156 The Tonnage of Shits. 



trades, to a certain extent, the difference between what I have 

 called the " Actual Tonnage " and the " Nominal Tonnage " 

 must be an important matter to the shipowner. This difference 

 in the home trades, and especially in short channel voyages, 

 where a vessel may be paying dues every day, becomes a matter 

 of the greatest importance. Hence it came that the owners of 

 steamers trading in the channel began to feel the advantage of 

 a low nett register, combined with a large carrying capacity ; 

 and builders gave their attention to designing vessels that 

 would fulfil this requirement. 



It was found possible, under the present system of measure- 

 ment, to produce dead-weight carrying vessels, whose nett 

 tonnage was only a fraction of what it should fairly have been, 

 while passenger steamers were designed and built with less than 

 no nett register tonnage. 



The amount of this nett register tonnage is determined by 

 an Act of Parliament administered by the Board of Trade, and 

 this Act decides on what basis a vessel should be taxed for 

 services rendered by various bodies, such as the owners of 

 harbours, and corporations who provide lighthouses and other 

 facilities for navigation. The most important effect of assigning 

 a tonnage, is the determining how much each particular vessel 

 shall pay for such services rendered. 



These receivers of dues have always tried to influence legisla- 

 tion, so that every vessel entering their harbours or deriving 

 advantage from their lighthouses, &c., shall pay at least a fair 

 share of dues levied for the construction and maintenance of 

 such harbours and lighthouses. On the other hand, the ship- 

 owner is naturally anxious that his particular vessel shall pay 

 as little as possible ; and shipowners, on their part, have always 

 tried to prevent legislation from unduly taxing any class of 

 vessel in which they, as individuals, are interested. 



We have thus two conflicting interests whose representatives 

 use every effort to further their particular views ; and in each 

 iresh attempt to legislate for tonnage, there has been an effort 

 made to hold the balance fairly between these rival claims. 



