Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/365

 In that city, an establishment, under the control of the Commissioners for Emigration, has been set on foot at Castle Garden, to protect emigrants from runners, and from those who sell them fraudulent or false inland passage-tickets. In consequence of a representation from the United States Government, whereby it appeared that, the suppression in the States, of frauds connected with the sale of inland tickets had led to a system of selling the same description of tickets in Europe or on board emigrant ships, an official notice of this fact was given to emigrants, cautioning them that the safest course was not to purchase an inland ticket in England, but to defer making arrangements for the passage up the country, till their arrival at the port of debarkation. This notice, however, applied to the United States only; and it was stated, explicitly, that the through tickets given by the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada to emigrants proceeding to the St. Lawrence were not open to suspicion, and were, besides, of great benefit to the emigrant.

Among the improvements in ships carried out by the Emigration Commissioners, we should mention that they have introduced, of late years, a more suitable dietary for young children, with the making of fresh bread, two or three times a week, for the passengers. This change has been also authorized in private ships. Several new systems of ventilation have, also, been tried. In a sailing passenger ship, especially during the calms which prevail on the Line, their proper ventilation will always prove a matter of greater difficulty than is the case with a steamer, whose own motion is sufficient to create a