rue
heavy, as follows :

Per Blbs by the carcase.
s. d. s. d. s. d. v. d.
Beef, inferior 2 6 210 lliftitt,n, Inferior 2 6 210
Do., middling 3 U 3 4 Do., middling ..... 3 0 3 4
Do. prime large 3 6 3 8 1 Do., prime 3 6 4 2
De , do. small —.3 10 4 0 Veal . 3 10 5 0
Pork, large 3 2 3 10 1 Pork, small 4 0 4 10

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY).

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

THE BARONY OF FERMOY.

The Earl of DERBY called attention to a question
involvinc, the privileges of that house. The noble earl
opposite (Earl Granville) a few nights ago informed him
that a petition was in preparation on behalf of the
'Baron of Fermoy, and that it was probable it would be
presented to the house within a day or two afterwards.
Under that impression he postponed his motion he bad
given notice of, to refer the case to a committee of
privilege, deeming it better to raise the question
on that occasion. He, however, had received a note
from the noble earl, to say that he had received the
pe-
tition and had transmitted it to the Lord Chancellor,
and that noble lord bad referred it to the Committee of
Privileges without laying it on the table of the house.
He complained of this being most inconvenient. For
centuries there had never been any difference between the
hoose and Crown until last year, when her Majesty's Mi-
nisters had contrived ungraciously to involve the Crown
in difficulties as regarded the privileges of the house in
the creation of two separate peerages, each of whose
patents was considered by a large portion of that house,
including some of the most eminent law authorities, as
invalid. He contended that it was only in the case of a
_ lineal descendant of one who had exercised the right
of voting for Irish representative peers that a petition
such as the present was referred to the committee of
privileges. By the act of Union it was provided in re-
gard to Irish peerages that her Majesty had the power
of creating a new peerage in Ireland upon the extinction
of three Irish peerages, and that such creation could not
. take place until the lapse of 12 months after the death of
the last peer. This right was possessed by the Sovereign
until the number of the Irish was reduced to 100. The
noble earl then proceeded to argue that there had not
lapsed three Irish peerages according to the terms of
the Act of Union, and that consequently the Govern-
ment were not authorised to advise her Majestyto create
a new peer at the time the Crown conferred the patent
upon the Baron Fermoy.
Earl GRANVILLE said that; the Government bad
acted under the advice of the law officers of
the Crown at the time they advised her Majesty to
confer the peerage upon Baron Fermoy, and they
were, of course, to prepare to take the responsibility
of this new creation. He would not then enter into
a discussion as to the legality of such craa-
tins], as the case had been referred to a Committee of
Privileges. He would merely remark that there was
something new in the law as laid down by the noble
lord. As to the Irish peerage, no member of that
body, unless a professed supporter of the policy of the
noble lord opposite, had a chance of being elected to a
seat in that house.
A conversation then took place, in which Lord
Brougham, Lord Campbell, and the Earl of Desart took
part, after which the subject dropped.
TRIAL OF OFFENCES BILL

The house then went into committee on this bill, the
whole of the clauses were agreed to, and the bill was
reported.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

Earl GRANVILLE laid upon the table a bill for the
promotion of education in England and Wales, and it
was read a first time.

UNSEAWORTHY VESSELS.

The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH presented several
petitions from seamen at Whitby, West Hartlepool,
Sunderland, and other ports, complaining that they
were obliged by law to gn to sea in unseaworthy vessels.
The noble earl stated that having carefully examined the
allegations of the petitioners, he had come to the con-
clusion not only that they really had a serious grievance,
lout that likewise the public interests were materially in-
jured by the existing state of the la :v. The petitioners
called attention to the fact that the casualties at sea and
the number of lives lost had of late years increased in a
greater proportion than the number of ships. At the time
the petitions were drawn up, that statement was true ;
but he was glad to say that a return just laid upon their
lordships' to►ble showed a gratifying decrease in the num-
ber of lives lost during the last year. Iu 1852 the number
of vessels wrecked in the British seas was 1,015 ; but
that must have been a year of more than ordinarily tern-
pestuoue weather. In 1853 the number was 8.32; in 1854,
987 ; and in 1855, 1,141. The number of lives lost was
in 1852. 920 ; in 1853, 689 ; in 1854, 1,549 ; and in
1355, 465. The diminution under this head was very
gratifying, and it was also satisfactory to find that
out of 1,388 persons whose lives bad been in peril, but
who had, nevertheless, been saved, no fewer than 650
had been rescued by the most modern appliances for the

