THE NAVIGATION CONFERENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8392, 8 April 1907, Page 5

THE NAVIGATION CONFERENCE.

..Received Apri1.7,.5.39 p.m. LONDON, April.6. At the Navigation Conference, Sit \ VWilliam Lyne, with a-view to prevent- J ing crimping, moved that no seamen j be permitted to engage as an able ;j seaman aboard any British ship wh<? j - could not show that he was entitled j to that rating. .The motion was •amended by the addition of the words J ■"the, period ,of sea service being! .three .years." .The motion as j ..amended was carried. j Referring to the adoption of the ,| .manning scale for seamen and fire,men, Mr Hill explained that owing ] /to the enormous increase in labour- j saving appliances, a.manning scale, j based.on tonnage, coal consumption j jr.nd•.horse-power would prove a delu- j sion and act as a serious check to the j introduction of labour-saving appli- j ajices. He opposed a manning scale | for officeiv, and deck hands. j Australia's right k make a tnann- ! ing scale for colonial ships was not questioned. Mr W. M. Hughes contended that the Conference ought to approve of the principle of the manning scale for all British ships. He gave notice of motion approving of the adoption of the manning-scale'for all British ships, thus raising the question of the ftcopeof the Conference's powers. Sir William Lyne proposed that no person should be employed as an officer on board any British ship j registered in Australia or engaged in coastal trade who was not thoroughly conversant with the Eng- j dish language. j The motion was carried, though i Mr Hughes asked that a j ote should ] not be taken until the Conference i decided his motion regarding the j powers of the Conference. J Mr Smith, of the Board .of Trade, who is chairman, ruled that the Con- ] ference was not empowered to discuss j what the British mercantile marine should do. Mr Hughes i-tsrjected: "How, (then, is it passible to secure uniform legislation?'" Mr Hughes critic- \ ised the amazing declaration of Mr Lloyd George, President of the Board i of Trade, that there was no prospect of any alteration in, the British navigation laws for another twelve or twenty yearsMr Smith asked that the awkward | question be postponed. British ship- | owners contended that it was ab- j fiolutely impossible, with the United i Kingdom's "population, to maintain | the present mercantile marine with- j out employing foreigners and Lascars, j Owners were often ignorant as to j the ports their ships would visit. | Thus they would be unab'e to com- j ply with divergent standards and requirements, which must act as toll-Pars to the British marine and as a bounty to foreigners if the same ' disabilities were not imposed upon j them. It wa3 doubtful if the proposed wages obligation would be advantageous to Australia, as higher charges for oversea traffic were inevitable if oversea ships were compelled to abandon the Australian j coastal traffic. j Sir Joseph Ward moved that the | colonial limit of : accommodation j should apply to existing vessels except to those cases in which the Minister was satisfied that structural alterations were unreasonable, the shipowner having the right in all cases to appeal to the law. After a long discussion, a motion, moved by Mr Norman Hill, represent- | ing the shipowners, was substituted and carried, providing for the Australasian Governments, instead of imposing new conditions involving structural alterations to vessels bui't prior to the enactment of such conditions, should require that only existing vessels, which the local authorities consider unhealthy, should be brought into a sanitary and healthful condition to the satisfaction of the authorities. | Mr W. M. Hughes argued that the law ought to apply to all ships, but if the structural alterations were practically impossible the Minister might grant an exemption regarding the cubic space provided the sanitary arrangements and ventilation complied /with the new regulations. If necessary, Parliament would probably allow old ships two years to comply with the requirements of the law. On a division being taken, Messrs Hughes, Haveloek and Wilson disi sented from Mr Hill's motion.