§ MR. AYTOUNsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Board of Trade, If he would consider the propriety of retaining the Burntisland and Granton Ferry within the limits of a River Certificate, and whether he would be good enough to state on what principles those limits are defined?
§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEsaid, in reply, that the Ferry from Burntisland to Granton was not within the limits of a simple River Certificate, but belonged to the class requiring an extended River Certificate. The principles were these: There were two classes of Certificates applicable to these cases. The one was called a smooth water or River Certificate, which, in the Forth, was granted to vessels plying not further east than Queensferry. It contained regulations as to the number of passengers and equipment which applied only to smooth water voyages. The other—namely, the partially smooth water or extended River Certificate—was granted to vessels plying within the space from Queensferry to Anstruther and North Berwick. They carried a smaller number of passengers, and ought to have the additional equipment of sails, boats, and compass—a regulation not always strictly observed—but which the Board of Trade hoped soon to have better means of enforcing. The shipwright surveyor must certify that the hull was sufficient for the service and in good condition, and must declare the limits beyond which the vessel was not fit to ply. He might mention, by way of illustration, that the River Certificate in the Clyde extended to Dunoon; the extended River Certificate to Cumbrae and Skipness; and that in the Thames the former extended to Gravesend, the latter to Margate and Walton-on-the-Naze. Beyond these limits the Home Trade Certificate began. There was also an Excursion Certificate, granted only for daylight and summer months.