NAVIGATION CONFERENCE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 95, 24 April 1907, Page 5

NAVIGATION CONFERENCE.

GUARDING SEAMEN AGAINST

ACCIDENT,

THE LOAD-LINE.

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY ON

STEAMERS.

f>BE6S ASSOCIATION-! (Received April 23, 9,27 p,m.) ;•.;•■ LONDON, April 23. The Navigation Conference lias resumed.

Sir William Lyric moved tihat compulsory insurance for seamen Is desirable. •..- He thought £he.Qoverument ought to pay half the premiums.

Mr Hughes thought the Australian people would object to pay. t :

Ultimately, at the instance of Sir Joseph WaTd, Mr Hughes and Mr D;agald Thomson, a motion was adoptesl recommending the Common wealth to extend the benefits of tike Workmen's Compensation Acts to seamen, as already done in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

The shipowners dissented, but approved the British department scheme of compulsory insurance, r-ecammen-ded in 1904 i'

Sir William Lyne proposed thai the North Atlantic mark apply to ships leaving Australia via Cape Horn.

The Board of Trade expert considered this unnecessary, as steamers leaving Australia were lightened fay two feet through coal consumption "before reaching the storm Area. At Mr Thomson's suggestion, aTe'solution was carried that the Commonwealth adopt the provisions srf t~he New Zealand Act regarding the loadline. The Imperial delegates abstained from voting, believing that the decision rested with the colonial Governments. Sir William Lyne withdrew Ms motion for a light load-line for ships in ballast, when the Board of Trade announced that the House of Lords Committee in 1903 reported it to be unnecessary. v / Sir William Lyne said that Australia could deal with the .matter if necessary. Mr Hughes concurred. The Conferen-e admitted that Arastialia possessed authority to provide that all seamen be engaged through Government offices; also to -.abolisii advance not as and restrict tfee allotineaat of-notes to relatiors.

Sir William Lyp.e did not press his motion insisting that ail vessels constructed after a certain date should be :jitted with .••watertight eornpartmentsi when the Conference admitted that it :vas purely a local matter within the Commonwealth's jurisdiction. Sir Wm* Lyne withdrew Ms motion ' for (the compulsory fitting ,©f large steamers with wireless telegraphy, accepting Mr Thomson's motion that the Board of Trade and the Australian a»d New - Zealand Governments consider ;,the desirability of the provision of v.wireless telegraphy aboard passen■ger ifeMps; which was carried. t ••'Sir .William Lyne's motion iia favour sof aff«^ding third-class engineer f aci-■litiesx-tb; qualify for higher-grad6 cer*tfic.ate.s was not pressed, on the Board fiOiiaTde's promising to consider what rgtti^f w:as possible. .Sir "William Lyne proposed to aboliah iHnprisonment for desertion. He dedtereld ..that he did not desire to plamxfox&ign :-hips in:a better or wor>=e posi&on than British. Mr iNorman Hill objected. Seamen were allowed to go free if they forfeited iSbeir wages, j«it if a seaman prove! mndesirable ishe shipowners were £>mil .for leaving £iim behind. Mr Haughes interjected: "You are] between .the devil and €ie deep sea, I so:'there!r w ; Ultima»t%, on Mr Hughes's suggestion, the motion was am&tided and carried as Mlows: —» Tha;t iimprisonment for deser-tion be abolished in tie country Vkece a .seaman k engaged, except whej» ®iq seaman, .aji^er negotiating an -Advance note, wilfully or through misconduct fails *© join :tfie ship or deserts before the mte is payable; provide«ri that in respect to desertion from shops other than tkvle ) roistered in the Commonwealth or I wS.iose final port of discharge, of crc^ | is tthe Comiru.nwealt&t, deserters shiM be j>lace aboard such vessels upon reques& by competent authority tint of tsne Consul in the ,eg.se of foreie;B, ! andfhe captain in the .case of a BH£ish sHp." The ©c'lomal delegates refused to aeceiit Mr Hill's rider providing that, if imprisonment for desertion wore | abolished, .the shipowner should be re- i Sieved of responsibility for the repat- I riation of tho deserter, and relieved . of any State penalty. \ TJie Conference has adjourned uxifjl the S3th. .

CABLE NEWS.

i,BT 11/ECTRIC TKLEGEAPH.—COPrttIGHT. S