The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-05-18 00:00:00

MERCHANT SEAMEN'S HOSPITAL FUND

A public meeting was held yesterday in the Sessions-
house, Chapel-street, for the purpose of taking into con-
sideration certain parliamentary measures in contemplation,
materially affecting the Liverpool Merchant Seamen's Hos-
pital Fund. The meeting was convened by the Mayor, in
compliance with a requisition from the shipmasters' asso-
ciation.

The MAYOR having taken the chair a .few minutes after
twelve o'clock, opened the proceedings by stating that he had
convened the meeting in accordance with the wishes of a
highly respectable deputation of gentlemen, who waited on
him to request that such a meeting might be called, in order
to concert measures for opposing a change contemplated in
the management of the Merchant Seamen's Hospital Fund,
which fund was at present, lie understood, managed in Li-
verpool by a committee of masters cf vessels and owners in-
terested in the command of those vessels ; and in such an
excellent manner, as that little or no expense at all was in-
curred, so far as that management was concerned. It was
apprehended, however, that it was in contemplation to have
the management changed, and to have it placed over all the
ports in the kingdom under the direction of a board in Lon-
don, which board would necessarily have paid officers, who,
from their non-residence, could only be imperfectly ac-
quainted with the wants of those who had a fair claim on the
fund. Ur.d..er the good management of the existing law, the
fund had been not merely well distributed, but a very large
sum had accumulated in the hands of its managers ; and
though it was not. as he believed, intended to take the sur-
plus amount out of Liverpool, but to change the management
to London, the matter was one very generally affecting the
widows and children of master mariners, that the manage-
ment should continueas it at present existed. (Hear, hear.)
Sir .T. WALMSLEY proposed the first resolution. He had
been instructed by the Shipmasters' Association to commence
the proceedings of the day ; but, in the first place, he hoped
he would be permitted to thank the .mayor, in their name,
for the promptitude with which he had called the meeting,
and to express his own assurance that there was no man in
the community who felt a deeper interest in the welfare of
the seamen of the town than did his worship. (Hear and
cheers.) The mayor would be gratified at knowing that re-
cently an establishment had originated in Liverpool, called
the Shipmasters' Association, an association, he (Sir Joshua)
was proud to say, which was rapidly progressing, and likely
to become all that its originators contemplated. It was cal-
culated to diffuse information among masters and seamen—

