§ MR. JOYCE (Limerick)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the want of consideration and appreciation of the objects for which they were appointed, namely, the safety of life and property on board ships trading to the port, exhibited by the majority of the Boston Pilot Commissioners, and in view also of their proposal to diminish the earnings of the pilots for the sake of the profit accruing to dock and railway companies from the trading of two foreign steamers, the masters of which cannot obtain pilotage certificates, he will facilitate the obtaining of a Provisional Order to reconstitute the Boston Pilot Trust by adding seven pilots to the forty-throe Commissioners who at present constitute the trust, and among whom there are no pilots; and whether he will, seeing that the Boston pilots are poor men, forego either wholly or in part the official charges payable on an application for a Provisional Order.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. KEARLEY,) DevonportIf an application is made to the Board of Trade for a Provisional Order in accordance with the procedure laid down in Section 580 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, it will receive their careful consideration. The fee is a fixed charge required under Board of Trade Regula- 114 tions to cover the expense of settling the Order.