little trouble, and without any cost, become naturalized. pay, however, is not good enough to tempt them, or if it our shipowners find it cheaper to employ Englishmen. fine, says Mr. Tottie:

"I do not think that Swedish vessels are navigated more cheaply than English vessels."-(2150.)

"Are there not instances of Swedish ships of late years having come to this country, previous to a long voyage, for the purpose of getting part of their stores here?—I cannot say what part of the stores they get, but many Swedish vessels have come here, especially new vessels, to be equipped, and they have taken part of their provisions from here. Vessels built for long voyages, oak-built coppered vessels, generally come here their first voyage.”—(1917.)

The witness put in bills for provisions and various articles supplied to Swedish ships in English ports.

SHIPS OF NORWAY.

"In Norway they have of late years commenced quite a new system of ship-building. Formerly they used to build their vessels very cheaply, and in a very inferior manner, principally of wood the produce of Norway; whereas now almost all the vessels built in Norway of late years are built of oak, and in a very expensive way, comparatively speaking; so that old Norwegian vessels, when compared with new ones, were far less expensively constructed."-(1992.)

In fact, the Norwegians, like ourselves, have found out that in the long run the ship that at first costs most, turns out the cheapest. They have found out that frequent losses, and almost constant repairs, eat up a larger sum in the life of a ship than the difference between the cost of Norwegian or Prussian oak, and Norway pine.

All their anchors and chains are imported from England, and there is a heavy duty upon them, amounting to about 67s. 6d. a ton.—(2002, 2203.)

and serve on board English ships.

Swedish ships

lay in stores

in England.

They Norwegians have improved their build of ships and import timber.

They also import and pay duty on iron.

The sails or sailcloth are imported from Scotland, and also Sails and copper. pay a duty. (1992.)

The copper bolts are brought from England, and pay a duty of a penny farthing the pound; and if the ship were to be coppered, she would in all probability be sent to England for the purpose, the duty on copper sheathing being also a penny

(2016.)

(2020.).

Total cost of Norwegian ship.

Dearer than
English.

farthing a pound. The Norwegian Navy Board have been lately inquiring for Quebec fir for internal fittings, and African teak for hulls, in England.—(2008, 2209.) Mr. Tottie says :—

"I have before me the case of a Norwegian vessel called the Dovre, of 258 Norwegian lasts, that is 541 tons register; I have the captain's authority for saying that the anchors, chains, and the whole of the iron-work for this vessel was bought in London, of Browne, Lennox, and Company, and the cordage was imported from Amsterdam, and the sails or sailcloth from Scotland; this vessel cost, when she was ready for sea, 28,000 Norwegian specie dollars; each specie dollar is 4s. 6d. sterling; that would be £6,200. English; that is £11. 10s. a ton. She is built of oak, partly copper-fastened, and partly iron."—(1992-4.)

The price of this ship is 10s. a ton more than that of the Hamburgh ship, and it lasts the same time; so that, calculated in the same manner, the English ship is 10s. a ton cheaper than the Norwegian. It is needless, therefore, to give. further proof that Norway has no advantage over England in the build of ships.

PAY AND PROVISIONS ON BOARD NORWEGIAN SHIPS.

The witness goes on to state what are the wages of Norwegian seamen, beginning with the chief officer, and going down to the common seaman ; he says

Captain's pay "I have taken the case of the Dovre; the captain on board this vessel and perquisites. has forty Norwegian specie dollars a month, a specie dollar being 4s. 6d., is £9.; he has, in addition to that, three per cent. primage upon her freights; if freights are good he has five per cent.; when freights are bad, under a certain standard, he has three per cent.; at present he has five per cent., and he has, in addition to that, the privilege of carrying, depending upon the length of the voyage, from ten to twenty tons of stowage.

"Then his perquisites, in that respect, amount as nearly as possible to the perquisites of a Swedish captain ?-Very nearly the same, or rather more I think they are; the monthly pay is more; when he has five per cent. primage it would be the same as the Swedish captain has.

"He gets £9. a month, while a Swedish captain would get £5. 10s. ?—The Swedish captain has £5. 10s., including the cabin allowance; this captain has nothing for his cabin.

"The Norwegian captain has £9. a month as against the Swedish captain's £5. 10s., and he has other perquisites: the Swedish

1

captain has a certain right of stowage upon all voyages, but the Norwegian captain has only the broken stowage; for example, coming from Sweden with a cargo of timber, he has the broken stowage; he is allowed to carry from ten to twenty tons.

"As regards the other officers on board a Norwegian ship, what Mates and men. do they receive !-The first mate has sixteen specie dollars, that would be £3. 6s. 8d. a month; the second mate has 7 dollars, that would be £1. 13s. 4d. a month; the boatswain the same, and the carpenter the same. There are eight seamen on board, who have each 6 Norwegian dollars, that will be £1. 6s. 8d. a month; there are three inferior seamen at 42 dollars, exactly £1. a month; and there are two boys at three dollars, that would be 16s. 8d. each.

"So that, upon the whole, the cost of navigating a Norwegian ship would be greater than the cost of navigating a Swedish ship?— Decidedly; every thing is more expensive in Norway than in Sweden.

