Lords Sitting of 28 May 1907

PRIVATE BILL BUSINESS.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the House, That the Clerk of the Parliaments had laid upon the Table the Certificates from the Examiners that the Standing Orders applicable to the following Bills have been complied with:—Gas and Water Orders Confirmation (No. 2) [H.L.]; Tramways Orders Confirmation [H.L.]; Electric Lighting Provisional Order (No. 2) [H.L.]; Electric Lighting Provisional Order (No. 4) [H.L.]; Local Government Provisional Orders (No. 4).
Also the certificate that the Standing Orders have not been complied with in respect of the petition for the following Bill:—Alton Military Hospital.
Also that the Standing Orders have not been complied with in respect of the petition for additional provision in the following Bill:—Broadstairs and St. Peter's Urban District Water [H.L.].
And also the certificates from the examiners that the further Standing Orders applicable to the following Bill have been complied with:—Great Northern and City Railway.
The same were ordered to lie on the Table.
Harrison's Patent Bill [H.L.]; General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation, Limited, Bill [H.L.]; Heywood and Middleton Water Board Bill [H.L.]; Pontypridd Urban District Council Bill [H.L.]; North British Railway Bill [H.L.]; Coventry Corporation Water Bill [H.L.], now Coventry Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Midland Railway Bill [H.L.]. Read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.
Education Board Provisional Order Confirmation (London No. 2) Bill [H.L.]; Education Board Provisional Orders Confirmation (Surrey, etc.) Bill [H.L.]; Electric Lighting Provisional Orders (No. 1) Bill [H.L.]. Committed.
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Bill; Leeds Corporation Bill; London
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County Council (Tramways and Improvements) Bill; King's Norton and Northfield Urban District Council Bill; London and North-Western Railway Bill; London United Tramways Bill; Penrith Urban District Council Bill. Brought from the Commons, read 1a, and referred to the Examiners.
Baines' Name Bill [H.L.]; Borax Consolidated Bill [H.L.]. Returned from the Commons agreed to.
Folkestone, Sandgate, and Hythe Tramways Bill [H.L.]; Manchester Ship Canal (Bridgewater Canal) Bill [H.L.]; West Yorkshire Tramways Bill [H.L.]. Returned from the Commons agreed to, with amendments: The said amendments considered, and agreed to.
Birmingham Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Newquay and District Water Bill [H.L.]. Returned from the Commons agreed to, with amendments.
Mitcham and Wimbledon District Gas Bill. Returned from the Commons with the Amendments agreed to.
Oregon Mortgage Company, Limited, Order Confirmation Bill. Brought from the Commons, read 1a; to be printed; and (pursuant to the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1899), deemed to have been read 2a. (The Lord Hamilton of Dalzell), and reported from the Committee. (No. 57.)

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS (RECESS).
THE LORD CHANCELLORacquainted the House that the following Papers, having been commanded to be presented to this House by His Majesty, had been so presented on the following dates by delivery to the Clerk of the Parliaments, pursuant to Standing Order No. CXI., viz.—

TRADE REPORTS—I. ANNUAL SERIES.
No. 3791. France (Cherbourg). (17th May.)
No. 3792. Russia (Rostov-on-Don). (22nd May.)
No. 3793. United States (States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho).
No. 3794. United States (New York).
No. 3795. Italy (Finances).
No. 3796. Germany.
No. 3797. Russia.
No. 3798. Turkey (Beirut and Coast of Syria). (23rd May.)
No. 3799. Italy (Lombardy). (24th May.)
No. 3800. China (Wuhu).
No. 3801. China (Hankow).
No. 3802. China (Nanking).
No. 3803. Japan (North Formosa). (25th May.)

II. MISCELLANEOUS SERIES.
No. 660. Japanese Paper Mills. (23rd May.)

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES.
I. Annual Report of proceedings under the Tithe Acts, 1836 to 1891, the Copy-hold Act, 1894, the Inclosure Acts, 1845 to 1899, the Agricultural Holdings Acts, 1883 to 1900, the Drainage and Improvement of Land Acts, the Universities and College Estates Acts, 1858 to 1898, the Glebe Lands Act, 1888, and certain other Acts, for the year 1906. (17th May.)
II. Memorandum by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries upon the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Bill, 1907 (H.L. No. 24). (22nd May.)

