In the year 1854 the various Acts of Parliament relating to Merchant Ship- ping and Navigation which, from time to time from the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had been enacted, were, for the most part, repealed and consolidated in a new Act entitled, in brief, " The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854." Amendments to that Act, and various other Acts relating to merchant shipping, have since been enacted; and it is now proposed to repeal and consolidate those Acts in a new one, the short title of which will be " The Merchant Shipping Act, 1870" Some idea may be formed of the vast and complicated nature of the interests to be protected from the fact that, simplified and consolidated as are the enactments embodied in this Bill, it yet contains no less than 18 parts, divided into 733 clauses, and 19 schedules, the whole occupying 340, quarto pages. The enumeration of even the headings of the various subjects that are thus legally provided for occupies, it will be seen, a considerable space in our columns; yet we are not prepared to say that there is any prolixity or over-legislation throughout the Bill. For it must be remembered that so enormous is the trade of this country, that its merchant shipping now nearly, if not quite, equals that of all the rest of the world; and that there are thus, as it were, two British empires to be governed and legislated for—the one on the land, and the other on the sea.

Those clauses which especially refer to wrecks, to the means for preventing them, and to those provided for the rescue of ship- wrecked persons, form that portion of the Act in which we are more particularly in- terested; nevertheless, since the general wel- fare and efficiency of the mercantile marine, both as regards ships and men, must to a great extent indirectly affect the number of disasters at sea, it may be difficult to say what parts of the Bill, if any, do not more or less- remotely influence the number of lives that are lost.

Looking, then, to the general interest of the subject, and to give the ordinary reader a general idea of the character of this important Bill, we preface our remarks on those parts which more directly affect us with an enumeration of the headings of the several subjects dealt with :— PART I.—British Ships : their Ownership, Measure- ment, and Registration. Measurement of Tonnage.

Registry of British Ships.

Certificate of Registry.

Transfers and Transmissions.

Mortgages.

Certificates of Mortgage and Sale.

Registry anew, and transfer of Registry.

Registry, Miscellaneous.

National Character.

Liabilities of Owners.

Forgery.

Evidence.

PART II.—Masters and Seamen.

Local Marine Boards.

Certificates of Masters, Mates, and Engineers.

Mercantile Marine Offices.

Apprenticeships to the Sea Service.

Engagements of Seamen.

Agreements for Service.

Production of Agreements, Certificates, and Official Logs.

Allotment of Wages.

Discharge, and Payment of Wages in the United Kingdom.

Legal Eights to Wages.

Mode of Recovering Wages.

Wages and Effects of Deceased Seamen.

Remittance of Wages, Savings' Banks, Insu- rance, and Annuities for Seamen.

Relief to Seamen's Families out of Poor Rates.

Leaving Seamen Abroad.

Volunteering into the Navy.

Provisions, Health, and Accommodation.

Power of Making Complaint.

Protection of Seamen from Imposition.

Discipline.

Naval and Consular Courts on the High Seas and Abroad.

Official Logs.

Registration of, and Returns respecting Seamen.

East Indies and Colonies.

PART HI.—Safety and Prevention of Accidents.

Regulations for Preventing Collision.

Equipments and Safety.

Survey of Passenger Steamers.

Keeping Order in Passenger Steamers.

Foreign Passenger Steamers.

Accidents.

Carrying dangerous Goods.

Chain Cables and Anchors.

PART IV. —Delivery of Goods and Lien for Freight.

PART V.—Liability of Shipowners.

PART VI.— Wrecks, Casualties, and Salvage.

Inquiries respecting Casualties to Shipping.

Vessels in Distress.

Wreck.

Unclaimed Wreck.

Offences in respect of'"Wreck.

Salvage of Life and Salvage within the United Kingdom.

Procedure in Salvage generally.

Salvage by Her Majesty's Ships.

Jurisdiction of Courts of Admiralty in Salvage.

Appointment of Receivers of "Wreck.

Fees of Receivers of Wreck.

Miscellaneous.

PART VII.—Pilotage.

Application.

Trinity House.

Provisional Orders.

General Powers of Pilotage Authorities.

Returns by Pilotage Authorities.

Licensing of Pilots.

Rights of Pilots.

Pilotage Dues.

Compulsory Payment of Pilotage Dues, and Exemption therefrom.

Licensing of Masters and Mates.

Offences of Pilots.

Pilot Boats.

Trinity House Pilot Fund.

PART VIII.—Lighthouses, Lights, and Sea-marks.

Construction of this Part.

Management of Lighthouses and Sea-marks.

