HC Deb 10 May 1898 vol 57 cc834-5
SIR G. S. BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether any decision has been arrived at, and, if so, what decision, as to giving British seamen, discharged in the ports of Antwerp, Hamburg, and Rotterdam, the same facilities for the free transmission home of the wages they have earned as they enjoy in the United Kingdom?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. C. T. RITCHIE,) Croydon

The system of transmitting seamen and their wages, which has been in operation in this country for some years, is now being tried experimentally at the ports of Dunkirk, Antwerp, Hamburg, and Rotterdam, with considerable success. The cost of this experiment to the Exchequer is about £800 a year. A small commission is charged, the abolition of which I am not prepared at present to adopt.