preservation of life. (Hear.) During the last year no
fewer than 57 vessels had been destroyed, 173 most se-
riously injured; and 14 less seriously so, in all 247, lost
or damaged by collisions. Of course there were occa-
sions in which it was almost impossible to avoid acci-
dents of thi.i kind; but there could be no doubt that a
vast proportion of these casualties were doubtless trace.
able to incompetency intlte master, orto the vessel, from
faults of construction, not answering to her helm ; to
inadequacy in the crew, or to deficiency in the equip-
ment of the ship. The petitioners complained that in
consequence of the great competition that prevailed,
persons were appointed masters who produced certi-
ficates of competency, but who were not really compe-
tent. They also stated that a great number of foreigners
were now employed who were only imperfectly acquainted
with the English language, and who were consequently
liable to misunderstand what they were ordered to do.
It was, however, quite clear that by far the greater
number of casualties were occasioned by one or other of
the titree or four causes he bad just enumerated ; and it

was certainly very hard upon seamen that having once
esgiged to sail in a particular vessel they were unable to
quit it, however unseaworthy it might appear to them
to be ; nay, that if they merely wont ashore to make a
csmplaint, they were liable to be apprehended as de-
serters, and sent to prison for different periods up to 12
weeks. This was a very serious state of things. The
inspector of prisons for the county of Cornwall made the
following statement respecting the House of Correction
at Yarmouth, in his report for 1855 :
Nine prisoners tinder sentence of 12 weeks' imprison-
ment for having deserted their ships or refused to sail in
them after having signed articles of agreement, the ground
of their refusal having been the unseaworthiness of the
ships, or tho fact of their having oa board an insufficient
number of able seamen to work them with a due regard to
the safety of the ships and crews.
The inspector goes oa to say;—
The frequent occurrence of commitments under the Mer-
chant Seamen's Act in this and other seaport towns has
led me to bring the subject under the notice of the Secre-
tary of State in a special report, from a feeling that the
administration of the law affecting merchant seamen is
attended with an amount of hardship to that class of per-
sons not contemplated by the Legislature. A very large
number of merchant seamen are committed summarily to
the prisons of seaport towns for refusing to proceed to sea,
after having signed articles of agreement, the grounds of
their refusal being, as stated above, the alleged unseawor-
thiness of their ships, or the insufficient complement of
" able seamen" among their crew. The first of
these objections is in many cases notoriously well
founded, more especially at- the present time,
when the great and sudden increase of trade to the Aus•
tralian colonies and elsewhere has led to many ships
being taken up for service, to the requirements of which
they are quits unequal. " * Whether the circum-
stances hero alluded to may throw any light upon the nu-
merous mi,chancee that have occurred of late to merchant
ships 1 am not qualified to judge ; but I have the best rea-
son to know that the prisons of several seaport towns in
my district are continually supplied with seamen com-
mitted under the circumstances referred to ; the good
character of many of. whom, obtained both in the navy
and merchant service, lea•is to the strongest presumption
iu their favour. * * The above remarks apply to
all prisons with which I am acquainted in seaport towns ;
but in the cage of that which forms the subject of this
report a peculiar hardship is inflicted on the prisoners by
the closeness of confinement and the very defective ac-
commodation.