a class of men who had hitherto, he was sorry to say, been
too little cared for. (Hear, hear.) It would be necessary
to state, for the information of some present, though there
might be others in the meeting well acquainted with the fact,
that the Seamen's Hospital Fund was originated a long dis-
tance of time back. He found acts of parliament in refer-
ence to it in the reign of Queen Anne. The last act on the
subject had come into force on the Ist January, 1835, the
previous one was the 20th Geo. 11. The object of the two
latter acts was to empower the appointment of fifteen trus-
tees, to be elected by the merchants, masters. and owners of
vessels in the port from which the vessels hailed, and their
duty was to see that the funds were properly levied and dis-
tributed. Under the first act, the levy on the muster roll
was 6d per month on seamen and is per month on masters.
Under the second, which, as he had already said, came
into operation on the Ist day of January, 1835, the levy on
the muster roll was increased from 6d to is on seamen, and
from is to 2s on masters. The first provision of the latter
act was, that each seaman who had subscribed to the fund
for twenty-one years should be entitlectto a certain amount
of return on the amount subscribed ; the second was, that
the disabled seamen who had subscribed to the fund for five
years should be entitled to a benefit and the third was, that
the widows and children of seamen, killed, slain, or drowned,
should be entitled also to a bei*ifit, so that it seemed to con-
template all parties connected with the marine service. Ac-
cording to the act, it appeared that there existed a central
board in London, which managed thirty-eight outports, and
there were trustees also appointed in seventy-four other out-
ports, including Liverpool. Those trustees were appointed
on the 26th of December in each year, and were elected, as
he had previously informed the meeting, by the masters and
owners of vessels. Sir Joshua having here read the names
of the present trustees, which included those of Mr. Charles
Horsfall, Mr. Sandbach, &c., proceeded to say he was sure
he need only read the names in order to satisfy the meeting
that they might repose full confidence in their honour, zeal,
and ability. (Cheers.) The amount collected under the
act for the whole country appeared, according to the report
laid before the House of Commons, to be about £54,000 per
annum, and the money expended £42,000 per annum. The
muster roll in Liverpool amounted to £4,500 per annum,
besides which there had been an accumulated fund of £45,000,
a large proportion of which consisted of wages which had
lapsed during the African trade. Upwards of £17,000 of it
consisted of lapsed wages. The interest on the accumulated
fund amounted to £l,BOO, which, added to the muster roll of
£4,500, made a benefit of £6,300 per annum fur the seamen
of Liverpool. Last year the sum of £5,100 had been ex-
pended. The expenses of a clerk and office, &c., amounted
only to £3OO a year. The trustees received no benefit from
the fund ; they did their work gratuitously, and made no
charge whatever. The salary of a clerk and the rent of an
office had to be paid ; and when he (Sir Joshua) informed the
meeting that the whole of the expenses, including that clerk's
salary, the office rent, the expense of printing and other in-
cidental charges, did not exceed but were actually under
£3OO a-year, he thought they would be satisfied that the
funds had not been very wastefully expended. (Hear, and
cheers.) The distribution of the fund in Liverpool at the
present moment absolutely exceeded the amount of the
muster roll; in other words, the sums paid to the seamen
were greater than the amounts received from them, but the
excess they were able to meet by appropriating thereto a por-
tion of the interest out of the accumulated fund. In the
year 1836 the number of persons receiving benefit from the
fund in Liverpool was 940 ; at present 1100 ; so that the
meeting would see the numbers were rapidly increasing.
(Hear.) In the next place it would be necessary for him to
state the manner in which the fund was distributed. Ac-
cording to the old act, the relief was, for widows from Is. to
ss. per week, and for children ls. each—that was while the
seamen were paying 6d. and the masters ls. under the new
act, after five years had elapsed from the Ist of January,
1835, the trustees were empowered to increase the rates of
distribution to their present amount, namely, masters'
widows 2s. 6d., and children 2s. ; seamen's widows is 6d.,
and children Is. each ; and worn-out masters ss. each.
It might be proper to state that at present some of
the masters' widows were receiving 15s. and 16s. per
week in Liverpool, being a much larger sum than was
received by them in any other port, and that some of the
seamen's widows with their children were also receiving from
9s. to 10s. per week. According to the parliamentary re-
port it appeared that the distribution in Liverpool was
larger than in any other port in the kingdom. In two other
ports it is stated the amount did not exceed 10s. per week ;
in ten other ports that it did not exceed £2 per annum to
the widows and orphans ; in ten others £3 ; in four others
£4 ; in five others £5 ; in two £6 ; in three others £8; in
Bristol it did not exceed £10; in Hull £l2 10s.; and in
Liverpool £l3 per annum. (Cheers.) It further stated
that 139,230 seamen and 1300 masters received relief in
Liverpool. As regarded the expense of the management of the
various funds, he would just state that the amount distributed
in pensions in London, for London and 38 outports inclusive,
amounted to £12,000 per annum, and that the expense of
the management of those outports was upwards of £l6OO.
per annum. In the other outports the whole amount of ma-
nagement was £3673..per annum, and the amount paid in
pensions was £33,200. In Liverpool,"the amount expended
was £5,150. per annum, and the expense for the entire ma-
nagement was £3OO. The meeting had now before them the
whole of the expenses of the various outports, London and
Liverpool inclusive, with the various pensions distributed in
proportion to the sums given out, and from the statement it
appeared that the expenses of all the outports taken together
were somewhat under 10 per cent., that those of London
exceeded 11 cent., and that the management of the Liver-
pool funds atlome amounted only to 5 per cent. (Cheers.)
He (Sir Joshua) might well say that he rejoiced to see an
association such as the Shipmasters' Association raised in
the town, because he was satisfied that it would, from the
consonant parts of that association, take care, not merely of
its own interests, but of the interests of those for whom it
ought especially to care—the seamen. (Hear, hear.) The
association \iewed with much alarm the attempt about to be
made to remove the management of the funds to a central
board in London, and, from what he had stated, the meeting
would at once perceive that there was not, as regarded ma-
nagement, the slightest reason for so doing. The parties
favourable to the removal had given as one reason for taking
the management out of local hands, that the amount made
available for the purposes of the institution was less than it
ought to be, and that it was improperly distributed ; and, in
proof that the amount was not made available, the report
stated that apprentices had not been included. To his (Sir
Joshua's) mind, it was questionable whether apprentices,
considering the wages they received, should be called on to
subscribe to the fund, but it was for the meeting to con-
sider whether that opinion was right or otherwise. The
next reason stated, had been, that the crews of pleasure yachts
did not contribute ; but both those cases, if wrong, might,
be thought, well be rectified by an act of parliament, without
removing the management of the funds from Liverpool.
(Hear, hear.) He had now laid before the meeting the plain,
straightforward view of the case ; and the proof that the
Liverpool trustees were able themselves to manage the funds
was, that they were giving to the pensioner a much larger
sam than was given by any other port in the kingdom. Be-
sides, from the respectability of the names of the trustees,
the meeting would have the fullest confidence in their inte-
grity, and perceive at once that there was no necessity to
transfer their local flied to London. (Hear, hear.) If he
(Sir Joshua) understood the spirit of the municipal reform
act, it was intended to enable any large place to manage and
regulate as much as possible its own affairs. The system of
centralisation, as now recommended, he must therefore
utterly condemn, because he had yet to learn that the prac-
tice and intelligence of London merchants were in any ona
respect superior to the practice and intelligence of those of
Liverpool. (Hear, hear.) He thought he made out a good
case. He had at least given the meeting a plain, unvarnished
tale, taken from the report of the House of Commons, and
it was for the public to judge what steps they ought to take
for the maintenance and preservation of their own funds.
He had endeavoured to show that the change would be an
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chants and shipowners of Liverpool were fully capable of
managing their own affairs, he had great pleasure in moving
the first resolution.—[For the six resolutions unanimously
adopted on the occasion, we refer to our advertising
columns.]
Mr. Rowzrr seconded the first resolution. It had been,