XI. To the Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council for Trade. London: June 24, 1867. MY LORDS,-In further reference to the prayer of the memorials which I, on the 5th inst., took the liberty of presenting personally to your Lordships, I have to-day the honour of forwarding another memorial just received from New Orleans on the same subject, for which I venture to claim the same kind consideration. I have the honour to be, My Lords, your Lordships' most obedient humble Servant, ERNST EMIL WENDT. 'We, the undersigned, being underwriters and merchants of the port of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, United States of America, having been informed that Her Majesty's Government have it in contemplation to alter and amend the existing regulations with respect to wrecks, salvage, and salvors, and to make better provision for the settlement of salvage claims, and for the management of matters relating to vessels in distress on the coasts of the United Kingdom, do hasten to express to Her Majesty's Government our grateful sense of the inestimable benefit which will be conferred upon the maritime interests of the whole world by the proposed legislative reforms, if carried out in a practical and effectual manner. 'We may be pardoned for observing that the frauds practised upon our captains in many parts of the coast of the United Kingdom, the extortionate demands of salvors and their advisers, the unscrupulous mancuvres of shipping agents, the continual inducements to dishonsty held out to inexperienced shipmasters, and, lastly, the enormous outlay attendant upon legal proceedings, aggravate, to a most serious extent, the consequences of misfortunes unavoidably attendant upon maritime industry; and having ourselves suffered severely from the evils above described, we cannot but rejoice that Her Majesty's Government have appreciated the necessity of carrying out a thorough reform, which we have no doubt will be attended with credit to the country and advantage to the community at large. THOMAS A. ADAMS, President of A. CHIAPELLA, President of the CHAS. BRIGGS, President, Louisiana tual Insurance Co. D. MICHEL, President of Germania HY. PEYCHAND, President, Hope JOHN PEMBERTON, President, Mer chants' Mutual Insurance Co. Atlantic Insurance Co., H. P. J. PUYET, President, New Orleans H. CASTAREDO, Sec, Citizens' Mu- S. BAQUIÉ, Sec. La State Mutual HARMON DOANE, Vice Pres. Factors and Traders' Insurance Co. O. B. GRAHAM & Co., Merchants. GEO. W.HYNSON & Co., Merchants. E. & F. LARNE, Merchants. APPENDIX. GERMAN GENERAL MERCANTILE LAW. FIFTH BOOK, CONCERNING MARITIME COMMERCE, FIRST PART. General Provisions. Art. 432. A Ship Register is to be kept of all vessels intended for profit by means of sea voyages, and entitled to carry the country's flag. The Ship Register is public, its inspection being permitted to everybody during the ordinary office hours. Art. 433. An entry in the Ship Register can only then be made, when the right of carrying the country's flag has first been established. Before entry in the Ship Register the right of carrying the country's flag cannot be exercised. Art. 434. The laws of the various countries point out the requirements upon which the right of a vessel to carry the country's flag depends.. They appoint the authorities which have to keep the Ship Register. They decide whether and under what conditions the entry in the Ship Register of a vessel acquired from a foreign country may be provisionally replaced by a consular document. |