The Tonnage of Ships. 1 6 1 



as a basis of taxation ; further amend the present law as occasion 

 arises ; and as soon as a new and unduly favoured type of 

 vessel appears, pass an Act to provide specially for that type ; 

 or the powers of the Board of Trade may be extended, giving 

 them fuller authority to deal with tonnage measurement. 



There are serious objections to boLh of these proposals. As to 

 the first — further legislation on the present basis — history tells 

 us that the most glaring anomalies may exist for years, and the 

 calculations of all bodies depending on shipping dues may be 

 completely upset and put in confusion before the law can be 

 amended ; and no sooner is one anomaly stamped out, than the 

 ingenuity of owners and builders is at work to produce a new 

 type of vessel to evade the amended law. With regard to the 

 second suggestion — increased powers to the Board of Trade — 

 I don't think past experience would induce us to favour that 

 alternative. 



Another proposal is to tax all vessels in proportion to the 

 product of their principal dimensions under water, viz : — length, 

 breadth, and draft of water. There is one serious, I may 

 almost say fatal, objection to this method, viz : — That it would 

 encourage the building of, and really set a premium on, abnor- 

 mally full ships ; in fact, under such a law the more like a box 

 a vessel was built, the greater would be her dead-weight capacity 

 compared to her nett register tonnage. 



The third plan, and I think the best, is to tax all vessels in 

 some proportion to their displacement, in this way : — Let the 

 shipowner fix his maximum draft of water — in other words, his 

 freeboard — and let some percentage of this displacement be 

 the nett register tonnage of his ship. This percentage of the 

 total volume of displacement should be different for steamers 

 and sailing vessels, and should vary with the size of the vessel. 



Displacement, as a basis for taxation, seems to me to fulfil, 

 more nearly than any other, what I consider the three most 

 essential requirements of a fair tonnage measurement. 



First, as to the dues being in proportion to the services ren- 

 dered by harbour authoiities and others, it is obviously just, 



