AND SHIPOWNERS' LIABILITY HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE 4.S. Congress. Senate COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE SEVENTY-SIXTH CONGRESS THIRD SESSION ON H. R. 6881 AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT THE PROVISIONS OF THE 248845 JULY 23, 24, AND 25, 1940 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1940 WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION FOR SEAMEN, AND SHIPOWNERS' LIABILITY TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1940 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met pursuant to call, at 10:30 a. m., in the Commerce Committee room, United States Capitol, Senator John H. Overton (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Overton (chairman), Radcliffe, Johnson, Vandenberg, White, and Gibson. Senator OVERTON. The committee will come to order. We have under consideration today an act to implement the provisions of the Shipowners' Liability (sick and injured seamen) Convention, 1936, H. R. 6881, Committee Print No. 4. This bill, as it passed the House, was confined to implementing the provisions of the Shipowners' Liability Convention, 1936. Since it came over to the Senate, a committee print, Committee Print No. 1, was prepared to extend compensation to the seamen by extending the provisions of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act to the seamen. The committee print that we have under consideration is Committee Print No. 4. There have been, in reality, only two committee prints, and those were Committee Print No. 1; Committee Prints 2 and 3 are simply reproductions of Committee Print No. 1; and Committee Print No. 4 amends Committee Print No. 1. The amendments were made after the different departments and agencies of the Government had submitted reports in respect to the bill and Committee Print No. 1. There is perhaps very little, if any, controversy in reference to what is designated as title I in this Committee Print No. 4, the object of which is to implement the provisions of the Shipowners' Liability Convention. Senator JOHNSON. Why was section 9 stricken out of title I? Senator OVERTON. Section 9, Senator Johnson, was stricken out of title I, but has been reproduced, I think, in better form in title II. Title II of the bill, as you know, relates to seamen's compensation, and undertakes to lift out of the picture of seamen's compensation the rights of the seaman under general maritime, or statute law with respect to maintenance and cure, and wages to the end of the voyage, or with reference to sickness or injuries except as provided in this title. In other words, what we have undertaken to do in this committee print is to do nothing that repeals or affects or modifies in any way the 1 |