BOARD OF EDUCATION.
I. (List of Public Elementary Schools, England).—List of Public elementary schools and certified efficient schools in England (excluding Monmouthshire) on 1st August, 1906. (22nd May.)
II. (County of Cornwall.—Endowed Charities (Elementary Education). Report made to the Board of Education in the result of an inquiry into endowments subject to the provisions of the Charitable Trusts Acts, 1853 to 1894, and appropriated in whole or in part to purposes of elementary education in the County of Cornwall, or in any part thereof. (24th May.)
III. (Special Reports, Volume 17).—Special reports on educational subjects, Volume 17. Schools, public and private, in the North of Europe.
IV. (Secondary Schools).—Summary of figures relating to state-aided secondary schools in England (excluding Wales and Monmouthshire), together with a memor-
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andum on the management and character of those schools in respect of public control and freedom from denominational restrictions. (25th May.)

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND).
I. Thirty-fourth Annual Report, by the Accountant for Scotland, to the Scottish Education Department. (22nd May.)
II. Report of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland, with Appendix (1906–1907). (24th May.)

CONGESTION IN IRELAND (ROYAL COMMISSION).
Fourth Report of the Commissioners, with Appendix (Minutes of evidence taken in London, 14th to 23rd February, 1907, and documents relating thereto). (22nd May.)
ALIENS ACT, 1905.
Return of Alien passengers brought to the United Kingdom from ports in Europe or within the Mediterranean Sea during the three months ended 31st March, 1906, together with the number of expulsion orders made during that period requiring aliens to leave the United Kingdom. (22nd May.)
EMIGRATION.
Memorandum on the history and functions of the Emigrants' Information Office. (22nd May.)
TREATY SERIES, NO. 13 (1907).
Treaty between the United Kingdom and Peru for the mutual surrender of fugitive criminals, signed at Lima, 26th January, 1904 (ratifications exchanged at Lima, 30th November, 1906). (23rd May.)
LUNACY (SCOTLAND) ACT.
Forty-ninth Annual Report of the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland. (24th May.)
TRADE.
Annual statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with foreign countries and British Possessions, 1906, compared with the four preceding years: Volume II. (Abstract and detailed tables of trade with each country and at each port) and miscellaneous tables. (24th May.)
ARMY.
Additional Estimate of the cost of the Territorial Force (in continuation of [Cd. 3296]). (24th May.)

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT, 1906 (INDUSTRIAL DISEASES).
Order, dated 22nd May, 1907, made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department in pursuance of Section 8 (6) of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, extending the provisions of the Act to certain industrial diseases. (25th May.)
The same were ordered to lie on the Table.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
  NATIONAL GALLERY, IRELAND.
  Report of the Director to the Board of Governors and Guardians for the year 1906.

  Minutes of Proceedings of the Colonial Conference, 1907.
  Papers laid before the Colonial Conference, 1907.

  TRADE REPORTS, ANNUAL SERIES.
  No. 3804. Spain (Galicia, the Asturias, and Leon, 1906).
  No. 3805. France (Nantes, 1906).

  Fiftieth Annual Report of the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery 1906–1907.
  FISHERIES (IRELAND).
  Report of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland for 1905; Part II. Scientific Investigations.
  BANKING AND RAILWAY STATISTICS (IRELAND).
  December, 1906.

  IRISH LAND COMMISSION.
  Returns of advances made under the Irish Land Act, 1903—During the month of July, 1906.
  During the month of October, 1906.
  During the month of November, 1906.

  BANN AND LOUGH NEAGH DRAINAGE.
  Report to the Lord-Lieutenant, by Mr. J. D. Bell, land valuer, appointed by Government to make certain valuations in connection with Sir Alexander Binnie's Report on the Bann and Lough Neagh Drainage.
  Presented (by Command), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE ACT, 1875.
  Order in Council, dated 7th May, 1907, amending the Order in Council of 28th July, 1893, relating to the Circuits of the Judges, and revoking the Order in Council of 1st March, 1907.
  FOREIGN JURISDICTION ACT, 1890.
  Order in Council, dated 7th May, 1907, entitled "The Persian Coast and Islands Order in Council, 1907."
  GREENWICH HOSPITAL ACTS, 1865 AND 1869.
  Order in Council, dated 7th May, 1907, sanctioning a further re-arrangement of Greenwich Hospital Pensions.
  EXTRADITION ACTS, 1870 TO 1906.
  Order in Council, dated 7th May, 1907, for giving effect to a Treaty of Extradition between His Majesty and the President of the Republic of Peru.

