THE ENGLISH MERCHANT NAVY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4270, 26 November 1874, Page 3

THE ENGLISH MERCHANT NAVY.

Continental Casaandras who delight in predicting the decadence of England will not find much to support their theories in the tables recently published by Parliamentary order, showing the progress of British merchant shipping. If continuous development of the commercial marine be a sign of national prosperity, the • English people have every cause _ to congratulate themselves on facts ■ proving them the chief carriers of the commerce of the world. Going back as far as 1838, the aggregate tonnage of tho English mercantile navy amounted at that date to 2,890,601 tons, against 1,956,951 tons belonging to the United States, or an excess of about one-third,, and about four times as large ns the tonnage of Prance, which was 679,803 tons. Gradually, however, these proportions changed, until at tho breaking out of the American ? civil war, in 1801, England owned 5,895,309 tons, the United States 5,482,027 tons, and Prance 983,996. Prom that period the mercantile navy of the United Kingdom rapidly developed, until in 1872, the last date included in the return,' the aggregate of British tonnage was 7,213,829, against 4,881,957 belonging to tho United States, or an excess of about twothirds ,and nearly seven times 04 large os the

..tonnage of France, which was only 1,077,011. From this it follows that the commercial navy' of Great Britain has increased more quickly than those belonging to the two other chief maritime powers, and that the principal part of this in-t crease has taken place latterly. For 20 years after the battle of Waterloo there was not any appreciable development of the British mercantile marine, the tonnage in 1815 being 2,681,276 against 2,783,761 in 1835, being a difference of only about 100,000 tons, or at the rate of 5000 tons per annum. After the expiration of another twenty years, the aggregate had risen in 1855 to .5,250,553, being an increase of 2,566,792 tons, or at the rate of nearly 130,000 tons per annum. During the subsequent seventeen years included in the tables, the increase of tonnage, has ■ been ; 1,963,276, averaging 115,000 tons per annum. As might be expected, the greatest development took place in the years immediately succeeding the outbreak of the American Civil War, when a considerable portion of the ocean-carrying trade performed by the United States fell into the hands of England. Between 1861 and 1865, when the war terminated, the aggregate tonnage of Great Britain rose from 5,895,369 to 7,322,604, the highest point ever reached, being an increase of 1,427,235 in four years, or at the rate of 355,000 tons per annum. During the same period American tonnage, exclusively registered for ocean traffic, fell off from 2,642,628 to 1,602,583, or : a decrease of more than a million tons, being at the rate of 250,000 per annum. Since 1865 there has been an insignificant falling off in the tonnage belonging to both nations; while that of France has slightly increased. More detailed particulars are given in another table, setting forth “ the tonnage of shipping entered .‘and cleared in the United Kingdom, United States, France, Holland, Norway, Prussia, and Sweden, distinguishing between national and foreign ships, from 1850 to 1872, both in cargo and in ballast.” In the first-named year England employed 65T per cent, of indigenous tonnage, and 34*9 per cent, of foreign, but in 1872, the proportion of the former rose to 67*6, while the latter fell to 32.4. The contrary occurred in . the case of the United States. In 1850 they cleared 59’8 national tonnage against 40'2 foreign, but in 1872 the former had deoi'eased to 34*3 per cent., and the latter increased to 65*7 per. cent. A similar transfer of the carrying trade to foreign bottoms is seen in the case of France. Her proportion »f national tonnage cleaved has fallen from 41 to 34*2 per cent:, while the foreign has increased from 59 to 65*8 per cent. Holland follows suit, indigenous tonnage having contracted from 41*8 to 25*8 per cent., and foreign increase from 58*2 to 74*2 per cent. Norway, Prussia, and Sweden also each display some decrease in the amount of national, and increase in that of foreign tonnage cleared from their ports, but the difference is only slight. Taking a comprehensive view of the seven nations included in the return, England is found to be the only country employing a greater percentage of national tonnage and smaller of foreign than was the case twenty-two years ago. Nor do the figures giving the total tonnage of nil sorts, home and foreign, cleared by seven nations afford less satisfactory proofs of British prosperity. That of England has increased from 14,505,064 in 1850, to 42,501,025, or, roughly speaking, by 200 per cent. The United States has risen from 8,709,641 to 21,540,157 tons during the same period, being an increase of 150 per cent. ; France, from 4,610,719 to 14,597,788 tons, or 220:per cent. ; Holland, from 2,236,485 to 5,677,038 tons, or 150 per cent.; Norway, from 1,396,945 to 3,231,980 tons, or 130 per cent:; Prussia, from 2,090,358 to 8,516,574 tons, or 300 per cent.; and Sweden, from 1,066,886 ■: to 2,791,803, or 170 per cent. Taking the aggregate amount of tonnage employed by these seven nations at the two epochs Great Britain cleared 42 per cent, of the whole in 1850, and 43 per cent, in 1872. The result of 22 years’ experience certainly does not appear to denote that national decadence on which some foreign critics of Great Britain insist. However, if they are content, England can well afford to rest satisfied.