~~ -=-="QON MERCANTILE STEAM TRANSPORT ECONOMY. -. 115 
decreed that the said builders’ measurement O.M. is not legally binding in 
"any contract, either for the building, or freighting, or chartering of ships, and 
that the definition and measurement of “tonnage” shall be in accordance 
with the existing law, viz. the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, subject to 
such amendments thereof and additions thereto as may be found necessary 
-to render the Act complete for all the purposes of shipping registration. 
__ And now, what is tonnage registration under the new law—the Merchant 
Shipping Act of 1854? To begin with: vessels constructed previously to 
_ 1854 are permitted, at the option of their owners, to retain their former ton- 
nage or be measured under the new law, and be registered accordingly, and 
the statistics or Parliamentary returns of shipping do not show to what extent 
* this privilege, of optionally withholding the former registration, has been 
acted upon; so that our present registration under the new law, the Act of 
1854, is a mixed registration, and we do not know the ingredients thereof or 
their proportion ; but the measurement under the new law of all ships built 
since May 1855, is an internal measurement, no notice whatever being taken 
of external measurement, or of the light draught line or constructor’s load 
line, or any limitation thereof assigned by reference to “ freeboard ;” and 
consequently tonnage under the new law, the Act of 1854, does not give 
the weight-carrying capability of ships, nor any comparison thereof, if of dif- 
ferent types of form, and of different build as respects the weight of the 
materials employed ; but if the law does not give the weight-carrying capa- 
bility of the ship, the question is—what does it give? It gives an admis- 
sibly correct measurement of the internal capacity of ships, but calls this 
capacity “tonnage,” giving a new signification to the word ton; for each 
100 eubic feet of this internal space of the ship available for holding cargo 
is called a ton of tonnage. ‘Tonnage is therefore a mere measurement of 
space, not of weight. ‘Then, again, as regards cargo, even a ton of cargo is 
not always rated as 20 cwts. The freight of goods is charged either by 
measurement or by weight, and the same word “ton” is applied in all cases ; 
100 cubic feet constitute a ton of shipping ; 40 cubic feet of some kinds of 
goods, and 50 feet of others, constitute a ton of measurement goods; and 
cargo is rated accordingly for freight, provided the said measure do not 
weigh a ton. 100 cubic feet of light goods may therefore be stowed in 
1 ton of shipping, and be rated for freight at 25 tons; that is, a ship of 
1000 tons register tonnage may be expected to stow 2500 tons of measure- 
ment cargo, or, better still, 1000 tons weight of heavy goods, and fill up with 
2000 tons measurement of light cargo, and thus go to sea with this 3000 tons 
of freight, no limitation being assigned to draught. Such are the anomalies 
of tonnage, and yet we talk of statistics based on tonnage; and what is the 
consequence of this abuse of the word “ton”? Why, in times of war, our 
tonnage registration of shipping not only affords no reliable data, but actually 
deceives as to the capabilities of vessels for carrying ordnance and such 
like heavy military stores. Experience of the past three years has abun- 
dantly shown how great would be the advantage to the public if, in times of 
war and emergency, when there is no time for the readmeasurement of 
shipping, and when shipping must be chartered or purchased at any price, 
our registration of shipping were available, like a tabular ready-reckoner, for 
giving the Government a correct idea of the capability of every ship for 
conveying weight of cargo, in addition to the present registration of capa- 
city for holding cargo, and consequently a comprehensive view of the value 
of ships for military transport service-embracing both weight and roomage.. 
The statistical insufficiency of the present system of shipping registration 
asa record of the capability of ships, is shown by the following Table (A):— 
12 
