The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-02-18
SEANEN'S ACE AND
RULES OF FOREIGN
NATIOBc COMPARED
. - It.T
Department Of Commerce Press
Service Deals With Much
:, Discussed Law $40

-,Hsst -
Press service of the department. of
commerce, bureau of foreign and domes-
tic commerce, contains the following.
which, to say the least, is semi-ofIicial:
A bulletin issued by the bureau of
foreign and domestic commerce Of the
department Of commerce, makes 1t pos.
sible to find out just how the much dis.
cussed Seainen's Act compares with
similar laws in other maritime eoun.
tries. No attempt at CONTROVERSY is
made in the bureaus report, and no
conclusions are drawa. The principal
provisions of the different maritime
laws are set forth in such A ma nper that
the reader may make his own compafi.
sons and form his own opinions. Spc
cial Agent GrosvenOr NJ. Jones. the
author of the report, confined his atteli
ton to Great Britain, France, Germany.
Norway, Japan and the United States.
AS to Boiler Inspection -
Considerable attention is given to
strictness and detail of vessel inspec-
tion in the selected countries. The test
ing Of boilers Is Of particular interest
because the American test has been
called unduly severe. A hydrostatic OF
hydraulic test Is applied at regular in
tervals to boilers on British, German,
Norwegian, French and Japanese
ships, as well as those under the United
States flag! In this country the test
pressure is one and one half times the
maximum allowable working pressure of
the boilers. In Great Britain the test
pressure is twice the working pressure
for new boilers and from one and one.
half to one and ee.fourths times the
working pressure for old boilers. In Ger.
many and France the general rule Is to
make the test pressure one and nezhalf
times the working pressure. 81
lone Of the features Of the German
regulations is the requirement of a
metaphysical examination of an sailors
on German vessels. This rule has long
been in force, and the examination
seems to be even more severe than that
required by the new Seamen 3 Act. Nor,
wegian sailors are also required to pass
a searching physical. examination, but
seemingly nothing of this sort is asked
of sailors ON British, French and Japan
csc ships. .
British Have, Language Test
.'tA pneh talked of feature of the
test .TeSSIseSsut. KFSe9 Rtia S SS s,sTs
shibpha 'aet' q l66s, which provides
that no seaman shall be employed upon
ohyE BfitiAh fshirt at any port in the
United Kingdom or on the continent
between the River Elbe and Brest un-
less he possesses a sufficient knowledge
of the English language to understand
the necessary orders This law, how
ever, does not apply Ito any British
subject, inhabitant Of British pro
tectorate, or TO 'aae Lascar.'~S
''The measurement rules of the
United States have often been criticized
az giving our vessels a higher tonnage
than the rules of other countries i'm
pose upon their vessels. Since the ton
mage of a ship is the basis of various
port and other charges, complaints
against an excessive tonnage rating are
natural. Upon comparing the measure
mcmt rules Of the several countries, as
"iNcn in the bureaus report, II would
seem, however, that the American rules
g" now fullU ms Liberal as those of the
other countries.
Americans Not Restricted
"American shipOwners, with the ex-
ception of those operatihg ships under
the ocean mail act Of 1891, are not re
stricted in the employment of their
crews by any requirement as to the ma
tiOnality of seamen. British, German,
and Japanese shipOwners are likewise
Unrestricted, but BritisfTships receiving
mail or admiralty subventions must be
manned to "A large degree, by British
sailors, while subsidized japanese ships
may employ foreign sailors only with
the consent of the government. French
ships must in general have at least
seventy-fve per cent of the crews
French citizens, while the proportion of
foreigners that may be employed on
Norwegian ships is definitely fixed by
statute and varies from one.third to
One-half. ~.
cone chapter in the report Is de
voted to the manner in which the diff
fcreHt countries enforce their navigation
laws, and in view of the demand for
federal shipping board this chapter has
peculiar interest. The report is des.
ignated navigation laws, special agents
series No. ia and is sold at the nom
lnal price of twenty cents by the super
intendent of documents, government
printing office, Washington, and by the
district Offices of the bureau of foreign
AID domestic commerce. -