The question of pilotage was also one which received every consideration, the evidence showing that when a voluntary system prevailed, even where the navigation was difficult and, at times, dangerous, no inconvenience arose from the absence of legal compulsion for the employment of a pilot. Many of the members of the committee were of opinion that the whole pilotage of the kingdom should be thrown open; but no decided recommendation was offered, as it had been pretty clearly demonstrated in evidence that the compulsory system of pilotage still exercised at London, Liverpool, and Bristol, had worked in a manner satisfactory to those persons who were most directly interested in this matter.
Charges made by local authorities, now generally abolished;
The charges levied by local authorities on ships and goods entering or clearing from their ports, had so frequently been under the consideration of Parliament, that the Committee could do little more than refer to the various reports on this subject, and especially to that of the Royal Commissions of 1854, with the expression of their regret that not one of the recommendations of that commission had been carried into effect.[207]
as well as those of the Stade dues.
The Committee, after inquiring into the management of the Trinity Houses of Newcastle and Hull, and the nature of the charges levied by the Russian Company and by the King of Hanover on shipping, under the name of Stade dues, both of which have since then been happily abolished, reviewed our mercantile marine legislation since 1835, and were of opinion that, though, in many respects the measures adopted had been judicious and beneficial, a few had been carried to excess in matters of detail (an opinion very different to that which at present prevails in the House of Commons); nor, indeed, could they have arrived at any other conclusion, as various witnesses clearly showed that, in some instances, a zealous wish to accomplish improvements, and to protect the interests of the public, had led to the adoption of legislative measures of a too minute and restrictive character, and, above all, that any unnecessary interference as to how a ship should be built, fitted, manned, and navigated, was frequently attended with prejudicial consequences, while it had as frequently retarded beneficial advance.
The Report of 1860 generally accepted by the mercantile marine.
Such were the leading points of the report of the Merchant Shipping Committee of 1860. It seems to have satisfied all parties as far as anything could satisfy men whose policy had been ignored; at least no further inquiry into the state of British shipping, or for relief from oppressive and unjust burdens has since been considered either expedient or necessary. Indeed, the great majority of the recommendations have since been carried out by successive Governments. The Local Charges Bill, which had been referred to a Select Committee in 1856, was dealt with by separate inquiries; the important case of Liverpool occupying the whole of the Session of 1857, ultimately resulting in a reform of the Dock management, and in the transfer of the Liverpool town dues to the Dock estate.
In 1861, Mr. Milner Gibson, then President of the Board of Trade, introduced a Bill[208] by which most of the other grievances were removed. All taxes on shipping, raised for the purpose of granting pensions and other, so-called, charitable objects, were abolished; local differential charges on foreign shipping were, to a large extent, prohibited;[209] the passing tolls levied for the support of such harbours as Ramsgate, Dover, and Bridlington were swept away, and power (on the recommendation originally of the Harbours of Refuge Commission of 1854) was given to the Public Works Loan Commissioners to lend money for the improvement of trading harbours at a low rate of interest.[210] France, to whose shipping laws I shall hereafter refer, abolished her local charges and differential dues; Italy, in 1863, admitted British ships to national treatment; and Austria also, by treaty, in 1868, has followed her example.
Unfortunately, Shipowners are still taxed for the maintenance of the National lights; but, although the recommendations of various Committees have not in this respect been adopted, reductions in the charges levied have been made to no less an extent than 75 per cent, since 1853.[211] Great improvements have also been made since Mr. (now Lord) Cardwell put in motion this scale of reduction, which has proved so valuable in its results; since then no less than fifty-seven new lighthouses have been built, and fifteen new light ships moored on the coast, whilst thirty-seven old lighthouses have been rebuilt and re-organised at an aggregate cost of more than one million pounds sterling.
From 1860 the Shipowners of Great Britain, though they have experienced in their trade, like all other branches of trade, periods of depression, and rarely more so than at the present moment, have never looked backwards. All special and peculiar burdens having now been removed, their only present desire is, and it is not an unreasonable one, that they should be interfered with as little as possible—certainly not more so than is necessary for the protection of the public—in the management of their own affairs, and that they should have a fair and free field: they seek no favours.