Construction of New Lighthouses and Sea- marks, by General Lighthouse Authorities.

General Light Dues.

Local Lighthouse Authorities.

Construction of Lighthouses, &c., by Local Authorities.

Control of General over Local Authorities.

Surrender of Local Lighthouses.

Colonial Lighthouses and Sea-marks.

False Lights and Damage to Lighthouses.

PART IX.—Conservancy.

Preliminary Inquiries.

Regulations as to Work.

Obstructions to Navigation.

Removal of Shingle.

Transfer to Board of Trade of Powers under Existing Special Acts.

PART X.—Harbours.

Provisions applicable to Existing and Future Harbour Authorities.

Harbour Dues.

Accounts.

Officers and Servants.

Harbour Regulations.

Bye-laws.

Warehouses, Cranes, &c.

Life-boats.

Tide Gauges and Barometers.

Damage in Harbour.

Her Majesty's Customs.

Sites for Protecting Batteries.

Special Acts for Harbours.

Subjection of Harbour to General Acts.

PART XI.—Loans to Harbour Authorities.

PART XII.-—Powers for Harbours by Provisional Orders.

PART XIII.—Local Charges on Shipping.

Dues—General.

General Savings.

Liability for Dues.

Dues Levied on Ships not to be sold or charged.

Transfer of Shipping "Dues to "Harbour Autho- rities.

PART XIV.— The Board of Trade.

PART XV.—Mercantile Marine Fund.

Maintenance and Application.

PART XVI.—Provisional Orders.

PART XVII.—Legal Procedure.

PART XVIII.—Miscellaneous.

Coasting Trade.

The first part of this Bill, comprising 108 clauses, forms a very complete code, embracing all questions concerning property in Ships, their Identity, Ownership, Re- gistry, Measurement for Tonnage, &c.

The second part, in no less than 211 clauses, includes all matters connected with Masters and Seamen, and is of a very com- prehensive character, as will have been seen in the above enumeration of the many sub- jects on which it treats. Its importance cannot, indeed, be exaggerated, for the comfort, happiness, efficiency, and characters of the vast body of men who work our Merchant Fleet, and who represent our country, and bring credit or discredit on it, as the case may be, in every part of the globe, mast be very much affected by the laws by which they are governed.

The clauses in this part, having reference to the entry, engagements, and wages of seamen, are very complete.

Those for facilitating apprenticeships of pauper boys by the " Guardians of the Poor," and for their subsequent protection, are also appropriate. We should, however, have been glad if a modification of the former system of apprenticeship, which compelled every ship to carry apprentices proportional to her tonnage, and which maintained a sufficient supply of good sea- men, could have been again introduced; but we presume the government have not felt able to do so, although the gradual deterio- ration of our merchant sailors, since that invaluable nursery for rearing them was broken up, at the desire of the British ship- owner, has been a matter of general remark and regret.

The clauses from 261 to 268, for the " Protection of Seamen from Imposition," are all that could be wished for. A valu- able addition to the previously existing law on this subject is the empowering all har- bour authorities to license persons to act as porters for the conveyance of seamen's lug- gage and effects from their vessels to their lodgings on shore, on their being discharged.

This will be a great boon to the merchant seamen, especially at the greater ports, where they and their effects are commonly pounced on, and taken almost forcible possession of, by unlicensed ruffians em- ployed by the crimps and lodging-house keepers, for the purpose of securing them and conveying them to their infamous dens.

A respectable body of licensed porters might, on the other hand, be made a medium for placing the often weak and easily seduced sailor in respectable quarters, both to his own and his country's good.

The clauses from 269 to 301, for en- forcing Discipline, and establishing Naval and Consular Courts on the High Seas and Abroad, do not call for any special comment.

Terms of imprisonment and forfeiture of wages constitute the modes of punishment of the seamen, whilst masters are liable, in certain cases, to be superseded from the command of their ships.

We next come to one of those portions of i the Bill which more especially interest us, viz., those which affect human life.

Part three, entitled Safety and Prevention of Accidents, contains 58 clauses. The first clauses under this head have reference to collisions, the rules for preventing which are embodied in the 12th schedule, which demies the character and position of the lights to be carried in the night, the cha- racter of fog-signals, and the position in which the helm is to be put on board vessels whenever in danger of coming into contact on passing each other in contrary or transverse directions. These rules—which are the same that have been in use since June, 1863, and which will be found in the 49th Number of this Journal, with accom- panying diagrams—we have not space to enumerate in detail. They appear to be suitable and judicious.

