§ MR. LYELL (Orkney and Shetland)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether it is the case that the Government have confiscated the payments made by George Tulloch, a Shetland seaman, to the Merchant Seamen's Fund without any equivalent return; whether these payments were compulsory deductions from his wages; and whether the Government will rectify the mistake, by ordering the repayment of the same to be made to George Tulloch?
§ * SIR M. HICKS BEACHBefore the year 1851 the Merchant Seamen's Fund was managed by Trustees, who received and disbursed the compulsory contributions of seamen. In the year 1851, the Fund being insolvent, an Act was passed to wind it up, and relief was limited to those seamen only who voluntarily 714 continued to contribute. George Tulloch ceased to contribute when the payments became voluntary. He is consequently, by this omission, disqualified for the grant of a pension. The contributions of George Tulloch were not received by the Board of Trade, and no mistake has been made by the Board, who have no authority to return any contributions he may have made.