1)80 



REPORT — 1898. 



and the proportions in relation to the steam tonnage of the other countries above 

 referred lo are approximately the same. 



Ao-ain, it is instructive to note how small a proportion of the trade of other 

 countries, even including their coasting traffic, is carried in ships belonp:ing to 

 the country in question. Thus, whereas we as a nation convej' in steamships 76 

 per cent, of the aggregate tonnage of our own ports, only the following propor- 

 tions of the total trade of other nations are carried by the shipping of each country 

 in question: — 



Further, ii: is a recognised fact that a very large part of the balance of the 

 above proportions is conveyed in British ships frequenting the various foreign 

 ports, and acting, as 1 have s<iid, as the ocean carriers of the world. 



Thus, in the best returns available I lind that British shipping conveys the 

 following proportions of the oversea commerce of other countries: — 



The experience of the Suez Canal again tells the same tale, for of the total 

 tonnage passing through that international waterway 66 per cent, is British. 

 This is nearly seven times that of the shipping of the next largest contributor, 

 which is Germany, and nine times that of France. 



This vast amount of carrying trade is in British hands, because we can do it 

 cheaply as well as efficiently. I believe that the whole of our commercial fleet is 

 •worked at a very narrow margin of average profit, though in the aggregate it forms 

 one of the most important factors in our country's position among the nations of 

 the world. 



We are often reminded of how greatly the value of our imports exceeds that 

 of our exports ; but we should not forget that the profit on the transport of both 

 goes chiefly to the British nation as shipowners, in addition to the profit which is 

 earned by them in the carriage of merchandise from one foreign port to another. 



What an important thing it thus is to tlie prosperity of this country, not merely 

 that our own ports should be convenient and adequate to all demands, but that our 

 shipbuilders should be able to keep pace with the demands of this huge transport 

 traflic ! We find in this connection that we add about half a million of tons of 

 shipping annually to our register, and that we lose about 250,000 tons annually 

 by wreck and by vessels becoming old or obsolete, so that, as a matter of fact, the 

 average annual increment of our mercantile navy for the past twelve years is about 

 a quarter of a million of tons. 



The remarkable development within recent years in the cheapness of steam 

 navigation, the improved methods in the building and rigging of sailing ships, and 

 various economic causes, have resulted in a large increase in the average size of ship 

 engaged in oversea voyages with a comparative diminution in the number of the 

 crews of each description of vessel. Greater draught of water is consequently 

 demandel, and, as a better knowledge of shipbuilding has indicated that the beam 

 i)f ships can be considerably increased without involving greater resistances, we 



