THIS Committee was appointed on the 2nd of May last to enquire into the existing laws and regulations regarding boats, life-buoys and other life-saving gear required to be carried by British merchant ships, and to report if any amendments are required therein.

The Blue Book, of about two hundred pages, in which the Committee's proceedings, the evidence they took, and their report are recorded, is certainly worthy of the attention of all interested in the welfare of our sailors, and of the thou- sands and tens of thousands of pleasure- or health-seekers, men of business, &c., who are so constantly passing to and fro on board English steamers; perhaps the two last classes should have been put first as being the most numerous, and having an equally strong personal interest in the question. Provided no accident occurs, and the ship arrives safely at her destination, theirs is certainly a case in which it is " folly to be wise" because " ignorance is bliss," for the knowledge of how slight a chance there was of escape, in case of collision, fire or any other of the accidents common to shipping, whilst enough to check in some degree the spirits of the most light-hearted, might well prove a sore burden to those of nervous or fanciful temperament, whose one anxiety would be to reach the end of the voyage.

The list of witnesses examined by the Committee comprises probably experts as competent to speak to all sides of the question, and to express the views of all interested, as could well be selected. In it are to be found well-known names representing the marine department of the BOARD OF TRADE, including the emigration department, also ship-builders, passenger steam- ship companies, and representatives of the associations of seamen formed for their own protection. Of course amongst these one could not but expect to find differences of opinion as to the best remedies for the existing evils, but the unanimity with which they condemn the present state of the law as " obsolete " and " inadequate " is very striking; when we consider, however, the grounds on which these opinions are based, we cannot but exclaim, Is this possible ? There can be but one reply, and that in the affirmative. As the law at present stands the upward, or largest limit of tonnage as the standard for governing the boat-power, if we may use the term, is " 1,500 tons and upwards." So that by law the 8,000-ton Etruria, is not required to carry more boats than a steamer one- fifth her size. Again the law makes no difference between ships of the same size loaded with wood, coal, or any other merchandize, and those loaded with hundreds of human beings—frequently | more than a thousand—with the one exception of emigrant ships, and in that case a most inadequate addition is made. With a discrimination of which one hardly sees the force, the law distinguishes between third- and first-class passengers, the latter being looked upon as able to protect themselves, whilst the former require the protection of the law; not that this appears to us at present to increase materially their prospect of safety in case of casualty, because the carrying capacity of boats required varies from 12 to 25 per cent only of the number of people allowed to be carried, and the only additional life- saving gear required by law is two life- buoys and a life-belt for each of the crew of the life-boats, the largest number of life- boats any vessel can be compelled to carry being two. It is but just to the large passenger - carrying steam - packet companies to point out here that they do not shelter themselves behind these requirements but provide (although in very varying quantities) life-saving gear in excess of them. This is entirely voluntary on their part, and doubtless is not done merely from disinterested motives, but also to attract passengers to their vessels.

Passing from passenger to cargo ships it is found that in many cases the scale of boats allotted to them is almost as far in excess of the requirements as it is under them in passenger ships, consequently the law is seldom if ever obeyed, and it provides no machinery whatever for enforcing its own provisions. Even supposing the Act to be obeyed and the requisite number of boats to be on board, there is no pro- vision whatever for requiring that they shall be kept ready for any emergency, and as a matter of fact they generally are not.

In sailing ships a boat carried on " davits " ready for service, is the rare exception and not the rule, the usual place of the majority is bottom up on beams above the deck, whence it is a difficult task to get them into the water, and when there in all probability they will hardly float from the long exposure of their bottoms to sun and weather. In the case of the ill-fated Kapunda and the Ada Melmare it took the latter vessel half-an-hour to get one boat out to send to the rescue of the unfortunate emigrants whose ship she had run into and sunk. According to the evidence of one of the witnesses examined, the unreadiness for work of the boats on board many cargo-steamers is equally striking. The boats are never moved or put into the water from one year's end to the other, consequently the different parts of the apparatus for doing so, which should be movable, become fixed with paint, rust, &c., so that when suddenly required the boats are useless. This witness quoted one case that occurred on the ship to which he belonged, of a boat being put on board into a place from which it was simply im- possible to swing it out and lower it into the water, because it was too long to pass out between the davits. This boat had been lifted on board by a crane when new, and had never been put in the water, but remained in her place until quite rotten! We suppose it was only natural, amongst so many experts, that a difference of opinion should exist as to the remedies for this obsolete and unsatisfactory state of the law, but the Committee would have found it no easy task to reconcile the different views expressed. For instance, one witness was of opinion that the fact that of 133,472 lives endangered in British vessels in nine years, 107,844 were saved, and of these nearly three- fifths, or 60,231, were saved by ships' own boats, proved that no one could say that the boats had been an utter failure.

