CO885-(1-2) — Page 231

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TILHC.O.

885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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dispense with them in particular instances. The Act for Registering British vessels, which is one of the Customs Acts, is in the nature of a sup- plement to all these Acts, since no ship can exercise the privileges which the Navigation Laws confer upon British ships, unless the pro- visions of the Registry Act have been complied with.

The general rule affecting the internal trade Interna! Trade.

of the empire is, that it must be carried on entirely in British ships, that is to say, in ships built in a British possession, or taken as prizes from the enemy, being owned, and having always being owned, entirely by British subjects, care being taken to prevent the repurchase of ships originally built in England, and sold to or cap- tured by foreigners. The ship must also be com- manded by a British master, and navigated by a crew of whom three-fourths at least are British. In the coasting trade of the United Kingdom the whole of the crew must be British subjects. In these regulations the term "British subjects" is very strictly construed.

It does not include the

natives of British India, a very numerous class of the subjects of the empire, and a class out of These which

come many excellent sailors.

persons may be owners of British ships, but they cannot be masters, or form part of the crew, within the limits of the except voyages

in

East India Company's charter, unless there be a certain proportion of European British Nor does it include subjects in addition. residents in the British dominions, unless they have been specially naturalized by the Imperial Legislature. No Act of Naturalization passed by a Colonial Legislature would entitle the per- son naturalized to be the owner or master of a ship, even for the purposes of the coasting trade of the colony in which he resided.

It may be proper here to notice a belief which commonly prevails, that a certain number of sea- men are required by law to be employed, in pro- I am not portion to the tonnage of the vessel. aware of the existence of any such law. There is a proviso in the Navigation Act (sec. 17), that if one British seaman be employed for every

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twenty tons of the ship's burden, the ship shall- be deemed to be duly navigated, although more than one-fourth of the crew should be foreigners; and under the Act 4 Geo. IV, c. 80, sec. 21, it is provided that if the ship be partly manned by Lascars, it shall be deemed duly navigated, if four British seamen are employed for every hundred tons, that is, one for every twenty-five tons. But both these enactments are permissive,

not compulsory.

The general rule that the internal trade of the British Empire must be confined to British ships, does not apply to our trade with our European dependencies, Malta, Gibraltar, and Heligoland, which is left perfectly free. There is also an ex- ception in the case of India. By the Act 59 Geo. III, 54, which is founded upon the Treaty of 1815 with the United States, vessels of the United States may trade between this country and the principal ports in India; and it is understood that the Queen has power to grant

a like privilege to the ships of other countries. At all events it has been so granted in several

cases.

With these exceptions the rule is uniform, and it is so stringent that it prevents the car- riage of goods from one British port to another

in foreign ships oven for the purpose of being ware- housed; whereas in the foreign trade of the United Kingdom any ships may bring goods here from

any foreign place to be warehoused, even in cases where the law prohibits their being entered for consumption.

Another rule which bears, though less directly, upon the internal trade of the empire, is that which prohibits the importation of the produce of Asia, or Africa, or America, from any part of Europe. The produce of Australia or Canada, if landed at a foreign port, cannot be brought to this country, even in the same ship which brought it from the country of its origin, though such ship would of course be British.

There is also another rule of a more limited character, which prohibits the importation of tea from any place lying between the Cape of Good Hope and westward thereof to the Straits of Magellan. Thus, tea could not be brought here from Canada or the West Indies in any ship.

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