What has induced the Board of Trade to make an
enemy of Mr. Plimsoll ? It is evident that some one at -the Board has done so, for in declaring his intention to appeal to the Prime Minister, and never to go to the Board of Trade again, he said that "the Board of Trade would move-Heaven and Earth to stop his proceedings." He instanced as a proof of the animus of the Board of Trade the case of the inquiry into the Sea Queen, which, -as afterwards explained by Mr. Chichester Fortescue in the House, seems to be rather a case in which the Board of Trade did. Mr. Plim- soll's work very efficiently, than one hi which it tried to screen the -offenders. But unreasonable offence does not appear to be taken solely on Mr. Plimsoll's side ; for; in admitting on Monday night that' ,Mr. -Paragon had called attention to an unseaworthy ship (the Hirteloo), Mr. Chichester Fortescate said, an if with a kind of reproach, "This was the first cage in which the honourable Member for Derby had given information enabling the depart- ment -to-detain an unseaworthy ship." Surely Mr. Plimsoll is under no obligation to find out unseaworthy ships for the Board of Trade?
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