As casualties from collision are almost of necessity always on the increase, owing to the rapidly increasing number of vessels that, as the population of the world multiplies, are engaged in supplying their mutual wants, so the precautionary means for lessening the number of such disasters, and those for preserving the lives that are put in peril by them, become also matter of ever-increasing importance. Not the least important of the clauses in this part of the Bill are the 330th and 331st, the former of which requires the person in charge of any vessel coming into collision with another to use his utmost endeavour, so far as the safety of his own vessel will allow him to do so, to save those on board the other vessel from any danger caused by the collision. It also makes him liable to the cancelling or suspension of his certificate for any neglect in this respect.

We think that this clause might, without injustice, have been made still more strin- gent, and have made the master of a vessel guilty of wilful neglect in this particular, liable to imprisonment. For to desert a sinking ship, and deliberately leave those on board it to perish, which has often been done, can be characterised as nothing else than wilful homicide of the most dastardly and hard-hearted kind.

The 331st clause requires a detailed ac- count of every collision to be immediately afterwards entered in the official log of every vessel surviving the accident, and makes the master liable to a penalty of 201. for neglect- ing to do so.

Then follows a most important clause, No. 332, entitled " Seaworthiness and Equipments." It is divided into nine heads, the— 1st. Eequires that every sea-going ship shall be provided with lights, and with the means for making fog-signals.

2nd. That she shall have a scale of feet showing her draught of water accurately, cut or painted on her stem and stern.

3rd. That she shall be provided with efficient boats, rafts, or other appliances for saving life, kept at all times fit and ready for use, and supplied with all requisites for use, sufficient in numbers and of the size and description proper for the service, regard being had to the number of persons carried, the size of the ship, the nature and devia- tion of the voyage, and like circumstances, and with a sufficient number of life-buoys and life-jackets for use in emergency.

4th. That, if carrying more than ten passengers, she shall, besides the above, be provided with a life-boat or sufficient num- ber of life-boats, kept at all times fit and ready for use.

5th. That if built wholly or partly of iron, she shall have her compasses adjusted from time to time.

6th. That if a steam-ship, she shall be provided with a safety-valve on each boiler, i so constructed that the weight thereon can- ' not be increased when the steam is up, and that the pressure of steam in the boiler can- i not be increased beyond a safe and proper amount, &c. I 7th. That every such ship shall be pro-vided with proper pumps, with a hose j capable of being connected with the engines of the ship, and adapted for extinguishing fire in any part of the ship.

8th. That every such ship employed to carry passengers shall be provided with twelve blue-lights or twelve port-fires, and a cannon, with not less than twelve charges of powder, for making signals of distress.

9th. That every coasting steam-ship carry- ing passengers shall be provided with such shelter for their protection as shall be re- quired by the Board of Trade.

We deem some of these requirements of such importance as to require some com- ments on them.

We think that the value of the 2nd would have been much enhanced if it had made it obligatory on every British vessel to have a load water-line cut and painted along its whole length, beyond which it should be illegal to immerse her ; and that any officer under the Board of Trade, the Customs, or Admiralty, should have authority to detain such vessel in port until lightened, and the authorized load-line raised to the water's edge.

The 3rd and 6th requirements form a considerable step in advance on the corre- sponding ones in the " Merchant Shipping Act of 1854;" but they nevertheless have the same fatal defect of vagueness which neutralized to so great an extent the value of the latter, inasmuch as that they contain no definition of what are efficient life-boats, life-jackets, or life-buoys. An old authority says, " If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?" So we can affirm, to a certainty, that no efficient life-boats, life-buoys, or life- jackets will be provided on board merchant- vessels unless some definition be made of their character; and we think that any member of Parliament who should succeed in obtaining such a definition when the Bill is passing through the House of Commons, will be entitled to the gratitude of all mer- chant-seamen.

We will remark on each of these im- portant instruments separately :— LIFE-BOATS.—As regards life-boats: it is not likely that an efficient ship's life- boat will ever be generally introduced in passenger-ships, unless the character of such boats is defined,—firstly, because there is a general ignorance on the subject; and, secondly, because shipowners will not incur any expense that they can avoid in the equipment of their ships.

