On Tuesday the President of the Board of Trade introduced
a Bill to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894-1901. Its main intention is to compel -foreign vessels to con- form to the rules we have made for the safety of our t w-n. merchant navy, and thereby to deprive them of the artificial advantage which their former irresponsibility gave them. Formerly overloading in foreign ships could not be detected owing to the absence of discs, and our provisions as to unseaworthiness did not apply. Now our regulations on both subjects are to be applicable to all foreign vessels arriving at
and sailing from British pbrts. So also with such matters as the stowage of grain to prevent its shifting, the provision of life-saving appliances, and the overcrowding of emigrant ships- On the question of the employment of foreign seamen, Mr. Lloyd-George informed the House that whereas in 1870 there were 200,000 British sailors in our merchant navy and 18,000 foreigners, the figures were now 176,000 Britons, 39,000 foreigners, and 42,000 Lascars. To prevent risk to a ship's safety the Bill provides that no foreign seaman shall -be engaged unless he is capable of understanding English words of command. "Mr. Lloyd-George earnestly besought ship- owners to do what they could, by the development of the apprenticeship system, to make good the deficiency of British seamen, and announced that the Bill would provide for a more stringent oversight by Government inspectors of the provisions for the sailors' comfort.
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