"As regards the scale of provisions for a Norwegian ship, how does that stand?—I have taken the daily rations of this vessel. I see on Sunday morning the captain begins his week by giving them for breakfast coffee and bread and butter; of the butter they have 14 lb. a week; of bread and coffee as much as they can consume; then for dinner 14 lb. of beef, clear of bone, and pea-soup as much as they like. They are also allowed to drink as much ale as they can consume during the day, or rather small beer, for which I understand the price in Norway is about 4d. a gallon. They have in the afternoon, at four o'clock, coffee and bread and butter again; and they have in the evening pea-soup again and bread; if they can make their 14 lb. of butter last, they have butter with it. Then on Monday they have coffee as before; for dinner they have lb. of pork, clear of bone, and barley porridge with it; in the afternoon and evening the same as on Sunday, and they go on the same through the week on alternate days.

They have meat one day and pork another ?—Yes, with the exception that on Friday and Saturday they have the same food; so that they get pork on four days of the week, and meat three days : but the Norwegian pound is ten per cent. heavier than the English. "Is the cost of provisions in Norway greater than in Sweden ?— Yes, it is; Norway being, and having always been, a corn-importing country, it has kept the price of provisions up. They import a good deal of corn and provisions from Denmark.

"The case of this vessel which you have just given is not a particular case?—No; I have had several Norwegian vessels here, and I have inquired of several of the captains. Some captains commanding smaller vessels would have lower wages; but generally this is the scale.

"Have the seamen always as much beer as they can drink ?—So I

Daily bill of fare in Norwegian

ships.

Prussia can neither build ships nor navigate them more cheaply than England.

have always understood; and I have been on board those vessels and observed that whenever they wished, they have gone to the beerbarrel on the deck.”—(2021-31.)

We leave it to our English seamen to study this bill of fare, and say whether their stores are better, or rations more liberally given.

66

PRUSSIAN SHIPS.

Mr. Edward Berger says—

"My knowledge of Prussian ships leads me to believe that a Prussian ship cannot be sailed more cheaply than an English vessel. I can show the Committee the grounds on which I form that opinion. A Prussian vessel cannot be sailed permanently and equipped cheaper than an English ;* in fact, Prussian vessels cannot come into competition with English vessels permanently, on account of the natural disadvantages under which the Prussian vessels labour, their ports being closed up for three or four months in the year with ice; there being, therefore, an amount of the sinking fund which must be laid by, and an amount of interest on account of that ship for those three or four months for which she cannot run, and which must be carried in eight or nine months, that makes more than the apparent difference in the cost of the ship. In my opinion there is no difference in the cost of the ship, but it makes more than the apparent difference in the wages of the crew and the victualling. But there is a great misapprehension afloat as to the cost of victualling: instances are given of victualling at 1s. 8d. a day; but if you take into consideration the ten per cent. sinking fund which has to be set apart, and five per cent. interest for three or four months, with one per cent. extra for keeping the ship during the winter months clear of ice, you have £100. upon the average per ship, which has to be earned in nine months, beyond that which an English ship has; and you will find that those extra expenses under which the Prussian ships labour, make up for any difference between the wages of the respective crews, taking also into consideration that a Prussian vessel takes twenty-five or twenty more sailors than an English ship."-(1684.)

We have a Navigation Law against Prussia, and she against Prussian marine us; but beyond ourselves they allow free navigation to all. "They being, in fact, without any Navigation Law whatever, their navy has increased, notwithstanding that free competition which they allow in their ports to all ships."—(1682.)

has increased without Navigation Laws.

* As to the comparative cost of build of Prussian and English ships, see Appendix letter of Joshua Wilson, a Sunderland merchant and shipowner.

As to Dantzic ships, Mr. Graham says——

66 I may here mention a very curious fact which came to my knowledge yesterday, from our surveyor at Sunderland, who undertook to prove that he could import Dantzic oak, for instance, and build a ship at Sunderland cheaper than they could build a ship at Dantzic. "Have you any objection to give the name of that gentleman ?— Mr. Brunton, Lloyd's surveyor at Sunderland.

"That referred to the same quality of ship ?—Yes.”—(3455-3457.)

A ship could be built of Dantzic

oak at Sunderland cheaper than at Dantzic.

THE SHIPS AND PORT OF BREMEN.

As to Bremen, Mr. Goschen gives the whole case in a few words:

No Navigation Law-great natural difficulties to con

"They have no protection whatever; they have the most miserable river to deal with that they can possibly have; they cannot bring the ships to their own town, but they must unload the vessels at a considerable distance from their town, and lighter up their goods; tend against. and when they have the goods there, the greatest difficulty exists again in getting them into the interior, because the river is so shallow that sometimes for three months in the year they have not been able to move a thing by water; and, notwithstanding all those obstacles and great difficulties, with no protection and no assistance of any kind, they build ship after ship, and they are able to carry on They drive a a lucrative and very good trade, entirely owing to their intelligence, good trade. to their activity, and to the great knowledge that they possess of their business.

"The way in which the ships are navigated, and especially the Their ships are superior education of their captains, and the greater care which is favourites. taken generally of the cargo, have a great influence; it has made the ships favourites, and caused an increase of their number, and enabled them to withstand competition from their neighbours who build cheaper.

"The necessity of competing with ships of all other nations has Their captains induced this superior attention to the education of their captains. and men well educated. and the manning of their ships."-(3967, 3968.)

Bremen, Mr. Colquhoun tells us, has in all 227 vessels ; and yet this little marine, working by desperate energy its way in the face of great natural difficulties, is spoken of as if it were a rival too powerful for England to compete with.