We can but think this a fair assumption, for as this large proportion was saved under a state of the law shown to be " obsolete and inadequate," and not calculated to produce efficiency, what proportion might reasonably have been expected to have been saved under laws requiring greater readiness and efficiency ? Another witness considered it undesirable to have more boats on board than •would admit of putting four seamen from the ship's crew in each boat. On the question of a life-belt for each passenger, he could not say, as a sailor, it commended itself to him, but, if the travelling public required it, he thinks it better to let them have it. Another witness, of great, experience, said he did not think there was any occasion for further legislation as regards boats. Another witness considered four seamen per boat necessary; again another witness says: "My opinion is that when passengers want to take to the boats in the ocean, the fewer seamen to go in the boats the better; one man is enough, I think."' This same witness is the only one who refers to the use of oil as a protection to a boat in mid-ocean.

However, if the Committee had a difficult task to perform, they were certainly equal to it, and it is to be sincerely hoped, in the interests of British seamen, that their very valuable recommendations may be carried out with as little delay as practicable, for the inquiry discloses a state of the j law anything but desirable in this great j maritime country. At the same time, we ! cannot but think it unfortunate that one I very important auxiliary in saving life at sea, viz., the proper division of ships into compartments by watertight bulkheads, was found to be beyond the scope of their reference. The evidence given respecting this point, sketchy as it necessarily was, showed of what importance the subject was thought, and warrants our expressing a hope that it may not be allowed to drop. We regret that want of space prevents our printing the Report in fall, and that we can only refer shortly to some of its provisions.

The Committee commence by pronouncing the existing Acts, so far as they relate to the matters referred to them, as in- adequate, and not suited to the requirements of the modern mercantile marine, and that they ought, therefore, to be amended. They recommend that all shipping should be classed according to its occupation, and that the boats and life-saving gear of cargo-vessels should j be subject to official inspection; they also I consider the evidence given them shows j the necessity for new regulations respecting boats. They further very properly recommend that the boats of all vessels over 100 tons register, together with their davits, falls, and all gear connected with them, should be carefully inspected periodically. They consider rafts might be usefully employed on an emergency; also that in ships carrying passengers all seats, chairs, stools, lockers, and other movable articles on deck, should be made buoyant, so as to be capable of supporting one or more persons in case of emergency ; also that the number of life-buoys to be carried should vary according to the size of the vessel, and that there should be a sufficient number of life-belts, or other similar life-preservers, for all on board.

They recognize the practical impossibility of large passenger-steamers having sufficient boat accommodation for all the passengers they carry ; they therefore recommend that all sea-going passenger ships should be required to carry such boats and other life-saving apparatus as would in the aggregate best provide for the safety of all on board in moderate weather. One of the most important of their recommendations, is that for dealing efficiently with the various points alluded to; this it is proposed to do by means of a committee of fifteen, to be appointed by the President of the Board of Trade, and com- posed of equal numbers of representatives of shipbuilders, shipowners, Seamen and Marine Insurance Companies. The rules of such committee to be sanctioned by the Board of Trade, and to be liable to the usual challenge provided by being laid upon the tables of both Houses of Parliament for a certain time before becoming law. The last clause of their report alludes to the necessity for proper subdivision of the vessel by bulkheads, so as to enable a ship after an accident to keep afloat some length of time (at least), in order to enable the various life-saving agencies to be brought into play.

Naturally the whole success of these recommendations must depend upon the care and judgment with which the proposed rules are framed and carried into effect.

On the question of what forms a ship's life-boat there should be little or no room for difference amongst experts, but amongst life-belts there is more, because not only is it requisite they should have a certain floating power after a fixed time of immersion, but they must be of such a form, and so fitted, that they can be easily, readily and firmly attached to the body, this, again, not only by seamen, but by passengers, both men and women. Again, to be of use they must be so placed and kept as to be ready at any minute, and not as we once saw them, sewn up in canvas bags on battens between the deck-beams of the cabins; of little use would these have been, although we were told, with evident satisfaction, that these steamers carried a life-belt for every passenger. For any use they could possibly have been, they might as well have been stowed at the bottom of the hold.

Although there is great difference of opinion as to the probable use of portable rafts, we cannot but think they would be a wise provision, and, in spite of the evidence to the contrary, we cannot but hope to see part, if not the whole, of the roofs of deck-houses, &e., made available for this purpose. We remember in 1853 a small steamer, with a deck-house, run- ning between Charlotte Tower, Prince Edward's Island, and Picton, Nova Scotia, springing a leak at night in fine weather, and gradually sinking. The one boat left with the crew had, if we remember rightly, no passengers, and, although the loss of life was proportionately large and very distressing, a number of the unfortunate passengers who, by the rising of the water, were driven to the top of the deck-house, were rescued, in consequence,of the very cause of the catastrophe, viz., the rotten- ness of the vessel, through which the deck came off its supports, and floated when the vessel sunk; it eventually drifted ashore the next morning. The possibility of supplying all seats, &c., on deck with sufficient buoyancy to make them life-preservers is a, fait accompli, and this recommendation should be rigidly carried 'out.

Very many of the short passage steamers are paddle steamers, why should not paddle-box boats be required? It is, perhaps, true they would add slightly to the weight of the paddle-boxes, but they would immensely increase the boat-power of a steamer.

The Select Committee having been prevented from directly considering the important question of bulkheads, it is to be sincerely hoped that the subject may be taken up separately and decided upon speedily.