  NAVAL AND MARINE PAY AND PENSIONS ACT, 1865.
  Orders in Council, dated 7th May, 1907, sanctioning—The extension of the system of repayment of cost of forwarding baggage to officers appointed from, or discharged to, half-pay.
  The repayment of expenses for subsistence to candidates for entry into His Majesty's Navy, subject to certain conditions.

  DISEASES OF ANIMALS ACTS, 1894 TO 1903.
  Order dated 17th May, 1907, entitled the Glasgow Foreign Animals Wharf Order of 1907.

  FACTORY AND WORKSHOP.
  (Homework)—Order made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, dated 23rd May, 1907, applying to certain classes of work the provisions

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  of sections 107, 108, and 110 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, and revoking the Order of the 15th August, 1905.
  (Particulars of Piece Work Wages)—Two Orders made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, dated 23rd May, 1907, applying with modifications the provisions of section 116 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, to non-textile factories and workshops in which certain classes of industries are carried on, and to out-workers employed in those industries.

  PATENTS, DESIGNS, AND TRADE MARKS.
  Twenty-fourth Report of the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks, with Appendices, for the year 1906.
  ALKALI, ETC., WORKS REGULATION ACTS, 1881 AND 1892.
  Forty-third Annual Report on Alkali, etc., Works, by the Chief Inspector; proceedings during the year 1906.

  LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL.
  Return showing, up to 31st March, 1907:—

  I. The amount of Consolidated Stock; The application of the money raised by such stock; The sums carried to the Consolidated Loans Fund; The application of the Consolidated Loans Fund; An estimate of the expenditure of the Council for all purposes, for the year ending 31st March, 1908.

  II. All moneys raised by the Metropolitan Board of Works and the Council since the passing of the Act for the purposes mentioned in the Act; Particulars in relation to every parish, district, union, or place in respect whereof a loan has been obtained from the Metropolitan Board of Works or the Council since the passing of the Act.

  Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  MEDWAY CONSERVANCY.
  Statement of receipts and expenditure by the conservators of the River Medway, for the year ended 25th March, 1907: Delivered (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  MERCHANT SHIPPING ACTS AMENDMENT BILL [H.L.]
  [SECOND READING.]
  Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
  LORD AMPTHILL: My Lords, the object of this Bill is simply to remedy an omission in the existing law. It does not introduce any new principle at law, or alter or modify any existing principle. It merely extends to owners of lighters, barges, and like vessels the same protection as is given to shipowners.
  Second 502 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, provides that no owner of any sea-going ship shall be liable to make good any loss or damage that may happen without his actual fault or privity (1) of or to any goods or merchandise by reason of fire happening on board such ship, and (2) of or to certain valuable articles specified in that section. By Section 503 of the same Act and Section 1 of the Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and others) Act, 1900, the liability of owners of "ships," which expression does not include lighters or barges, is limited to £15 per ton of the ship's tonnage in respect of loss of life or personal injury, and to £8 per ton of the ship's tonnage where—
  "any loss or damage is caused to property or rights of any kind, and whether on land or on water, or whether fixed or moveable."
  There is no statute limiting the liability of owners of lighters, barges, and like vessels in any way; and they are therefore liable, though subject to similar risks as shipowners, for the whole amount of the loss or damage, whereas the shipowners' liability is limited. A Bill which contained provisions to remedy this injustice, intituled the Barge Owners, &c., Liability Bill, was referred to a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1892, and Clause 1 of the present Bill in effect reproduces the clause as amended by the Committee of 1892, limiting bargeowners' liability. Certain other clauses which appeared in the Bill have been emitted as subsequent legislation has rendered them unnecessary, and provision has been made to preserve the existing rights of persons employed in lighters and barges.
  The unfairness of the present law consists in the differentiation that is made between barges which are capable of

