68 REPORT—1857. 
incompatible with the principles of unrestricted competition to make arbi- 
trary discriminations, in the measurements for tonnage, between vessels built 
of timber or iron, or fitted with the paddle or the screw (c. 22 and 23), for 
the following reasons :-— 
The internal capacity of iron ships (ships built upon the cellular principle, 
like the ‘Great Eastern’) has not necessarily a greater ratio to the external 
bulk, than is the case with wooden ships (ships built on the diagonal plank 
principle, like the ‘ Nankin,’ ‘ Niger,’ and ‘ Banshee’); but the very reverse 
may be the case, and the space required for the machinery of a screw-ship, of 
given power, is not necessarily either greater or less than the space so 
occupied by engines of the same power constructed for a paddle-wheel 
vessel. 
Then, again, the law, in its present discriminations between the paddle 
and the screw, does not meet the case of the paddle and the screw combined 
(as in the ‘Great Eastern’), or, indeed, any other combination. 
It therefore appears to your Committee, that discriminations, as regards 
the material of which ships are built, or different mechanical contrivances 
by which ships are propelled, should be abolished. 
As regards the discriminations between sailing vessels and steamers (sec- 
tion 23), whereby, in certain cases, steamers propelled by paddle are allowed 
37 per cent., and when by screw, 32 per cent., to be deducted from the gross 
tonnage, in consideration of the space occupied by machinery, which arbi- 
trary deduction gives no consideration to space actually appropriated to 
engine room, or to the actual power or weight of the machinery, without 
which consideration such space may be occupied by cargo, this discrimina- 
tion, and the mode of assessing it, appears to your Committed devoid of 
principle, and not just even between steamers themselves. For example, 
a sailing vessel and a steamer may be of the same gross tonnage (say 1000 
tons), but in consequence of the steamer being fitted with auxiliary ma- 
chinery, not weighing possibly more than 100 tons, including coals, there is, 
by law, in the special cases now referred to, a reduction from its tonnage of 
37 per cent., or 370 tons; and again, the reduction of the steamer’s tonnage 
may be 370 tons, whether the weight of the machinery and coals be actually 
100 or 500 tons. 
That in making a deduction for propelling-machinery and fuel, the deduc- 
tion for tonnage based on space, as by the present law, should be rated on 
actual space occupied; and as respects tonnage based on weight, the reduc- 
tion would in effect be rated on the weight of machinery, the same being 
included in the light-displacement, which would be deducted from the load- 
displacement. 
Your Committee, considering that the question of Government dues or 
private dues assessed on shipping is a question between parties in the state 
(which, though indirectly bearing on this inquiry, yet is not put to your 
Committee as a question for their consideration and report), does not feel 
itself called upon in the Report to enter into its merits. 
On the subject of Engine Power, your Committee cannot find that any 
statute unit of power has ever been recognized in any legislative enactment 
for fixing standard units of quantity (such as the standard yard, gallon, 
pound-weight, &c.). The registration of horse-power is prescribed by the 
Act of 1854, but xo legalized definition is given of the term as a measure of 
mechanical power, nor has the term “ Nominal Horse-power” any definite 
signification in trade as a measure of working power; and consequentiy 
the registration of the engine-power of a steam-ship affords no certain indi- 
cation of her engine capabilities. 
. 
Seach 
