§ 4.32 p.m.
§ Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, in moving that this Bill be read a third time, I desire to make a short statement on the Ice Patrol in the North Atlantic. This Ice Patrol, which was established after the great disaster to the "Titanic" before the First World War, has been a responsibility of contracting Governments since, and it is to continue under the Convention which this Bill seeks to implement. All the contracting parties are responsible for the upkeep of the activities of the Ice Patrol, and under the new conditions, each of the Governments will make a contribution according to the tonnage passing through the danger areas. But, from the beginning, the managerial responsibility for the Ice Patrol has been one for the United States Government. It has been the United 957 States Government, their men and their ships who, through summer and winter, have kept up the patrol. Therefore it seems to His Majesty's Government that it is fit, as this Bill passes through your Lordships' House, that we should give a meed of praise to our colleagues of the American nation for the work that they are now rendering to the mercantile shipping of the various countries who are parties to the Convention, and to the whole world. With those few words, I beg to move that the Bill be read a third time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a. —(Lord Shepherd.)
§ On Question, Bill read 3a, and passed.