§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he proposes to consult the officials of the Mercantile Marine Service Association, and of the Imperial Merchant Service Guild in matters affecting the examination of and granting of certificates to officers of the merchant service, in view of the fact that the Board of Trade Nautical Advisers retired from the sea service sixteen, eighteen, and thirty-two years ago, respectively, and the fact that the conditions of service in the Mercantile Marine have greatly changed in recent years?
§ Sir A. GEDDESYes, Sir; the Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee, on which both the Mercantile Marine Service Association and the Imperial Merchant Service Guild are represented, is about to be reconstituted, and will be consulted in such matters. In the past it has been the practice of the Board of Trade, in matters of this kind, to consult, as a general rule, either the Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee or associations of persons chiefly concerned—as shipowners, ship's officers, or seamen. During the War many Regulations had to be issued in circumstances that made consultation of this kind impracticable. I cannot accept the suggestion that the Board's Nautical Advisers or other nautical officers are not fully competent to advise.