0) al REPORT—1857. 
conclusion at which I arrive on the points thus referred to this Committee 
are,—that the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 is an admirably conceived 
base of legislation, intended to concentrate all the objects for which legisla- 
tion, in its protection of public interests, can be called upon to take cogni- 
zance of shipping affairs; that, so far as the inquiries assigned to this Com- 
mittee are concerned, and which relate exclusively to Part2 of the Act, 
there appears to be no absolute necessity for the cancelling any part of the 
existing clauses; but it is necessary that the provisions of the Act be 
extended to meet the following requirements, which are indispensable to the 
protection and promotion of public interests. 
1. The Act of 1854 is defective, in so far that the prescribed registration, 
though called tonnage, takes no direct cognizance whatever of the tons 
weight of cargo that will either sink the ship, or that will immerse a ship 
down to any definite gauge-mark. The consequence is, that a ship chart- 
ered for the conveyance of merchandise may be filled with some descrip- 
tions of goods without being half-loaded, or sunk with other descriptions of 
goods without being half-filled. To remedy this deficiency, it is necessary - 
not only that the registration shall give the capacity of a ship for holding 
cargo, as is done by the present law, but also the capability for carrying 
weight of cargo as determined by the weight that will sink the ship down to 
a given gauge-mark, to be fixed upon the stem and stern or amidships of 
every ship. 
2. The Act of 1854 is defective, in so far that it prescribes no regulations 
whereby the draught of water at which ships actually put to sea may be 
officially inspected and recorded, with reference to a statute gauge-mark, as 
above described, to be fixed upon every ship, such record to be received as 
evidence in the case of questions subsequently arising as to the condition in 
which ships put to sea; for the want of which record many of the provisions 
of the Act, evidently intended for the protection of life, become futile for 
want of proof as to the freeboard with which ships put to sea. 
3. It is submitted that the official imposition of a gauge-mark to be fixed 
on the stem and stern of ships, or amidships, for the purposes above referred 
_ to, would, of itself, without any interference whatever on the part of Govern- 
ment officers in the loading of ships, tend greatly to the prevention of over- 
loading, whereby ships are rendered unmanageable and life endangered. 
The provisions of the Act for the protection of life would then become 
operative instead of being a dead letter as respects the overloading of ships. 
4. The Act of 1854 is deficient, in so far that it does not prescribe the 
measure of the unit by which the registered engine power of steam-ships is to 
be determined, nor has any other Act of Parliament prescribed the unit of 
power by which engine-power may be legally ascertained and designated ; 
nor has engineering practice adopted any specific unit as the measure by 
which marine engine-power is bought and sold. It is admitted that the . 
working-power of marine engines, as ‘supplied to Government by the most 
eminent engineers under contract at the nearly uniform price of £50 per 
nominal horse-power, fluctuates upwards of 100 per cent. with reference to 
their nominal power, which regulates the cost. Under these circumstances, 
the registration of engine power, without reference to any legalised statute 
unit, is an imposition on public credulity. 
5. It is submitted that the legalisation of a statute unit of power, and the 
legislative obligation that the registered power or engine capabilities of 
steam-ships shall be ascertained and registered with reference to the said 
statute unit, will be no more of government interference with mercantile and 
engineering affairs, than is the imposition of the statute lineal foot, the statute 
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