Page 183 - British Inquiry into Loss of RMS Titanic Day 19 - 22

of Trade. I am to add that, in considering the questions dealt with in this letter, the constitution of the Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee should be identical with that of the Committee as recently constituted for the purpose of considering an amendment of the Life-Saving Appliances Rules in connection with the Englehardt collapsible lifeboat.” Now, let us see. The result of that was that the Advisory Committee which as already stated, came into existence in accordance with the Statute of 1888, was asked to consider these questions, and in accordance with the scale which was imposed in that letter. The Commissioner: I have got that Report. The Attorney-General: Yes, but now I want your Lordship to have the letter of the 4th April. The Commissioner: The letter which you have just read? The Attorney-General: Yes, which includes the terms of reference and encloses the scale. The Commissioner: Is it the letter signed by Mr. Norman Hill? The Attorney-General: No. What I have read is a letter from the Board of Trade to the Advisory Committee which precedes all those, and which suggests or proposes to the Advisory Committee a new scale. The Commissioner: That is the 4th April. The Attorney-General: Yes. The Commissioner: The one I have is the 4th July. The Attorney-General: Yes. I wanted your Lordship to have that before you. This is only for present use; you shall have it all bound up in proper form. May I say, of course those copies which we are having printed will be supplied to all the Members of the Court. If you look at that letter you will see that encloses the scale proposed by the Board of Trade: “Minimum number of boats to be placed under davits on vessels of 10,000 tons to 50,000 tons and over.” Then it gives the scale. “Gross tonnage” beginning “50,000 and upwards, 45,000 and under 50,000, 40,000 and under 45,000, 35,000 and under 40,000, 30,000 and under 35,000, 25,000 and under 30,000, 20,000 and under 25,000, 15,000 and under 20,000, 12,000 and under 15,000, 10,000 and under 12,000.” The Commissioner: It is just the sort of Table that I suggested it would have been right to have made during the 18 years. 22423. (The Attorney-General.) Yes. Substantially, we may take it, it decreases in 5,000 tons, 30, 25, 20, 15, until you get to vessels of 15,000 and under 20,000 tons, and then from that the gradation is a little less steep; it is from 12,000 tons to 15,000 and 10,000 to 12,000; and then from that, of course, take out the words “and upwards,” and it is in accordance with the present scale. Will your Lordship turn over the page of the document I have just handed to you, because that gives us the names of the Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee, and tells us whom they represented. Sir Norman Hill was nominated by the Shipowners’ Parliamentary Committee, as were also Mr. Cuthbert Laws, Mr. Watts, Mr. Raeburn and Mr. Roxburgh, and they all represented shipowners. Sir Raymond Beck was nominated by Lloyd’s and represented underwriters. Mr. Samuel Cross was nominated by the Liverpool Underwriters’ Association and also represented underwriters? - Yes. 22424. Sir Theodore Doxford was nominated by the Institution of Naval Architects and represented shipbuilders, and Dr. Inglis the same? - Yes. 22425. Captain John Trenery was nominated by the Mercantile Marine Service Association and British Shipmasters’ and Officers’ Protection Association, and represented Masters and Officers. Captain Hampson was nominated by the Imperial Merchant Service Guild, represented by my friend today? - Yes. 22426. And he represented the Masters and Officers. Your Lordship will remember the Imperial Merchant Service Guild is represented by my friend Mr. Holmes in this Enquiry. Mr. Sheares was nominated by the Institute of Marine Engineers and represented the Engineer