It is generally supposed that all that is required to constitute a suitable ship's life- boat is to place in it buoyant matter, in the shape of a long bag of cork-shavings lashed along each side of the boat, beneath the thwarts, or two tin or zinc cylinders, suffi- ciently large to prevent its actually founder- ing if filled with water. This, however, is a great mistake, since unless a boat floats sufficiently high to be manageable after being filled by a sea, it is nothing better than a bad life-buoy. Also, unless the sides of a boat are completely occupied by air compartments or water-tight empty 'cases, of sufficient width to prevent the water in it from rushing from side to side, it will not only be unmanageable, from having insuffi- cient buoyancy, but its lateral stability will be so slight, that any moderately rough sea will suffice to upset it. So also, to prevent the rush of water from one end of the boat to the other, and thus to afford longitudinal stability as well as additional buoyancy, the extreme bow and stem of the boat should be completely occupied to the level of the thwarts with similar water-tight cases or compartments.

Unless a merchant-ship's life-boat be made of iron, detached cases formed of galvanized iron or other water-tight material, un- covered, so as to be visible, and so as to let the air circulate round them, and portable, so that they might be occasionally displaced, examined, and painted, are undoubtedly better than mere compartments, which would be liable to become leaky. We think, how- ever, that by far the best material for a merchant-vessel's life-boat is the corrugated galvanized iron, on the plan of the American, Francis, as such boats are perhaps the only ones that will stand every change of weather, from extreme cold to continual exposure to a tropical sun, and from wet to dry, without ever becoming leaky; and their great strength and durability would in the end make them as cheap, or cheaper, than wooden boats of similar dimensions.

We are not aware of the exact price which such boats would cost, but efficient wooden life-boats, with water-tight cases, ought to be built for thirty shillings per foot, or less.

Whether, however, made of wood or iron, an efficient ship's life-boat might be thus shortly defined :— 1st. To have the extreme bow and stern, from the floor to the level of the thwarts, each occupied by a detached metallic or other water-tight case, not less than one-eighth of the length of the boat.

2nd. To have similar water-tight cases to occupy the extreme sides of the boat, from the floor to the thwarts, each case to be not less than one-fifth of the corresponding part of the width of the boat, throughout the length, between the air-cases at the bow and stern.

LIFE-BUOYS.—Thus also with regard to life-buoys. A life-buoy of a very superior description has been recently patented by Messrs. WELSH and BODRCHIER, which will probably be generally adopted for the Royal Navy; but its great cost—no less than SOL —makes it unadapted for general use in the merchant-service. The ordinary ring life- buoy, if made of solid cork, and of sufficient' size to pass over the shoulders of a stout man, is perhaps all that could be insisted on, but it might be thus defined :— To be wade of solid cork, covered with painted calico or other cloth; the interior of the ring to be not less than 18 inches in diameter; and to have not less than 36 Ibs.

of buoyant property, i.e., to be capable of supporting not less than 36 Ibs. of iron at the water's surface.

LIFE-BELTS.—So again, as regards life- jackets, or life-belts, if no official definition is given of what will be considered efficient, to a certainty the greater number of those carried on board our merchant-vessels will be comparatively worthless, and the letter of the Bill will be carried out without the production of its intended effect. We can see no difficulty in the way of thus defining such a life-jacket as should be held to be efficient by the constituted authorities, since really efficient ones can be made for five shillings each, which is so low a price that no shipowner could complain of having to pay it. An efficient life-belt for ship's use may be thus defined :— To be made of solid cork, uncovered, so as to be open to inspection, and easy of repair. To have not less than 20 Ibs.

of buoyant property, and to be so fitted as to be secured closely under the arms, and to be prevented from slipping down round the hips of the wearer. It should likewise be required that the life-belts should be kept in a convenient place on the upper deck, or within reach from the upper deck, so that they could be quickly obtained and put on, in the event of any sudden emergency, such as a colli- sion, or the striking on a sunken rock. ••; ] As before stated, we think it a great step I in advance that vessels should be required to carry life-belts at all; we trust, however, that it is not yet too late to make the re- quirement still more effective by adding to this clause some such definition as the above. The clauses 363 to 377 refer to a very important subject—the testing of anchors and cables. Our space will not admit of our enlarging upon them. Their practical ap- plication is, however, embodied in the 374th clause, which is as follows:— " It shall not be lawful for any maker of or dealer in chain-cables or anchors to sell or contract to sell for the use of any vessel any chain-cable whatever, or any anchor exceeding in weight 1681bs., unless such cable or anchor has been previously tested and duly stamped, in accordance with the provisions of this Act; and if any person acts in contravention of this provision he shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding 50?." As there have, probably, been few other causes that have occasioned more loss of lives and property than defective anchors and cables, the great importance of this requirement will be readily conceived.

These clauses conclude Part III. of the Bill. We must reserve our remarks on those portions of the remaining parts which come within our sphere for our next Number.

The Bill will, no doubt, pass through Parliament'next Session, and it is to come into operation on the 1st of May, 1870.