§ LORD DANESFORTMy Lords, I beg to present a Petition from the Imperial Merchant Service Guild against Article 41 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1929, which is usually known as the Helmsman's Order, on the grounds that no necessity exists for the proposed change; that the proposed change deals exclusively with matters belonging to their profession by an International Conference on which they were not represented, and that it is strenuously objected to by the masters and navigating officers whom the petitioners represent. The proposed change would involve grave danger not merely of casualties in pilotage waters but of catastrophes at sea in any sudden emergency, and that during the lifetime of the present generation of seamen.
§ Petition read and ordered to lie on the Table.