Office of the Historian

No. 2.
board of trade to foreign office.

Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens,
February 17, 1876.
[M. 1840.]

Rule of the road.

Sir: I am directed by the board of trade to state, for the information of the Earl of Derby, that having received communications from various sources as to the improvement [Page 202] of the existing international regulations for the prevention of collisions at sea, and among others the important suggestions from the French government enclosed in your letter of the 18th May, 1874, a committee was appointed to consider the whole subject.

This committee, having sat from time to time, have laid before the board the accompanying report and draft regulations, which have now been approved by the admiralty, Trinity House and this department; and I am to request that, in laying the same before Lord Derby, you will be so good as to move his lordship to cause them to be forwarded for the consideration of the governments of those countries which have adopted the existing international regulations, and of which a list is inclosed herein.

I have, &c.,

T. H. FARRER.

The Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office.

[Inclosure in No. 2.]

List of countries which have adopted the existing international regulations.

  • Austria.
  • Argentine Republic.
  • Belgium.
  • Brazil.
  • Bremen.*
  • Chili.
  • Denmark, Proper.
  • Equator, (Republic of the.)
  • France.
  • Great Britian.
  • Greece.
  • Hamburg.*
  • Hanover.*
  • Hawaiian Islands.
  • Hayti.
  • Italy.
  • Lubeck.*
  • Mecklenburg-Schwerin.*
  • Morocco.
  • Netherlands.
  • Norway.
  • Oldenburg.*
  • Peru.
  • Portugal.
  • Prussia.*
  • Roman States.†
  • Russia.
  • Schleswig.*
  • Spain.
  • Sweden.
  • Turkey.
  • United States, sea-going ships.
  • United States, inland waters.
  • Uruguay.

* These places are now included in the German Empire.

† The Roman States now form part of the Kingdom of Italy.