CINQUE PORTS PILOTS BILL. (Hansard, 12 August 1834)

§ The Duke of Wellington
opposed the Motion. He hoped that an institution like that of the Cinque Ports Pilots would not be destroyed without an inquiry being set on foot and evidence given on oath. He contended that the effect of this measure would be to take away from the pilots, by giving the boatmen of Folkestone permission to go on board vessels, that remuneration which their labour deserved and the boatmen would not be able to perform the services which would be required of them in a manner satisfactory to the public. Again, he objected to this Bill on the score of its imposing a virtual tax of 1l. on merchant vessels, by enacting that those boats should be compelled to take pilots from the vessels they had navigated to shore. Every means had been tried to make the navigation of the coast, particularly those parts of it which lay over against the narrow seas, cheap, commodious, and, above all, safe; and, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, he felt it his duty to tell their Lordships that they would act most unwisely in overturning an establishment of men fitted by long experience and nautical skill to pilot vessels, to substitute a body of men who had not knowledge to enable them to perform the duties they undertook. As far as he was personally concerned he did not care one pin what became of the Bill, but as a public man, he thought it his duty to move, that it be read a second time that day six months.

The Earl of Radnor
observed, that a boatman might go on board a ship, but as soon as the vessel rounded Dungeness, and a pilot went on board, the boatmen was superseded, and was not entitled legally to any remuneration. Now this Bill only enacted that the boatmen should receive payment proportionate to the distance he had carried the ship before the pilot came on board. As to the tax on 1233 the trade of England of which the noble Duke had spoken, if the trade of England wished to be put to this expense, he saw no reason for any objection. But the reason was, that unless boatmen were bound to take the pilot on shore, ships would be frequently obliged to carry a pilot a great distance from his home, and a Dover or Deal pilot would be landed at Plymouth or Falmouth, or perhaps, for he knew of such an instance, at Madeira. The object of this Bill was to establish twenty more pilots at Folkstone, which was a most desirable station, lying to the west, and sheltered from the violence of those winds which chiefly prevailed in that quarter, and a station, from which could be seen every vessel that rounded Dungeness. The noble Duke had really made a mountain of a molehill, and he trusted that the Bill would be read a second time.

§ Lord Auckland
concurred with the noble Duke opposite in thinking that an inquiry ought to be made either before a Committee of the House or in some other manner into the whole system of pilotage of this country. He admitted that this was particularly necessary in consequence of the growing distrust amongst the commercial interests to the prevailing system generally. The numerous Corporations under the guidance of which the system worked, and including the Newcastle, Bristol, Liverpool, Deptford, and Trinity-house Companies, ought to be inquired into, as well as the Cinque Port Pilot and cutter system, and an uniformity of practice introduced by the Legislature. He could assure the noble Duke that the objects of the present Bill were not regarded as trifling by the mercantile interests; but notwithstanding this he should not, after what had passed that evening, persist in pressing the Bill during the present Session.