§ SIR CHARLES RUSSELLasked the Secretary to the Board of Trade, Whether he will arrange that the Committee on Cargoes in Bulk shall report to the House as to the desirability of legislation in accordance with the proposals of the honourable Member for Derby, for compelling the carriage of all grain in bags, as soon as they have come to a conclusion on that point, so as to enable legislation, if necessary, to take place this year before the return of the bad season; and, whether he can indicate the special points on which the Government desire the advice of the Committee before they will sanction dealing with the honourable Member for Derby's Bill?
§ MR. A. F. EGERTONSir, I beg to inform my hon. and gallant Friend that the Secretary to the Board of Trade 556 is confined to his house through illness; and as I am the only other Member of the Government who is on the Committee, perhaps I may be allowed to answer the Question. I understand that my noble Friend the President of the Board of Trade suggested some days ago to the hon. Member for Warwick (Mr. A. Peel), who will probably be the Chairman of this Committee, that the Committee should report on the grain question as soon as they were able to come to a decision upon the subject, without waiting to decide and report upon the whole matter referred to them, and the hon. Member for Warwick approved his proposal. The leading points respecting grain cargoes upon which the Government specially desire the opinion of the Committee are these:—1. Whether insisting upon the carriage in bags of all grain on shipboard would, as some very competent judges have asserted, increase instead of diminish the danger to human life on account of the faulty construction of the ships which during the last three or four years have been engaged in the grain trade. 2. If these opinions are incorrect, and if the restrictions proposed upon carrying grain in bulk appear in themselves desirable, what effect they would have in enhancing the price of grain, &c, as bearing upon the food supply of our population from abroad; and, 3, whether such restrictions would transfer the grain trade from British ships to the hands of foreign shipowners who have no such restrictions. These are the leading points on which we desire information on the grain cargo question before we think that either the Government or the House could properly entertain legislation on the subject; and I see no reason why the Committee should not report on these points after a sitting of a month or six weeks, so that legislation could without difficulty take place on this one point before the end of the summer, if it should prove to be desirable.