SIR JOHN HAYsaid, he wished to ask the President of the Board of Trade, When the remainder of the Correspondence on the subject of the Rule of the Road at Sea will be laid upon the Table; and whether he will agree to a Motion for the appointment of a Select Committee of the House to inquire into the causes of the loss of life and property at sea by collisions, and as to the possibility of a remedy by some modification of the existing Rules of the Road, so as to bring them into harmony with the custom of the sea and the decisions of the Courts of Law?
MR. BRIGHTSir, I am not aware that there is any Correspondence which it would be advantageous to lay before Parliament. There is a quantity of matter, consisting very largely of articles from newspapers, of a controversial and argumentative character, which it would be expensive to publish, and would be productive of no adequate benefit. But if the hon. Baronet would like to see them, he can do so by applying to the Board of Trade. With regard to a Committee, I think the House will see that to appoint a Committee would be to disturb a question which 1466 appears, on the whole, satisfactorily settled. When the hon. Gentleman himself was at the Admiralty, the Admiralty concurred in the arrangement which now exists; and if a Committee were appointed it would be to disturb what all the maritime nations of the earth, in conjunction with this country, have agreed to admit as settled; and, therefore, it is not the intention of the Board of Trade to recommend, nor would they be willing to consent to, the appointment of a Committee on this subject. With regard to the decisions of courts of law, I presume the courts of law will be obliged to give their decisions in accordance with the Act of Parliament or the Order in Council, which in this matter has, I believe, the same effect as an Act of Parliament. From all the advice I am able to act upon, I think it would be very disadvantageous to appoint a Committee, and disturb in this country by inquiry any question which all maritime nations at least believe to be satisfactorily settled.