gentlemen who, at a great sacrifice of personal convenience, have come from abroad to attend the meeting at Glasgow on the subject of General Average, and whom the Committee had the honour of meeting by a deputation of their body.' 2. That this resolution be communicated to each of the gentlemen, and that they be assured, at the same time, that this Committee take a strong interest in the subject discussed at Glasgow, and that they will gladly co operate in the endeavour to carry out the very desirable object sought to be attained.'

It will be conceded that the Committee of Lloyd's could not have expressed their sympathy for this movement and their promise of sincere and cordial co-operation in more appropriate terms. Unfortunately, the draftsman whose services had been secured by the Committee appointed to carry into effect the Glasgow resolutions was altogether prevented, first by serious illness, and afterwards by the pressure of other engagements, from proceeding with his task. This circumstance, together with the difficulty and delay which was experienced in procuring a competent person to take it up, prevented the Committee from completing the draft of the General Average Consolidation Bill until the Spring of 1862.

The anxiety on the part of the Council of this Association to avoid any further, perhaps unnecessary, delay in forwarding this matter, was considered a sufficient reason for inviting those Commercial bodies, who had hitherto given their assistance, to send delegates to the Second International General Average Congress, which it was proposed should be held in the month of June, 1862, in the Metropolis.

The readiness with which some of the most influential Commercial bodies above-named gave notice of the nomi

nation and the departure of delegates must be taken as a practical proof, that although it was exceedingly to be regretted that the Glasgow resolution, fixing a period of six months for the consideration of the draft Bill, could not be carried out to the letter, those Commercial bodies who intended to persevere in the movement did not find any real obstacle in doing so.

The delegates who eventually appeared in London represented the Netherlands Trading Company of Amsterdam; the Board of Trade of Boston (U. S.); the Chambers of Commerce of Antwerp, Copenhagen, and Edinburgh; the Boards of Underwriters of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Boston (U. S.), Copenhagen, Liverpool, and Rotterdam; and the Shipowners' Associations of Amsterdam and Liverpool; besides Average Staters, Barristers, Underwriters and Merchants.

The Congress met on the 6th, the 9th, and the 12th of June, under the presidency of Dr. Travers Twiss, but only for a couple of hours at each time, to hear the report of the preliminary Committee which had been appointed to examine the draft Bill. After a careful examination of the 126 clauses or sections it contained, this preliminary Committee decided-1st, that 29 sections should be publicly discussed; 2nd, that 22 sections, to which amendments had been proposed, should be so amended; 3rd, that 30 sections should be struck out altogether; 4th, that 5 sections should be reconstructed by the draftsmen; 5th, that only 40 sections could be passed as originally proposed.

At a meeting of the delegates on June 13, it was resolved unanimously:

'1. That in consequence of the misconceptions which have taken place since the Glasgow meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science,

with regard to the General Average question, another mode of proceeding on this very important question be adopted.

'2. That for the purpose of attaining this object, a Committee be formed, in order to decide upon and bring into shape a Bill or series of resolutions, having for their object the establishing of one uniform system of General Average throughout the Mercantile world.

'3. That, in the opinion of this meeting, this object will be best attained if no steps be taken in this matter without the sanction of such Committee.'

The fourth resolution was a list of the members who should form the International General Average Committee, which some time later was, by a resolution of the Council, made a Committee of this Association, under the Jurisprudence and Law Amendment Depart

ment.

This Committee at once entered zealously upon their task; a very able report, written by their secretary, to show the principal differences between the more generally-used systems of General Average, was published and communicated to its different members, together with the Projet de Code (submitted by Messrs. Engels and Van Peborgh, of Antwerp), the compilation of the Danish laws on General Average (emanating from Messrs. Gram, Suenson, and Thune, of Copenhagen), and the translation of the new German law on Averages and Salvages (issued by myself); and the different members of the Committee were each of them invited to prepare a statement of their opinion upon the several questions raised in the report, and the reasons in support of them.

The 1st May 1863 having been fixed as the date for the receipt of these statements, each member of the

Committee received a copy of the same, with the request that, before September 1, 1863, a final statement of opinion should be prepared, showing in what respects (if any) his previous opinion had been modified by the arguments of other members; and, if he retained his original opinion, stating any objection he might wish to urge against the arguments of those opposed to him.

Of the sixteen members of the Committee, fourteen furnished their respective observations in ten pamphlets, and six members further supplied the Committee, in five pamphlets, with their final statements of opinion on the questions at issue.

Although the majority of those I have the privilege to address will have had an opportunity of perusing the report and the observations of the different members of the Committee, I suppose it will be of advantage to the discussions of this Congress if I state in general terms their contents.

The report which was divided into six sections, viz.— 1st, preliminary observations; 2nd, leading principles; 3rd, definitions; 4th, sacrifices-a, of cargo-b, of ship's materials; 5th, extraordinary expenses; 6th, contributions-raised, in reality, 23 questions, on which an expression of opinion was considered serviceable; and as several members of the Committee had not been present when the Glasgow resolutions were passed, it was quite natural that, in order to ascertain the opinions of all the members on all questions at issue in this controversy, the discussion on the Glasgow points should be reopened.

Now, the first nine questions raised by the report referred most immediately to the leading principles and definitions, in their different bearings, as to whether the common safety from danger of total loss, or the common

benefit, that is, the completion of the adventure, should be considered the leading principle of the International General Average Law.

It is well known that the common safety theory has been that which is commonly called the English practice; whereas upon the common benefit theory the other maritime nations of the world had mainly based their practice.

Of the fourteen members of the Committee who expressed their opinion, only one was in favour of the common safety theory, while thirteen declared themselves in favour of the common benefit theory; so that the great principle which had been carried by the adoption of the Glasgow resolutions was confirmed by a very large majority.

The 10th question refered to cargo sacrificed on account of its vice-propre―a point not raised in Glasgow—and was unanimously decided as not allowable in General Average, for the article is by its own default itself the cause of the danger.

In the consideration of the 11th question, refering to jettison of deck cargo-another point not raised in Glasgow-I imagine the enactment of the new German law, which only admits jettisoned deck cargo as General Average on coasting voyages, must have had considerable influence upon the opinions of the majority of the voting members; for although the business avocations of many must have made them aware that, for certain trades, particular vessels are built which will load onefifth, or even one-fourth of their whole cargo on deck, the votes were expressed in a manner which showed that considerable doubt existed on the subject. I find five votes were given in favour of the proposal; five votes aimed at restricting the proposal to coasting