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  being propelled by sails and those which have no sails. The former are already protected under the Merchant Shipping Act, but barges which have no sails, and which are known as dumb barges, are not protected in the same way. There is no reason that can find for the distinction, as both classes of vessels do the same work and are exposed to the same risks. I could give your Lordships instances if it were necessary to do so, but I hardly think they are called for at this stage. These dumb barges, which are known by other names in various places, are craft varying in size from 20 to 200 tons burthen. Your Lordships will therefore see that except in the matter of the means of propulsion, the vessels are very much of the same order and the same size.
  One question which I think will occur to your Lordships to ask is how this inequality of treatment has arisen. I have been at some pains to endeavour to ascertain the cause, and I cannot find that there is any, except this. When the limitation of liability was given to shipowners many years ago there was no association for the protection of the interests of bargeowners, and therefore no steps were taken on their behalf. So far as I have been able to find out, that is the only reason why dumb barges are not included in the definition of "ships" in the Merchant Shipping Acts. To the best of my belief no objection is taken in any quarter to the principle of this Bill, and I believe that if the session of 1892 had been longer the Bill of that year would have been passed into law. The clauses of the Bill do not, I think, require any explanation at the present, moment, but if your Lordships are good enough to give the Bill a Second Reading some little explanation may be necessary at a further stage.
  Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(Lord Ampthill.)
  LORD MUSKERRY: My Lords, before your Lordships give a Second Reading to this Bill I would like to say one or two words with regard to it. A sailing barge may be of 100 tons burthen, but it is under control, having a sufficient number of men on board. But one frequently sees large dumb barges on the Thames with only one man on board. He is
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  entirely at the mercy of the current, and though he does his best with a large pair of sweeps, when the tide sets in near the shore he has to let go the sweeps, and when he gets alongside either a wharf or a vessel he takes a turn of a rope and holds on till the barge gets the right swing. It is quite impossible for one man to control a barge of anything like 200 tons, and the process by which the attempt to do so is made leads to very considerable damage to vessels. I would therefore suggest to the noble Lord in charge of the Bill, that at the Committee stage he should accept an Amendment making the extension of this protection only applicable to barges that have at least two men on board.
  *LORD INVERCLYDE: My Lords, I am sorry to differ from the noble Lord who introduced this Bill, but I think barges and ships are not on all fours. To begin with, the measurement of the tonnage on which the liability is limited is on a different basis. Again, I do not understand that the owners of barges are willing to come under all the rules and regulations which the owners of steamers and sailing vessels have to submit to before they can obtain the advantage of this limitation of liability. As your Lordships know, steamers have to undergo a number of Board of Trade inspections and surveys, and to submit to numerous restrictions with regard to manning, to loadline, and so on; and I do not understand that barges will come under any of those restrictions. I do not see, therefore, that it is fair to put them on the same basis as ships, which, before obtaining this limitation of liability, have to pass through all these different surveys. At all events, I feel very strongly that barges which only navigate inland waters ought not to get the benefit of this limitation, and that barges on estuaries ought to be subject to proper control. At the present time on the Thames, the Mersey, and such estuaries barges drift about in a manner which is dangerous to the navigation of steamers, and therefore hope that when the Bill reaches the Committee stage your Lordships will amend it very considerably in this direction.
  *THE EARL OF GRANARD: My Lords, since this Bill has been down for Second Reading we have received at the

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  Board of Trade evidence of a certain amount of opposition to it, especially from people who represent the coasting class of vessels. They submit to us—and I think with a certain amount of strength—that since the Committee of 1892 these dumb barges have increased enormously in size, and that whereas they used to carry about fifty tons of material, they now frequently carry 300 tons, And are not infrequently built of iron. Therefore if one of these barges not under control runs into a vessel it does a considerable amount of harm, and the question of limiting the liability in the case of this class of vessel is, I think, a very serious one. I would suggest, if your Lordships agree to give the Bill a Second Reading, that the whole matter should be referred to a Select Committee of your Lordships' House before we proceed further with the Bill. I may say that Clause 2, which deals with the question of tonnage, would have to be very carefully considered before we could assent to the proposition contained in the Bill.
  LORD AMPTHILL: My Lords, I very gladly assent to the course proposed by the noble Earl who represents the Board of Trade. In view of the objections, which I may say are entirely new to me, I think it very advisable that the Bill should be examined more carefully and critically than is possible in Committee of the whole House. With your Lordships' permission I should like to say, in reply to the noble Lord on my left (Lord Inverclyde), who criticised the Bill somewhat severely, that he ignored the very point which endeavoured to make clear—namely, that already a large class of barges have this limitation of liability. The noble Lord assumed that barges would not submit to the regulations which are an indispensable condition of limitation of liability, but sailing barges are already classed as ships and treated in the same manner.
  On Question, Bill read 2a.
  Moved, "That the Bill be referred to a Select Committee."—(Lord Ampthill.)
  On Question, Motion agreed to.
  House adjourned at a quarter before Five o'clock, till tomorrow, Two o'clock.