532 Correspondence on Magnetism of Ships, [Nov. 30, 



Memorandum. 



" The letter of the Secretary of the Marine Department of the Board 

 of Trade of the 25th of July, to the President, conveying the views of the 

 Board of Trade on the President's letter of the 25th of May, and the 

 Memorandum which accompanied it, seem to require some detailed obser- 

 vations. 



" To obviate the risk of misapprehension of the scope and object of the 

 Memorandum, it appears advisable to state that the main object which 

 the President and Council had in view, was not to suggest that the objects 

 desired might be obtained by framing definite and positive rules and 

 enforcing their observance by penalties, but primarily to show the import- 

 ance of some superintendence of the adjustment of the compasses, of at 

 least one important class of iron vessels, being entrusted to a department 

 specially constituted for the purpose, and to point out some of the ad- 

 vantages which might be expected to flow directly and indirectly from 

 such a department. The appointment of an officer, with proper assistants, 

 for the purpose indicated, is not, it is apprehended, beyond the existing 

 powers of the Board of Trade, and would not, it is conceived, violate any 

 sound principle of political economy. 



" The President and Council believe that, in considering the appoint- 

 ment of such an officer a matter of paramount importance, they are sup- 

 ported by the judgment of the persons most competent to form an 

 independent opinion. They have in the former Memorandum referred to 

 the opinion expressed by the Liverpool Compass Committee. Since that 

 Memorandum was submitted to the Board of Trade, the Council have found 

 that a similar opinion was expressed so long ago as the year 1839, by 

 the Astronomer Royal, who then addressed to the Admiralty a Memorial 

 of a formal character, of which one of the conclusions was, 



" ' That it is expedient that the general superintendence of the compass 

 in iron ships, for several years at least, be entrusted to some person 

 appointed by the Government.' 



" The 'Admiralty declined to appoint such an officer for the Mercantile 

 Marine ; but the very system recommended was introduced shortly after- 

 wards into the Royal Kavy, where experience has shown the very great 

 advantages to be derived from it, and that in a service in which, if 

 anywhere, obedience to positive rules without the intervention of a super- 

 intendent might have been supposed attainable. The Astronomer Royal has 

 recently expressed his adherence to the opinion so expressed by him. 



" The President and Council in the former Memorandum ventured to 

 call attention to the duties in respect of the adjustment of the compasses 

 of sea-going passenger-steamers, imposed by the Legislature on the Board 

 of Trade, and to the imperfect mode in which those duties are at present 

 discharged. 



