Ships and Shipping, 



I.— TONNAGE CAPACITIES. 



By Thomas Hubbard, 



N speaking of the capacity of a ship the word 

 ton as used does not represent a ton weight, but 

 simply one hundred cubic feet of space, which is 

 called a ton register. The nominal ton of the present 

 law is 100 cubic feet. The statute under which tonnage 

 is admeasured is the Imperial Merchant Shipping A61 of 



1894, which came into operation on the ist of January 



1895. It is the largest A61 in the Imperial Statute Book, 

 containing 748 Se6lions and 22 Schedules, and consoli- 

 dates the provisions of some 48 previous enaftments. 

 Almost the whole of the mass of legislation that had 

 accumulated, and which had been distributed in various 

 statutes relating to Merchant Shipping, have now been 

 repealed,and the repealed provisions have been re-ena6led 

 with some additions, alterations, and amendments. 



As with other matters than Merchant Shipping, Amend- 

 ing A6ls are sometimes required ; but it is to be hoped, 

 however, that the necessity for this will not arise with 

 such frequency as was the case in the years between 

 1854, (the date of the last principal A61), and that of 

 the present Aft, when some 48 ena6lments were passed, 

 which, reckoning the number of years, gives an average 

 of one per year. 



On the register of a ship there are three items, each 

 being distinft in itself. First, there is the tonnage 



