Evelyn Cecil

“ The nations in question already do what it is suggested the United Kingdom should do, and would therefore have no cause of resentment; the United Kingdom has a latent strength for effective retaliation, because the coast-line of her Empire is the greatest of any country in the world; and even if the tonnage of foreign vessels trading between British ports is comparatively small, it is not so insignificant that it ought to be ignored. ”

“ Shipbuilding in Great Britain is in a sound position for constructing any class of vessel at very moderate cost, but British shipowners must not rely too much upon present superiority, and must be continually seeking for newer and up-to-date methods, and unremittingly aim at adopting the most scientific principles in the conduct of their business. ”

“ Heralded or pioneered by trade corporations like the East India Company, it has risen from small beginnings to become the gauge of the uniting strength of British sovereignty and of the extent of British trade. Long may it remain so. Foreigners, we have been told by an eminent German writer, desire to cultivate trade relations with British Colonies in order to prevent a British Customs Union. Our commercial fleet will be the best mainstay of such a union if it is established, and it is the best substitute for it if it is not. ”

“ The fifties, so far as they are by themselves a test, give much cause for satisfaction, and are in any case an excellent barometer to indicate the power and importance of the Empire. They have risen with its rise ”

“ Shipowners and traders can mutually help each other in the future in several ways. In the first place, where there is a good opening in the Colonies or abroad for British manufactures, or where there is a good market in the United Kingdom for colonial produce, rail and steam carriers can develop them by establishing low through rates. The art of this method has been well studied in Germany, where railway and steamship lines are largely under Government guidance and management, and oversea trade is often assisted by Government subsidy. ”

“ There is no real reason why these disasters should overtake us, and any revival of industry would at once animate our mercantile marine with fresh vigour, and give an impetus to shipbuilding both at home and in the Colonies. If due precaution is taken and constant watchfulness exercised, there need be no fear for the future of the British commercial fleet. ”

“ It is obvious that a colonist is likely to know, and thinks he knows, most accurately what kind of plough or machinery, for example, will suit his particular soil, or crop, or mine. Many cases could be recalled where British manufacturers have lost an order, and British steamship companies the freight, through indifference of this character. The neglect causes loss to British oversea trade, and therefore indirectly weakens the importance of the commercial fleet as a means of inter-Imperial communication. ”

“ In the words of the recent Royal Commission, though we look mainly for security to our navy, we rely only in a less degree upon the widespread resources of our mercantile fleet, and its power to carry on our trade and reach all possible sources of supply wherever they exist. ”

“ It is needless to point out that the British paper manufacturer was so severely handicapped that Australian orders for paper always went to the United States. Even if fighting rates are inevitable for a time, it is highly undesirable that they should go on for years, to the immense detriment of the trade between Great Britain and Australia. ”

“ It is a most striking fact that, of all the tonnage entering our own British ports between 1892 and 1902, the foreign tonnage shows an absolute increase much greater than ours. The total of all the tonnage entering British ports in 1892 was 75,000,000, and in 1902 it was 99,000,000, or an increase of 24,000,000. Out of that increase, which has nothing to do with percentages, the British have only ten and a half millions of tons, and the foreigners thirteen and a half. ”

“ If, however, the British Admiralty is satisfied that it can build thoroughly efficient ships more economically than it can subsidize the mercantile marine for Admiralty requirements, it seems likely that merchant ships may in future have little use in time of war except so far as they are employed to carry food-supplies. ”

“ In reply to the first question, statesmen can render material assistance, both by directly encouraging adequate mail speed by present services, and also by exercising a watchful control of British oversea traffic in view of trade rivalry. The importance of adequate mail speed to Imperial communications cannot be exaggerated, and rapidity of transit largely depends upon the amount of the mail subsidy which is granted. What the precise rate of speed should be must necessarily vary according to circumstances. ”

“ Nearly half the countries of the world have adopted this system, and the tendency appears to be growing, so that the area for British trading is being slowly but surely reduced. What makes matters more noticeable is the extended interpretation which the United States and Russia give to the term 'coasting trade.' They do not consider it only to mean steaming from one of their ports to another along the coast, but from one of their ports to another anywhere in the world. ”

“ Many cases are on record of a British ship being sold to a foreign owner, and returning to this country loaded far more heavily and hazardously than would have been permitted had she started from a British port. As at present a foreign ship is seldom marked with any load-line, the overloading is by no means always easy to detect at sight. ”

“ There is one means by which, probably, British manufacturers can still both increase the output of their own factories and also assist our commercial fleet by supplying more freight for transport—namely, by taking pains to provide the exact pattern of article asked for in a colonial or foreign order, rather than the pattern of the article which they themselves consider best. ”

“ In some cases high speed is essential, and in general the speed should not be less than that of foreign mail-ships running on the same routes; but no limit should be placed upon the amount of subsidy where, in the opinion of the Government, the needs involved relate to Imperial communication; for the first object of a subsidy is political. ”

“ Statesmen, therefore, can help to maintain the ascendancy of our commercial fleet as a link of Empire in respect of speed, the equal application of shipping regulations to British and foreign vessels, the promotion of international agreement with regard to these regulations, the incidence of light dues, and, if need be, the qualified reservation of British Imperial coasting trade. ”

“ Practical labour-saving appliances, such as automatic and electric machines, are an immense gain in the long-run, although perhaps naturally they are not always at first acceptable to trades unions, who are sometimes apt to take a short-sighted view of economic development. ”

“ It may be argued that percentages are misleading, that the proportionate foreign rise is much more rapid, because the foreign tonnage starts from so low a figure, and that it was much easier to rise from one ton to two tons than from a million to two million. ”