§ MR. HAYELOCK WILSONI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps, if any, have been taken by him to abate the practice of allowing crimps to use and frequent H. B. M. Consular Shipping Office at New York during the times that seamen are being discharged and engaged from and for British vessels: whether any correspondence has passed between the Board of Trade and H. B. M. Consul General at New York upon this subject, and whether such correspondence will be laid upon the Table of the House; whether he is aware that crimps and other undesirable persons are at present allowed the same free access to such office as heretofore; and whether, in view of the gravity of this complaint, he will recommend Her Majesty's Government to appoint a small commission to visit New York and other United States ports in order to report fully upon the actual conditions there prevailing and the best means of remedying the alleged evils.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. RITCHIE,) CroydonI believe the Consul General exercises great care in the management of the Consular Shipping Office in New York, but we are at present in correspondence with the Foreign Office, with a view of endeavouring to make arrangements to secure that undesirable persons are not admitted to the office.
§ MR. HAYELOCK WILSONMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman why the pledge he gave last April has not been carried out and stops taken to put an end to this unseemly condition of things?
§ MR. RITCHIEThe matter is one of considerable complication. I believe there has been correspondence between the Foreign Office and New York going on for months past.
§ MR. HAYELOCK WILSONI shall call attention to this on the Estimates for the Board of Trade.