§ Mr. Kirbyasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that some seamen are unable to prove, or have great difficulty in proving, their right to pension from the Royal Seamen's Pension Fund, because their continuous certificates of discharge have been lost or destroyed while in the care of the master of the boat during war-time service or when shipwrecked; and can he introduce new regulations whereby such seamen can be supplied free of charge with a new certificate of discharge, covering the whole of their service at sea and not merely from the date of the voyage during which time the certificates may have been lost?
§ Captain WallaceIt is the practice of the Board of Trade to issue free of charge to a seamen who has lost his discharge book owing to shipwreck a new discharge book with sufficient particulars of previous2424W service—not exceeding three years—to show that he was continuously employed at sea (if that was the case) prior to shipwreck. In the case of those seamen who are applying to the Royal Seamen's Pension Fund for pensions and who are unable to produce evidence covering the whole of their service at sea, a reduced charge is made for supplying the missing evidence from the official records.