This state of things ought not to be permitted to con-
tinue. Ey an act passed about a year and a half ago a sea•
Orin was permitted to go ashore in order to make a com •
laint ; but it was idle to give a man a privilege like
that if he was liable to be seized and sentenced by a
bench of ship-owning magistrates to 12 weeks' imprison-
meet for attempting to avail himself of it. On the other
band, if deterred by the fear of being arrested if he went
ashore to make his complaint—he consented to go to sea
in an unseaworthy vessel, and if that vessel was wrecked
he would have no right to sue the master for any clothes
or other property that he might lose, There could be no
doubt that a very pregnant cause of accidents was the in •
adequate number of persons employed as crews. In most
merchant ships they could only get up or take in one sail
at a time, and tbey were consequently exposed to much
danger from snitlen changes of the weather. The course
which he (the noble lord) wished to see adopted, was that
the Board of Trade, which already had power to direct an
inquiry to be made after a casualty had occurred, should
appoint in every seaport an inspector, and that no ship
should be allowed to sail without having undergone anp
examination, both as to the seaworthiness of the vessel
And the adequacy of the crew. (Rear.) He would go even
further, and suggest that an investigation should take
place in the case of every serious casualty occurring to
merchant vessels, as was done with respect to vessels
belonging to the royal navy. If those two steps were
adopted, Le had no doubt that not only many lives, but
much valuable property would be saved to the country
every year.
Their lordships had probably no idea of the
extent of our annual losses from shipwreck. The ves-
sels lost last year amounted tan° leas than 176,000 tons,
d the lives jeopardised could not have been less than
an 7,000 or 3,000. He (the noble earl) was not at present
n, v step in relation to the petitions
prepared to propose _ a
b ebegged to present, but be might perhaps on some fa-
ure occasion move for a committee.
had
reference. STANLEY admitted the
earl's observations great importance d
of
the subject to which the noble
reference. The hardship complained of by the petition-
ers had already received the attention of her Majesty's
Government ; and in order that be might know how the
law really stood with reference to men going on sherd
to complain of the unseaworthiness of their ships,
D.
had had a case drawn up and submitted to Sir J. D
Harding, the Queen's advocate, and to another eminent
authority. The following were the questions put to the
learned gentleman, and their answers :-
1. Whether, when a seaman is engaged, there is or is
not an implied condition on the part of the shipowner that
the ship shall be seaworthy? We are of opinion that
there is an implied condition on the part of the shipowner
that the ship shall be seaworthy.
2. Whether, if the ship is not seaworthy, and the sea-
mreatedan
usedrefusd to go to sea in her on that ground, he can bo
deserter, er punished under the enactments
t
above referred to, or otherwise?—And that if the ship is
not seaworthy, and the seaman refugee to go to sea in her
on that ground, he cannot be treatod as a deserter, or

punished under the enaettnent referred to ; but the burden
of proof will lie on the seaman. He must establish the
unssaworthiness of the vessel. _ _

3. Whether, if seaman is apprehended on the ground
of desertion and alleges in his defence that the ship is un-
seaworthy, it is the duty of the court which hears the case
to examine into the questions, and to reccive such evidence
as it may be possible to procure of the truth of the allega-
tion ?—lf the seaman apprehended for desertion alleges the
unseaworthiness of the ship in his defence, it will be the
duty of the court which hears the case to examine into the
question, as it would so on any other disputed question of
fact that might arise before it ; and it must dispose of the
question on such evidence as may be laid before it, bearing
in mind, as we have before said, that the burden of proof
is on the seaman.

---
4. Whether, if the ship is not seaworthy, and the sea-
man refuses to go to sea in her on that ground, and the
master and owner refuse to deliver any clothes or effects
which the seaman has on board, the seaman can bring an
action to recover them, or to recover damages for their de-
tention ?—We think that the seaman is justified in refusing
togo to sea in the ship on the ground of her unseawor-
thiness, and may maintain an action to recover his effects
if detained.

Whether, if a seaman serves iq a ship which is sett to
sea in an unseaworthy state, and the ship is lost in conse-
qeence, and the seaman thereby suffers damage by loss of
his clothes, or by injury to his person or otherwise, he has
any remedy against the owner ?-0n the authority of the
Case "Priestly v. Fowles" (3 M. & W., p. 1), we are of
opinion that a seaman proceeding to sea in au unseaworthy
ship, and sustaining injury in consequence, could not
maintain an action, and. would be without a remedy
against the owner.
6. Whether, when a seaman is engaged, there is or is
not an implied condition on the part of the owner that the
ship shall be adequately manned (i. e., manned in such a
manner as would, under ordinary circumstances, be suffi-
cient for the safety and proper navigation of the ship on
the voyage on whick she is to be employed); and, ifj?,
whether or not the non-performance of this condition' is
attended by consequences similar to those which would
attend the non-performance of the implied condition that
the ship shall 'be seaworthy, assuming such last-mentioned
condition to exist? We are of opinion that there is an
implied condition on the part of the owner that the ship
shall be manned by a crew sufficient to navigate her with
reasonable safety, and that if she be not so manned the con-
sequences will be the same as though the ship was unsea-
worthy.

