Mr. MARK SYKESasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the recent case of one Joseph Dixon, tried before the stipendiary magistrate at Leeds on 20th July on a charge, under Section 111, Sub-section (4), of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, for the alleged offence of illegally supplying seamen to ships while not being licensed or otherwise qualified so to do, and to the fact that the accused was acquitted upon the ground that he was ignorant of the particular ships on which the seamen supplied by him were to sail, and upon the ground that he was employed to engage seamen by a duly licensed person; and whether, if Section 111 does not prohibit the engagement by any unlicensed person of men to serve at sea unless the specific ship upon which they are to serve is known to the person engaging them, he will be prepared to introduce an amending Bill with this object?
Mr. BUXTONFrom the information in my possession it appears that the magistrate found that the supply in this case was by Mr. Irvin, a duly licensed person, and not by Mr. Dixon.