§ CAPTAIN PIMasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether it is true that passenger steamers are ordinarily surveyed by only one surveyor; and whether that is in contravention of Section 309 of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854?"
§ SIR CHARLES ADDERLEY, in reply, said, passenger steamers were sometimes surveyed by two or more, sometimes by one surveyor. In all cases the hull was surveyed by a surveyor competent to survey hulls, and the engines by a surveyor specially competent to survey machinery. These duties were sometimes done by the same person. 92 In consequence of the great change from wood to iron the same class of persons were often employed as skilled in both duties; and this was not in contravention of the 309th section of the Act of 1854, but strictly in carrying out its spirit and intention.