It wag clear, then, that the law already provided for the
safety of the seamen ; and it should be borne in mind
that crimps were always ou the watch to seize sailors
and hand them over to other ships. If there must be an
inspection at the instance of every drunken sailor who
wished to excuse his absence from his ship, or of every
man who wished to get rid pf his present engagement in
order to make a better one, it war obvious that it must
lead to much delay in the sailing of vessels, and the con-
sequent loss of trade. While constrained to admit the in-
crease in the yearly returns of the number of wrecks, he
did not think that it arose from any increase in the actual
number of casualties, but from the greater care which
was used in reporting cases to the Board of Trade. It
should be remembered, too, that the wreck of a single
emigrant vessel would swell the loss of life in a particu-
lar year without indicating any real increase in the
number of wrecks. A clause had been inserted in the
Merchant Shipping Act, giving the Admiralty courts
power to award salvage for lives as well as property
saved—an enactment which worked well, and had given
great satisfaction. He (the noble lord) would not object
to the appointment of a committee, though he did not
think one was necessary. The suggestion of the noble
earl, that no vessel should be allowed to sail until it bad
undergone an inspection, was well worthy of considera-
, tion.

Lord COLCHESTER observed that the law, as stated
by Sir John Harding, appeared perfectly satisfactory,
except in one particular, namely, that the burden of proof
was thrown upon the sailor complaining of the unsea-
worthint ss of his ship.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH said it had hap-
, pened in one case that the seaman of a vessel, the
Swan, which was in die-Tyne, came on shore, and com-
plained that she was unseaworthy. They were treated as
deserters, and sent to prison, bat it was proved after-
wards that their objecion was well founded, for the ves-
sel, after going to sea, returned after a few days, because
she wa3 not in a state to proceed on her voyage.
Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY said he trusted
that in future the magistrates would pay a more ready
attention to the complaints of the seamen.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUG a said, the noble lord
seowied to forget that he had read an extract from a
report of the Inspector of Prisons, who stated, with
regard to one prison, that a great proportion of the
prisemers were seamen who had been committed for de-
sertion, and be hold with the man.
Lard STANLEY did not know that the Inspector of
Prisons had vny particular means of knowing whether
the ship wag unseaworthy or not.
The subject then dropped, and their lordships ad-
journtAL

HOCSE OF COMMONS.—(YESTERDAY,)
The SP'RAKER took the chair at the usual hour.
PETITTONS.

Mr. L, .KING presented a petition from Surrey for
the consoli dition of the statute law.
Mr. BALL presented several petitions against opening
the Crystal _Palace on Sundays.
Mr. EVBI;YN presented a petition against opening
the British Museum. on Sundays.
Mr. A. PETaLATT presented similar petitions from
Southwark.
Mr. FIADFIrILD presented a petition against the
Police Bill.
Mr. SPOONER presented several petitions against
opening the Crystal: Palace on Sundays.
Mr. ALEX. HASTIE presented similar petitions
from Glasgow.

Mr. HORSFALL presented a petition against opening
the Crystal Palace, and also one praying fur a discon-
tinuance of the music in the park on Sundays.
Mr. COLLIER presented a petition from South
Devon, praying that l4he local dues upon shipping m;ght
be abolished.

Mr. BROWN presented a petition from Liverpool
against the epening; of the Crystal Palace on Sundays.
Sir D. L. EVANS gave notice that he intended to
postpone the motion standing iu hie name till that day
fortnight.
Mr. SPOONER, on the part of Mr. Muntz, postponed
the motion relative to the monetary laws till that day
fortnight.