HOUSE OF COMMONS. ORDERS OF REFERENCE. [Votes and Proceedings, June 7th]:- Message from The Lords.That they have appointed a Committee consisting of four Lords to join with a Committee of this House to consider the abovementioned Bill, and request this House to appoint an equal number of their Members to be joined with the said Lords. [Votes and Proceedings, June 15th]:-Ordered, That the Lords' Message [7th June relating to the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill [Lords] be now considered.-(Colonel Gibbs.) Lords' Message considered accordingly. Ordered, That a Select Committee of Four Members be appointed to join with a Committee appointed by the Lords to consider the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill [Lords]. Message to the Lords to acquaint them therewith. Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, Mr. Morris, Mr. Skinwell, and Colonel Stott nominated Members of the Select Committee. Ordered, That the Committee have power to send for persons, papers, and records. Ordered, That Three be the quorum.-(Colonel Gibbs.) [Votes and Proceedings, June 20th]:-Message from The Lords. That they propose that the Joint Committee appointed to consider the Bill do meet in Committee Room A on Thursday next, at Twelve o'clock. So much of the Lords' Message as relates to the time and place of meeting of the Joint Committee on the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill [Lords], considered. Ordered, That the Committee appointed by this House do meet the Lords' Committee as proposed by their Lordships. -(Colonel Leslie Wilson.) Message to the Lords to acquaint them therewith. 44024 a 2 [Votes and Proceedings, June 25th]:- Ordered, That Mr. Morris and Mr. Shinwell be discharged from the Select Committee on the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill [Lords]. Ordered, That Mr. William Albert Jenkins and Mr. Tillett be added to the Committee.-(Colonel Gibbs.) The cost of preparing for Publication the shorthand Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee was £57 15s. 8d. The cost of printing and publishing this Report is estimated by the Stationery Office at £214 6s. 4d. REPORT BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO JOIN WITH A COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO CONSIDER THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA BILL [H.L.] ORDERED TO REPORT: THAT THE COMMITTEE HAVE HAD UNDER THEIR CONSIDERATION THE BILL INTITULED AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW WITH RESPECT TO CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA. 1. They think it well to explain the circumstances in which the Bill came before them. For many years it has been the practice of shipowners to insert in bills of lading clauses modifying their common law liabilities as carriers, and shippers have asked for legislation to regulate such clauses. The Government of this country, however, till recently declined to interfere on the ground that it was a matter of contract which the parties should settle between themselves. 2. This view was, however, not adopted in the United States of America, where in 1893 the Act known as the Harter Act was passed restricting the rights of shipowners to contract themselves out of their liabilities. Similar legislation was passed in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Dominions Royal Commission in 1917 recommended legislation on similar lines. The question was discussed at the Imperial Shipping Committee, and this Committee in February, 1921, unanimously recommended uniform legislation throughout the Empire on the lines of the Canadian Act. This recommendation was adopted by the Imperial Conference which met in the summer of 1921, and the Governments represented at that Conference were therefore committed to introduce legislation on the subject of bills of lading on the lines of the Canadian Act. 3. Before this date many meetings had been held and much negotiation had taken place between shippers, shipowners and others interested in the matter with the object of arriving at an agreement as to the terms of bills of lading. Meetings and conferences had also been held between the representatives of this country and of foreign countries for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, an international agreement on the point. As a consequence of these meetings a code of rules called the Hague Rules, 1921, was drawn up at a meeting of the International Law Association at the Hague in 1921. These were again discussed with the result that an amended code called the Hague Rules, 1922, came into existence. These were discussed at a meeting of the International Law Committee in October, 1922, and the Hague Rules, 1922, as amended at that meeting were submitted to the International Conference on Maritime Law which met at Brussels later in the same year. Some further amendments were made and a draft code unanimously recommended for adoption by the representatives of all the countries present. This code is scheduled to the present Bill. 4. On the 11th January, 1923, a letter was addressed to the President of the Board of Trade signed by Sir Frederick Lewis, the President of the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom, Sir Stephen Demetriadi, President to the British Federation of Traders' Associations, Mr. A. D. Mearns, the Chairman of the Liverpool Steamship Owners' Association, Mr. Robert Graham, the Chairman of the Manchester Association of Importers and Exporters, Mr. W. W. Paine, for the British Bankers' Association, M. Henry J. Dumas, for Lloyd's, Mr. Albert J. Hobson, for the British Section, International Chamber of Commerce, and Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, President, Association of British Chambers of Commerce, recalling the pledge of the Government to introduce legislation on the subject and in effect asking that legislation should be introduced to give statutory force to the agreed Rules. They also asked the Government to induce, if possible, foreign Governments to do the same. The Bill under consideration was was afterwards introduced containing in the Schedule the agreed rules. 5. The Committee have thought it right to state these facts in order to show that the general question whether there should be any legislation on the subject was not before them. That is a question of policy upon which the Government had already taken their decision, and the question before the Committee was whether this Bill should proceed or whether it should be dropped, and the Government left to fulfil their pledge of introducing legislation on the lines of the Canadian Act. The Committee, therefore, express no opinion on the broad question of whether it is or is not right that there should be interference by legislation with freedom of contract. That question is not before them. 6. The Rules and Schedule to the Bill are the outcome of long negotiations between the representatives of the various interests concerned with bills of lading, the shippers who ship the goods, the shipowners who carry them, the bankers who advance on the security of them, and the insurers who insure them. They were unanimously accepted by the delegates of foreign nations, though some of those delegates had not authority to assent on behalf of their countries, and could only recommend to them the adoption of the rules. It was therefore felt by the Government, and strongly urged upon the Committee by several witnesses, that no substantial alteration could be made in the Schedule of Rules because to make such alterations would be to depart from the agreement made by the different interests before mentioned and approved by the delegates of foreign countries. The whole object of the negotiations to which allusion has been made was to obtain national and, if possible, international uniformity, and it was strongly pressed upon the Committee that if these Rules were rejected or substantially altered there would be very little prospect of any agreement being made in the future as it would be very difficult to obtain a meeting of all the interests concerned to make another agreement which, if made, might perhaps also be rejected. 7. The Committee held several meetings and heard the following witnesses : Representing: Mercantile Marine Department Board of Trade. Liverpool Steamship Association. British Federation of Traders' Associations. Association of British Chambers of Commerce. Association of British Chambers of Commerce. London Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Shipping of the Chamber of Shipping of the Chamber of Shipping of the British Bankers' Association. Timber Trade Federation of Lord Justice of Appeal. Parliamentary Counsel British Coal Exporters' Feder- Mining Association of Great Mining Association of Great London Chamber of Commerce |