MERCHANT SHIPPING BILL. (Hansard, 12 August 1853)

§ LORD COLCHESTER
said, as this Bill had not received any discussion during its previous stages, and the noble Lord who introduced it stated that this Bill, together with the Pilotage Bill, comprised the measures of the Government for the relief of 1669 the shipping interest, he must beg to make a few remarks upon the subject generally, before proceeding to state his objections to that particular clause, repealing the law for manning British vessels, which he had already given notice he should move to omit. Those provisions of the present Bill which related to the volunteering of seamen from merchant ships into ships of the Royal Navy, to desertion, and to shortening the mode of procedure in the Scotch Courts, he concurred in, as they were substantially the same as had been proposed by the late Government; but he objected chiefly to the omissions in the Bill. It contained no provisions for improving the working of the system of the register ticket, nor for the amendment of the code of discipline on board merchant ships, nor for the improvement of the provisions for the health and comfort of the seamen, nor for an extension to the home trade of that examination of masters and mates which had proved so advantageous in the foreign-going ships; and whereas one of the chief complaints of the shipowners was of the number of the laws now in force for regulating the navigation of British shipping, this Bill not only added one more to the number, but by repealing individual clauses of existing Acts, made the whole system more complicated. At an earlier period of the Session he should have wished this Bill to have been sent to a Select Committee; but within so short a time of its close, this would be useless, and he should therefore confine himself to the 31st clause of the Bill, which in a few short lines proposed to repeal all the provisions of the Navigation Act for the manning of British vessels. These provisions are, that a British ship must have a master who is a British subject, and at least three-fourths of the crew British seamen; but the strictness of this rule is tempered by a power in the Crown to vary this proposition; and foreigners, having served in British ships, under certain conditions, may be considered as British seamen; and it would thus appear, that even under the existing law, any difficulty affecting the shipowners from a temporary deficiency of British seamen to man their ships, might be provided against. But it is said, that as the shipowner has been deprived of the protection he formerly received from the navigation laws, he may now claim, in justice, the right to man his ships as he pleases; and it is averred that it is disadvantageous to him to employ the British seaman, as he demands higher 1670 wages and allowances than the foreign seaman, and, owing to his alleged monopoly, he is regardless of his character, and able to interrupt the trade of British ships by combining in strikes for exorbitant wages. Now, if these facts were true, there might be some ground for opening the trade to foreign seamen, provided no higher question of State policy were involved; but, with regard to the coasting trade, which employs more than 8,000 ships, and 45,000 seamen, the case is not as stated, for in that trade the shipowners continue to possess the same exclusive privileges as previous to the change of the law, in 1849; and, even with regard to the foreign trade, no maritime Power of Europe or America permits her ships to be exclusively commanded and manned by foreigners. The character of the British seaman, which some have attempted to asperse as profligate and improvident, is spoken of by the highest authorities as greatly improved of late years; the large sums deposited by seamen in the and Sailors' Homes, amounting, in that of London alone, in the year 1852, to 55,482l., show the decrease of that improvidence for which he was celebrated; and the superintendent of the London Nautical School, established by the Board of Trade, says, in a letter, "It is very gratifying to see the spirit of ambition rising up among seamen to qualify themselves for their calling, now that the means and opportunity of doing so are within their reach." If he should demand higher wages than his merits enabled him to receive, or endeavour to enforce that demand by strikes, the existing power of the Crown may be brought to bear by proclamation; but those who put forward these grounds for a change of law, have openly avowed that unless they can introduce into their crews so large a proportion of foreigners as will enable them to beat down wages to the foreign level, they will not be satisfied. If this great reduction in the numbers of British seamen should take place, the country might find, on the breaking out of a war, that it had lost that reserve of men from which alone it could hope to supply the large masses of seamen which would then be required for the Navy. Some few persons, indeed, had asserted that our Navy could be manned independent of the merchant service; but the most experienced officers of the Navy examined before the Select Committee on the Navigation Laws had expressed their conviction of the necessity of a large supply of merchant seamen for the service of our fleets; and Ad- 1671 miral Berkeley, a Lord of the Admiralty, had strongly urged the necessity of retaining these clauses to meet the probability of English sailors who might be indisposed to serve in the Navy, providing themselves with certificates of American citizenship, and thus serving as foreigners on board British ships for the express purpose of avoiding compulsory service in our ships of war. This view had been singularly confirmed by the resolutions lately passed at public meetings of the seamen of the northern ports in reference to this present Bill, in one of which they state, "That there being no longer advantage to hail as Englishmen when this law is passed, on the contrary, freedom from impressments or service in Her Majesty's Navy during war, may be secured by serving as foreigners during peace," they will secure certificates of United States citizenship on arrival at any port of that Republic. The officers appointed to report on the best mode of manning the Navy, in their report laid before Parliament, also urged strongly the retention of these manning clauses; and even the Government itself, by the provisions of the Act introduced this Session for "The Entry Seamen," admitted the value of the merchant seamen as a supply for the Navy, by enabling the Crown to call them out by classes either in peace or war. Besides these considerations as to the supply of seamen, further objections might be urged to permitting a British ship to be wholly manned and commanded by foreigners. The flag would no longer represent the British character, and facilities would be given for the abuse of it by foreigners for illegal purposes. This was foreseen by the framers, who have attached penalties to such abuse; but the proof of the real characters will be difficult, and the proposed object of those assuming the flag will, in most cases, have been effected before the fraud has been detected. The honour of the British flag is often placed in the keeping of the commanders of British merchant ships, and where its maintenance might involve some personal risk or loss, a foreigner could not be expected to feel the same inducement to uphold it as an Englishman. For these reasons he hoped their Lordships would, when the Bill went into Committee, agree to omit the 31st clause, and thus retain the principle of the existing law, whatever modifications of its detail might be found advisable under the present change in our commercial system.

§ The EARL of HARDWICKE
said, the 1672 late Government had contemplated giving the mercantile marine full play, by allowing them to man their ships in the best way they could. He had been quite prepared to coincide with that policy; but he never for a single moment contemplated that the coasting trade would be included in that provision. If the principles of free trade were to be carried out in the way proposed by this Bill, they would be compelled not only to keep a standing Navy, but to educate their seamen for it.

§ The EARL of ELLENBOROUGH
shared in all the apprehensions which had been expressed by noble Lords with respect to the admission of foreign seamen to the coasting trade. It was said that the shipowners had a right to a relaxation of the present law, in accordance with the principles of free trade. Now, as regarded the foreign trade, shipowners might at present have one quarter of their crews foreign seamen; but of 100,000 seamen employed in this trade, only 5,000 were foreigners, so that they might employ 20,000 more without any alteration in the law. Then, with regard to the coasting trade, it must be remembered that the shipowners were not exposed to any foreign competition in that branch of commerce; and he could not, therefore, think it necessary or expedient to take a step which would increase the profits of the shipowner by the reduction of the already small wages of the sailors. It must be recollected that the seamen engaged in the coasting trade were the only portion of our maritime population who were always at hand, and in a position to be called upon to man the Navy in case of any sudden emergency; and he could not but think that it was highly inexpedient to take any step which might diminish their numbers. This Bill was viewed by our seamen with the strongest feelings of aversion, not so much because they feared that it would diminish their wages, as because they disliked to see a foreigner on the deck of a British ship. That feeling he (the Earl of Ellenborough) entirely shared. It might be called illiberal; but it was one which maintained a feeling of nationality and loyalty amongst those upon whose services we depended. No measure had passed within his memory which he viewed with so much apprehension as he did this Bill.