The Voice of Their Masters. 



THE UNMASKING OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. 



"Yhe time has iirri\c(l wIumi all these matters should form the subjeit of a searching In()uirv before 

 a Commi>sion or Committee composed of members independent in every way of the shipping 

 interest, but at which the various representatives of the different sections of shipping should be invited 

 to submit their respective views." — Captain YiKVivsmi'^ Reservation to Report of Advisory Committee. 



IN recent issues we have pointed out that the 

 Board of Trade Marine Department might as 

 well have been at the bottom of the sea for 

 any good it does or can do, and we have shown 

 that the whole of the business of the department 

 is in the hands of shipowners or those dependent 

 upon them. The Advisory Committee, of which 

 .Mr. Buxton says that it " has done very good service 

 indeed to the Board of Trade and the country at 

 large, and has shown how well qualified it was to 

 deal with these questions," is to all intents and purposes 

 a close corporation of shipowners. The secret meetings 

 do not allow of any real chance to the honest minority, 

 even although these minority members are the nearest 

 approach to public opinion .and guardians of publi(- 

 interests. We can quite well understand that the 

 Rt. Hon. .\. .M. Carl.sle signed a report he did not ap- 

 prove of. The overwhelming weight of the majority was 

 too much for him. And so matters have gone on, the 

 '^hipowning majority imposing its will upon the Board 

 of 'I'rade and drawing up its regulations for shipping. 



A BETRAYAL OF PUBLIC INTERESTS. 



We do not hesitate to say that no more scandalous 

 betrayal of public interests has ever come to light. 

 (iradually the Government Department ostensibly 

 entrusted with the control of British shipping has 

 handed this control over to the most interested parties 

 — finanrialK' and commercially interested. .\nd \\-X 

 the greatness of the British Kmpire has been built up 

 by the mercantile marine, and much of her wealth is 

 due to it to-day. Are wc to remain quiescent when 

 we sec this glorious source of greatness bound and 

 prostitu'ed to the wishes or good pleasure of a coterie 

 of shipowner-. ? The various concessions which the 

 Board of Trade has made from time to time to the 

 Shipping Kedcration, which are too long to deal with 

 here, indicate dearly enough the trend of affairs. But 

 the Advisory Committee was the nuisterpiece, %\nv\\ 

 it gave absolute control with a semblance of technical 

 representation. With its advent the Board of Trade 

 Marine Department ceased to be of any importance 



whatever, even in theory. 'J'hey had sold the pass 

 to the enemy, and to-day they dare not do anything 

 save exert every effort to whitewash everybody 

 concerned. 



HELPLESS BEFORE THE SHIPOWNERS. 



To blame the shipowners would only be to pre- 

 pare a rod for their own backs; to confess that they 

 were doing nothing to safeguard the real interests of 

 British shipping would be to lay themselves open to 

 impeachment. Therefore, Lord Mersey's Court of 

 Inquiry whitewashed all and sundry, save only Captain 

 Lord, who, however, is still at lurge, although ironically, 

 no doubt, the Board of Trade has notified tho.sc con- 

 cerned that those guilty of a crime such as his are 

 punishable by two years' impriKonment ! But it was 

 not thought that Lord Mersey's decision and report 

 went far enough to give the shipowner security 

 from reform or irtiprovements tending to safety at 

 sea, but costing money. And so the Advisory Com- 

 mittee, that pa.cked jury of shipowning interests, Wiis 

 supposed to bring out its report, leaving matters 

 just as they were lieforc. The Bulkhead Committee 

 and the Lifeboat Committee were to follow suit, and 

 then, public interest having waned, nothing would 

 ha\e been done. 



INDEPENDENT CONDE.MN ATION KRO.M WITHIN. 



But for once the Board of Trade's masters reckoned 

 without their host, and the very act of publication 

 showed how worthless the report really was. All the 

 independent members, the usually inarticulate 

 minority, signed with reservations, and Capt.iin 

 Hami)son, Kx-Chairman of the Merchant Service 

 Guild, a seaman of fifty years' experience, penned a 

 reservation which disposed once and for all of any 

 possible pretence on the part of the Board of Tnide 

 as to who were their masters and what value a practical 

 seaman put upon the disinterestedness of the Advisory 

 Committee. Before quoting the most striking points 

 of Captain Hampson's reservation, w<; would point 

 out that the t)nly shi,)owning member \\\\m inserted a 



