§ MR. CHILDERSasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether the Suez Canal Company have carried into effect the undertaking given by M. de Lesseps to Colonel Stokes in February 1876, that the Canal Dues should be charged on the tonnage shown by the Board of Trade special certificates, or still continue to charge on the tonnage shown by their own measurements; and, if the latter be the case, what steps have been taken by Her Majesty's Government to secure the performance of this undertaking which formed part of the consideration for the postponement of the reduction of the surtax, of which the Canal Company have had the advantage?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, as my right hon. Friend is aware, there has been a good deal of difficulty in this matter; but I have just seen Mr. Rivers Wilson, on his return from Paris, and I can state since the acceptance by M. de Lesseps in the early part of last year of the conclusions of the Constantinople International Tonnage Commission and the withdrawal of his protests, the Suez Canal Company have recognized the special tonnage certificates given by the Board of Trade in their assessment of the dues to be paid by British vessels. The Company contested, however, the interpretation of the Constantinople rules in certain particulars as applied in the Board of Trade measurements. The Company contended that certain spaces in the vessels were improperly excluded from the net tonnage on which the dues were to be levied, and assumed to themselves the right of verification, with the object of adding and charging for any such additional spaces. In consequence of the complaints addressed to Her Majesty's Government by the shipowners on this subject, instructions were given to the British Directors to come to an understanding with the Company on the matters in dispute. Negotiations have accordingly been in progress for several months, and were brought to a final conclusion at the meeting of the Council this week. The general purport of the arrangement, which it is to be hoped will be acceptable to the shipping community, and will remove all existing causes of dissatisfaction is, that a distinct agreement has been come to as the limits and conditions under which the disputed spaces are to be included in or excluded from the net tonnage, subject to taxation, and that the verification by the Company is to be confined to ascertaining that the deducted spaces are correctly appropriated to their proper uses; that no changes have been made in them since the delivery of the Board of Trade certificate, and that no spaces have been added without being included in the tonnage, the object being not to test the accuracy of the official measurements, but to prevent abuses by which the Company may be defrauded. The Council of Administration, at its last meeting, adopted a revised Réglement de Navigation, which will give effect not only to the new agreement, but to all that was done by the Tonnage Com- 1297 mission at Constantinople in 1873–4, and under the Convention between M. de Lesseps and Colonel Stokes at Cairo in 1876. This Reglement will be published in a few days, and will come into effect on the 1st of July next. Her Majesty's Government have undertaken to furnish the Commission with weekly lists of all vessels holding Suez Canal special certificates. Every vessel not provided with a certificate may be measured by the Canal authorities in conformity with the Constantinople rules, and must pay her dues according to such measurement until she produces a special certificate from the authorities of her own country.