§ LORD MUSKERRY rose to refer to the account (presented by His Majesty's command) of the sums received and paid in respect of wages and effects of deceased seamen in the year ended 31st March, 1910, and to the unclaimed balance of £15,775 10s. 9d. which has accumulated since the year 1904; to ask whether unclaimed balances of this kind are devoted to purposes of material advantage to seamen, and if not, whether the President of the Board of Trade will consider the desirability of so doing.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, as you will see from the Question that stands in my name on the Paper, there was on March 31, 1910, an unclaimed balance of deceased seamen's wages amounting to £15,775 10s. 9d., which had accumulated since the year 1904. The White Paper which gives these figures does not say how long this accumulation is to run on, nor does it give any information as to the purpose, if any, to which these unclaimed balances are put, and I am asking for information on this matter. It seems to me a reasonable proposition that moneys of the kind which have been earned by seafarers and have fallen into the hands of the Government should be devoted in some practical way to the interests of seafarers. If they are not made use of, or if they are automatically swallowed up in meeting State expenses, then I submit to your Lordships that it is time there should be a change, and that accumulations such as I have referred to should be put to some purpose whereby they form the nucleus of a general fund for the use of British subjects serving in our mercantile ships. I beg to put the Question standing in my name.
23THE EARL OF LIVERPOOLMy Lords, I regret that the noble Lord who represents the Board of Trade is unable to be in his place to-day, and with your Lordships' permission I will reply to the noble Lord opposite. The earliest enactment of which we have a note, dealing with the unclaimed wages and effects of deceased seamen, is Cap. 73, 37 Geo. III. Section 8 of this Act provided that all wages not claimed within three years should be paid to the use of the Seamen's Hospital of the port to which the ship belonged on winch the deceased seaman served. If there was no Seamen's Hospital at the particular port, then the amount was to be applied to the use and benefit of the old and disabled seamen of the port. By Cap. 52 of 4 and 5 Win. IV, Sections 30 and 31, the procedure was varied, but the application of the unclaimed balances practically remained as before. As a matter of practice these sums were paid over to the trustees of the Merchant Seamen's Pension Fund at the different ports, and formed part of the income out of which pensions were paid to seamen and their widows and children. The Merchant Seamen's Pension Fund having become insolvent it was wound up under Cap. 102, 14 and 15 Victoria (Merchant Seamen's Fund Winding-up Act), and all its liabilities were taken over by the Government; and by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (Cap. 104, 17 and 18 Viet.) Section 202, the unclaimed wages and effects of deceased seamen became payable to the Exchequer as a set off against the liabilities above referred to. The financial result of the Merchant Seamen's Fund Winding-up Act is as follows:—
| Pensions and commutations paid from Votes of Parliament from 1852 to 1909, | £1,750,817 | |
| Deduct receipts: | ||
| Amount paid over by trustees, | £197,151 | |
| Contributions by seamen, | 64,672 | |
| Unclaimed wages and effects of deceased seamen, 1852 to 1909–10, | 340,978 | |
| 602,801 | ||
| Net cost to the State | £1,148,016 |
§ It will thus be seen that the unclaimed balances of the wages of deceased seamen 24 have been applied towards the pensions which were awarded out of the Merchant Seamen's Pension Fund, and also that the net cost of these pensions to the State to December 31, 1909, the latest complete year, has exceeded £1,000,000.