§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy Lords, I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he can give the House any information as to the progress of the negotiations for an international load line. I put this question to my noble Friend in the course of a debate the other day, and he very reasonably asked for notice. Accordingly I now ask the Question.
LORD FITZMAURICEMy Lords, I have communicated with the Board of Trade, which, with the Foreign Office, is the Department responsible for this question, and the reply which, with their concurrence, I am able to give is that it is not possible at present to make any full communication with regard to the progress of negotiations for an international load-line. The negotiations are now in progress with Germany. The amended tables of freeboard adopted by the Board of Trade and issued early in 1906 were communicated to the German Government, and, in reply, the German authorities suggested that a conference of British and German representatives should be held at Hamburg on the subject. The officers of the Board of Trade and the experts of Lloyd's Register, the British Corporation and the Bureau Veritas accordingly considered the matter, and the result of their deliberations in comparing the British and German regulations was communicated in May last to the German Government, with an intimation that the British representatives would be 847 prepared to meet the German representatives at Hamburg as suggested. We are now awaiting the reply of the German Government to this communication.
§ VISCOUNT ST. ALDWYNCan the noble Lord state whether any other Government has been approached with a similar proposal?
LORD FITZMAURICEI understand that the Board of Trade considered it would be very desirable to come first to an agreement with the German Government on the principal points involved, and that they would then be in a more favourable position to approach other Governments.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI understood that there were indications that the Governments of Spain and Norway were both favourable to some arrangement of this kind, and I would ask whether steps have been taken to push the matter forward in those quarters.
LORD FITZMAURICEThat statement is quite correct. But the view of the Board of Trade is that it is desirable, for reasons which they hold to be valid, to push on the negotiations in the first instance with the German Government.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYWhen does the noble Lord expect to get the reply of the German Government?