§ Notice taken, that 40 Members were not present; House counted, and 40 Members being found present,
§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)said, that representing as he did a constitu- 1288 ency of South Essex, largely composed of sailors and fishermen, who were adversely affected by the laws relating to salvage, he begged to call attention to Vote 27. These men exercised their calling in the estuary of the Thames and the flats of the North Sea. On those flats there were great numbers of derelicts; but the men were not allowed to claim an amount of salvage which would pay them for their labour. The result was that wrecks were not salved at all, that they impeded the mouth of the Thames, and that the loss to the owners was severe. He would ask whether it would not be possible to modify the laws relating to the subject so that sailors who effected a salvage might have 50 instead of 30 per cent?