LORD MUSKERRYrose to ask His Majesty's Government whether, according to the laws of New Zealand, the captains and officers of merchant vessels registered in that colony must be British subjects; whether it is a fact that the Government of Canada have introduced a Bill into the Canadian Parliament with the object of limiting the issue of master's and mate's certificates to Canadians; and whether His Majesty's Government will urge upon the Canadian authorities the desirability of all British subjects being permitted to present themselves for examination for certificates of the kind in the Dominion of Canada.
The noble Lord said: My Lords, as your Lordships will see by the Question standing in my name on the Paper, the New Zealand Government have very wisely and patriotically adopted the measure which I have been pressing on your Lordships for the past few years, and which I hope the present Government will adopt later on in the session. But the Government of Canada have gone a little beyond that, and in place of confining the granting of certificates to British subjects they have confined it to Canadian subjects only. As the Royal Navy is an Imperial force, so also, I think, ought the merchant service to be so regarded. I hope that His Majesty's Government will see their way to make representations to the Government of Canada as to the desirability of all British subjects being permitted to present themselves for examination.
§ THE EARL OF GRANARDMy Lords, in answer to the first part of the Question, I have to say that my noble friend is correct in stating that the law of New Zealand limits the issue of captains' and officers' certificates to British subjects alone. With regard to the second part 1337 of the Question, the Colonial Office at present have no knowledge of the Bill to which the noble Lord refers. It has not been received in this country, and, therefore, His Majesty's Government can offer no opinion on the merits of the Bill.