§ SIR GEORGE BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state what has been the result of the experiment in the transmission home of seamen's wages from Foreign ports of discharge, which was to be made at the port of Dunkirk for one year expiring in August, 1895; and whether he has received petitions from many, and, if so, how many, seaports, and Officers and seamen, in favour of the extension of the system to other Continental ports of discharge; and, if so, what action he proposes to take in the matter?
§ MR. RITCHIEBetween August 2, 1894, and December 31, 1895, 685 British and 166 Foreign seamen availed themselves of the advantages offered and transmitted a sum of £14,515 to the United Kingdom. Of course only a comparatively small portion of this sum can be credited to the operation of the new scheme, because there is at work side by side with it the old system, under which the men can remit by means of money orders. Taking the two systems together, there has been an estimated increase in the number of men discharged who have sent money of between 10 and 11 per cent., while the sum sent has increased by between 12 and 13 per cent. I have received 26 petitions in 1250 favour of an extension of the system to other Continental ports, and these will receive careful consideration. But, as I stated to the House in reply to a Question of my hon. Friend on August 20 last, the experiment at Dunkirk has been to a large extent made under exceptional circumstances, and it will, therefore, be continued until August next before any further steps are taken.