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the information of the Duke of Newcastle, copy
of correspondence between this Board and the
Admiralty on the subject of the system of Register
Tickets for British Seamen, established by the
Act 7 and 8 Vict., cap. 112, from which it will
be seen that my Lords have, with the concur-
rence of the Admiralty, determined to exercise
the powers given to them by the Act 13 & 14
Vict., cap. 93, sect. 32, and to dispense with the
observance of so much of the Act 7 & 8 Vict.,
cap. 112, as relates to the Register Tickets in
question from the 1st October next.

I am, therefore, to request you to move the
Duke of Newcastle to give such instructions as
may be necessary, in order to inform the Officers
of Customs in the Colonies of this determination,
so that they may not after the date above men-
tioned, or at the time at which the instructions
on the subject may reach them, require the pro-
duction of the Register Tickets of Seamen under
the 53rd and 56th Sections of the Act 7 & 8
Vict., cap. 112, or take any other steps founded
on the continuance of the system.

As it is important that the records of the Mer-
chant Seamen of the country should be kept ac-
curately, notwithstanding the discontinuance of
Registration by Tickets, I am to request that the
attention of the Colonial Officers of Customs may
be called to the 75th Section of the Act 13 & 14
Vict., cap. 93, by which it is provided that if any
Seaman on or before being engaged, makes a false
statement of the name of his last ship or last
alleged ship, or of his own name, he shall forfeit
out of his wages a sum not exceeding Five
Pounds, and that the Officers in question,
may be instructed, when superintending
engagements of Seamen, to call the attention
of any man whom they have reason to suspect of
making such false statement, to the penalty he
incurs by so doing.

I am, &c.,
(Signed) T. H. FARRER,
Assistant Secretary.

H. Merivale, Esq.,
&c., &c., &c.,
Colonial Office.

(Copy.)

Office of Committee of
Privy Council for Trade,
12th September, 1853.

SIR,-I am directed by the Lords of the Com-
mittee of Privy Council for Trade, to request you
to call the attention of the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiraly to the system of Registering
Seamen by means of Tickets, under the Act 7 &
8 Victoria, cap. 112, and to the subsequent Act
13 & 14 Victoria, cap. 93, sect. 32, by which
power is given to the Board of Trade, with the
concurrence of the Admiralty, to abolish this
syetem.

This power my Lords are now desirous to ex-
ercise, if the Admiralty are prepared to give their
concurrence.

Among the various objects which were con-
templated when the system was established, one
of the most important was, no doubt, to assist in
procuring men for the Royal Navy, by affording
means of identifying and tracing the seamen en-
gaged in the Merchant Service. Other objects
which it has also been intended to answer, are to
be found in the facilities it gives for tracing sea-
men's services, in order to prove their claims on
the Merchant Seamen's Fund, for keeping a re-
cord of character and conduct, and for checking
desertion.

It is obvious that every one of these objects
must fail, unless the system can be thoroughly
and stringently carried into effect, and that if
seamen can under any pretence serve without

Register Tickets, or if they have lost them, can
procure other tickets without being identified and
traced, the system is, in the proportion in which
such practices prevail, rendered valueless. There
is good reason to believe that such practices have
hitherto prevailed to a very considerable extent,
and it is also clear in my Lords' opinion, that no
measures of stringency which could be adopted,
would effectually check them, even were the law
as to the manning of Merchant ships to remain in
its present condition. But the change in this law
effected by the recent Act 16 and 17 Vict., cap.
131, sect. 31, under which a British shipowner
may, from the 1st October next, employ any
number of Foreigners, materially increases the
difficulty of carrying into effect the law concern-
ing Register Tickets. As every Master of a
British ship has hitherto been required to employ
none but British seamen in the Coasting Trade,
and to have a proportion of three-fourths of his
crew British seamen in the Foreign Trade; and
as he could not engage any British seaman with-
out first procuring from him his Register Ticket,
it follows that British seamen could rarely obtain
employment in British ships without producing
their tickets. But, as the law will stand from
the 1st October, a seaman who has lost, or does
not choose to produce his Ticket, will merely
have to state that he is a Foreigner, and the
Master, no longer limited to British subjects, will
be at libery to accept him without requiring it,
and will generally have no motive to require it.
There is reason to believe that at present the pe-
nalties to which British seamen are subjected for
the non-production of the Register Ticket not
unfrequently induce them to pass as Americans,
and it is manifest that this tendency will increase
when the change above referred to shall have
taken place.

My Lords have laid great stress on this point,
as it is the one which will principally engage the
attention of the Lords Commissioners of the Ad-
miralty, but they desire me to add that, as
regards the welfare and character of the seamen,
and of their employers, and the commercial in-
terests of the country, they do not hesitate to
express their strong opinion that there are no ob-
jects attained by this system which may not
equally well be attained by other and better
means, and that it is, on the other hand, a con-
stant source of annoyance to the seamen, and
consequently proves a frequent cause of falschood
and immorality, as well as an inducement to seek
employment under a Foreign Flag.

In conclusion, I am to point out, that if a
change is to be made, the time at which the Act
above referred to comes into operation, viz., the
1st October next, will be the most convenient
time at which to make it, and I am to request
that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
will favour my Lords with their reply to this
communication at their earliest convenience.

I am, &c.,
(Signed) J. EMERSON TENNENT.
The Secretary to the Admiralty.

(Copy.)

Admiralty,
15th September, 1853.

SIR,-With reference to your letter of the 12th
instant, calling the attention of my Lords Com-
missioners of the Admiralty to the system of
registering seamen by means of tickets under the
Act 7 and 8 Vict., cap. 112, and to the subsequent
Act of 13 and 14 Vict., cap. 93, sect. 32, by which
power is given to the Board of Trade, with the
concurrence of the Board of Admiralty, to abolish
this system, and stating that the Lords of the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade are now
desirous to exercise this power, if this Board is