THE TESTIMONY OF THE SHIPS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7696, 19 March 1887, Page 6

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SHIPS.

Some idea of the relative effeot of Protection and Freotrade on the shipping of , countries, may bo gathered from the following particulars, which, have recently been published by Lloyds. Before the Declaration of Independoncp, the Amorioan colonies were already a groat maritime country. In 1769 they bu>lt 389 ships, of 20,000 tons. After I hoy had aohieved independence, the United States made such wounderful progress in shipping thai they aspired to nothing less than equality with Gri'at Britain upon the sea. By th e year 1840 the American mercantile marine was about half that of Great Britain. In 1850 they stood thus:— British, 4,232,962 tons ; Amerlosd, 3,485,266, tone. In 1860, just before the Civil war, they were neck and neck, thus :— British, 6,710,968 tons ; American, 5,299175. Then camo the Civil war, and then came Protection, and ever since then the Amorioan snipping has steadily and rapiiljr reclined, whilo tho British has equally steadily and rapidly increased. They stood thus in Lloyd's Registerin 1886 !— British, s,7l2 steamers of 6,539,623 tons, and 7,881 sailing vessels, of 4,625,469 tons, total, 13,493 shipp.of 11,165,092 tons; American, 388 steamers of 495,862 tons, and 3,542 sniling vessels, of 1,587,140 tons, total, 3,930 ships, of 2,083,002 tons. Thus since 1860, British shipping lias jußt about doubled itself under Freetrade, whilst American shipping hns diminished by more than one half undsr Protection. More than 70 per cent of the foreign trade of Great Bratain is carried by American vessels. Shipbuilding has gone with shipping. There is practioally no shipbuilding in the United States, except in a small way for looal purposes. Out of 25,000 ships of oror 100 tons now afloat in tho world, 16,000 are British bailtand 0n1y4, 000 American. Even those 4000, morenvor, nro nearly all old ships, and only 217 of them are of iron. The remainder are obsolete or obsolescent wooden ships. Last year there wasouly one small ship built in tho States Great Britain, in addition to supplying tho demands of her own enormous commerce, built 46 ships, of 33,684 tons, for other countries ; (hough 1886 was a year of extreme depression in the shipbuilding trade. The reason of this is perfectly simple. Coal and iron abound in the United States, as they do in Great Britain, and timber is out of all proportion more plentiful. In open competition thero is no reason why the Americans should notrival the British, both, in shipbuilding and in tho carrying trade. The heavy oustomß duties, however, so raise tho cost of production in America that no such oompdtition is possible. It costs just about the same to build a woodon ship.wltlia "life" of 12 years.in America, as it does to build a first-olsss iron ship, nominally with a life of 20 yeara, but virtually indestrnotible, in Great Britain Tho same iron ship, plate for plate and rivet for rivot, would costaboutono- third moro to build in America than it costs in

Great Britain. For example an ocean steamer costing £200,000 in the Clyde, would cost about £270,000 in America. Theresult.of course.isthatGroatßritain gets Iho whole of the shipbuilding and shipping trade which America would have.butforProteclion. Asasnggestive ■ conclusion from these dry facts and figures, it may bo remarked that more wealth is produoed'aud moro peoplo are 1 oniploved by the shipbuilding and ship- ] ping trade of Great Britain, than by the whole of tho protected industries of tho .United States. . ■We shall bo told, perhaps, that ; applying the same reasoning to our ca«e, for example, we ought to find that among the different colonies Freerr.ade and shipping trade go together. Wo reply that that is actually. so. . The shipping trade of New South Wales exceeds that of Victoria "by about 1,000 ships and 1,000,000 tons a year/ But the most marked instance of all, ia that of the Straits Settlements, a much younger colony than New South Wales, whioh began with absolute Free trade, and has never swerved from it. There As there no Custom-house at all, nor any charge of any 'sore upon shipping ; and tho result is that the Straits Settlements already have the largest shipping trade of all countries in the world in proportion to population, being about three times that of Victoria and double that of New South Wales, withbat counting native craft, whioh in 1884 numbered 9,417, of 266,594*. tons; with crews numbering 70,732. The imports and exports of the Straits Settlements aro greater than those of any other British colony, not excepting the . Dominion of' Canida. Last, but no least, the Freetrade colony has no public debt and very light taxation. It nevertheless constructs very extensive public works, especially harbors and docks, and it has just paid the Imperial . Government a lump sum of £100,000 in cash for tho armament of Singapore. The effect of Freetrade on the cost of .living, is very noticeable in the scale of salaries in the Straits'Settleniehts. Although that Colony is one of those where exta pay is looked for on account' of climate, tho Governor, Sir Frederick Weld only receives 28,500 rupeeß, ,or about £2,300 a year,— less than half what he received in Tasmania —and the Ministers from £540 to £800. The Chief Justine has about £1,000 a year,|and the Judges £720, tho heads of departmonts £400, and tbe principal Magistrate £300, and subordinate officials salaries in proportion, down to sums which seem laughable wheD measured by orir standard. It is not surprising to, find that the total public expenditure of the colony, with a population about ns great as that of New Zealand, is only about one sixth of ours. It is by far the. most economical of all the colonies ; but yet tho Civil Servico • is highly efficient and well contented : , the truth boing that the coat of living is so low that a little money goes a long ' way. We do not hssitute to say that \ similar effects are produced by similar causes in every part of the world.