§ LORD CLAUD HAMILTONasked the President of the Board of Trade, What were the data on which he based his statement in a recent letter to the Birmingham Trades Council, that there were grave reasons for apprehension that the waste of life at sea would be greater during the last two or three years than it had ever been before?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINSir, I will endeavour to answer the Question of the noble Lord, although I think he will see it is a subject which it would be more convenient to deal with in argument than in answer to a Question. Stated briefly, my reasons for the opinion which I have formed are these. For some years shipowning has been the most prosperous and profitable industry in the country. This has led to an overproduction of ships, the supply has now exceeded the demand, and over-production has been followed by over-competition, and a great reduction of freights, which are now, in many cases, unremunerative. If the practice of over-insurance continues, the result must be that the loss of a ship will, to a greater extent than ever, be an advantage to the owner. The tendency of this, coupled with the necessity for strict economy in all items of ordinary expenditure, will be to bring about a relaxation of the precautions necessary to secure safety, and, other things being equal, will lead to increased loss of life and property. This is my firm conviction, and it justifies my anxiety for immediate legislation.
§ LORD CLAUD HAMILTONI wish to ask another Question arising out of the previous one, and the answer just given to it. Is it not a fact that the Returns issued by the right hon. Gentleman's own Department, the Board of Trade, do show that, in the year 1882, there was a much smaller loss of life than in the previous year; and, whether the average loss during the last five years has greatly decreased in com- 1051 parison with the average of the five preceding years?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINSir, to answer those Questions fully, I must engage in more particulars than respect for the time of the House would justify me in doing. But I may say that the first statement of the noble Lord is correct. The loss of life in 1882 was somewhat less than the loss of life in 1881; but taking three-yearly periods, the loss of life in the last three years was greater than the loss of life in any three years to which the statistics apply. There can be no doubt, in my opinion, that, on the whole, there has been an increase rather than a diminution in the loss of life during recent years.
Subsequently—
§ MR. NORWOODrose and said: I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade, with reference to the answer he gave just now to the noble Lord opposite (Lord Claud Hamilton), Whether I correctly understood him to say something to this effect—that, in his opinion, the unremunerative state of the shipping trade at the present moment will have the effect of inducing shipowners during the next two or three years to over-insure their ships, with the view of causing them to be lost for their own benefit, and by that means risking the lives of seamen? I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he still adheres to that statement?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAINNo, Sir; I did not say anything of the kind. ["Oh, oh!"] I will repeat the exact words I used in answer to the noble Lord's Question. [The right hon. Gentleman read the latter part of his reply, as already given.]