Registry Ticke]
56
on the subject of the system of Register Tickets for British Seamen, established by the Act 7 and 8 Vict., cap. 112, from which it will be seen that my Lords have, with the concurrence of the Admir- alty, determined to exercise the powers given to them by the Act 13 and 14 Vict., cap. 93, sect. 32, and to dispense with the observance of so much of the Act 7 and 8 Vict., cap. 112, as relates to the Register Tickets in question from the 1st October next.
I am, therefore, to request you to move the Duke of Newcastle to give such instructions as may be necessary, in order to inform the Officers of Customs in the Colonies of this determination, so that they may not after the date above mentioned, or the time at which the instructions on the subject may reach them, require the production of the Register Tickets of Seamen under the 53rd and 56th Sections of the Act 7 & 8 Vict., cap. 112., or take any other steps founded on the continuance of the system.
As it is important that the records of the Merchant Seamen of the Country should be kept accur- ately, notwithstanding the discontinuance of Registration by Tickets, I am to request that the attention of the Colonial Officers of Customs may be called to the 75th Section of the Act 13 and 14 Vict, cap. 93., by which it is provided that if any Seaman on or before being engaged, makes a false statement of the name of his last ship or last alleged ship, or of his own name, he shall forfeit out of his wages, a sum not exceeding Five Pounds, and that the Officers in question may be instructed, when superin. tending engagements of Seamen, to call the attention of any man whom they have reason to suspect of making such false statement, to the penalty he incurs by so doing.
I am, &c.,
(Signed,)
T. H. FARRER Assistant Secretary.
H. Merivale, Esq.
&c. &c. &c. Colonial Office.
(Copy)
OFFICE OF COMMITTEE OF PRIVY COUNCIL FOR TRADE,
12th September, 1853.
SIR.I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, to request you to call the attention of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to the system of Registering Seamen by means of Tickets, under the Act 7 and 8 Victoria, cap. 112, and to the subsequent Act, 13 and 14 Victoria, cap. 93, sect. 32; by which power is given to the Board of Trade, with the concurrence of the Admiralty, to abolish this system.
This power my Lords are now desirous to exercise, if the Admiralty are prepared to give their
concurrence,
Among the various objects which were contemplated when the system was established, one of the most important was, no doubt, to assist in procuring Men for the Royal Navy, by affording means of identifying and tracing the Seamen engaged in the Merchant Service. Other objects which it has also been intended to answer, are to be found in the facilities it gives for tracing Seamen's Services, in order to prove their claims on the Merchant Seamen's Fund, for keeping a Record of character and conduct, and for checking desertion.
It is obvious that every one of these objects must fail, unless the system can be thoroughly and stringently carried into effect; and that if Seamen can under any pretence serve without Register Tickets, or if they have lost them, can procure other Tickets without being identified and traced, the system is in the proportion in which such practices prevail, rendered valueless. There is good reason to believe that such practices have hitherto prevailed to a very considerable extent, and it is also clear in
my Lord's opinion, that no measures of stringency which could be adopted, would effectually check them, even were the law as to the Manning of Merchant Ships to remain in its present condition. But the change in this law effected by the recent Act, 16 and 17 Vict., cap. 131, sect. 31, under which a British Ship Owner may, from the first October next, employ any number of Foreigners, materially increases the difficulty of carrying into effect the Law concerning Register Tickets. As every Master of a British Ship has hitherto been required to employ none but British Seamen in the Coasting Trade, and to have a proportion of three-fourths of his Crew British Seamen in the Foreign Trade; and as he could not engage any British Seamen without first procuring from him his Register Ticket, it follows that British Seamen could rarely obtain employment in British Ships without pro- ducing their Tickets. But, as the Law will stand from the first October, a Seaman who has lost, or does not choose to produce his Ticket, will merely have to state that he is a Foreigner, and the Master no longer limited to British Subjects, will be at liberty to accept him without requiring it, and will generally have no motive to require it. There is reason to believe that at present the penalties to which British Seamen are subjected for the nonproduction of the Register Ticket not unfrequently induce them to pass as Americans, and it is manifest that this tendency will increase, when the change above referred to, shall have taken place.
My Lords have laid great stress on this point, as it is the one which will principally engage the attention of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, but they desire me to add, that as regards the welfare and character of the Seamen, and of their Employers, and the Commercial interests of the Country, they do not hesitate to express their strong opinion that there are no objects attained by this system, which may not equally well be attained by other and better means, and that it is, on the other hand, a constant source of annoyance to the Seaman, and consequently proves a frequent cause of falsehood and immorality, as well as an inducement to seek employment under a Foreign Flag.