Mr. Drummond quotes the following table, showing the number and tonnage of iron steamships built in England and the United States since 1868:

In his judgment there are no present indications of competition to our carrying trade from the United States; for although it is possible that steam-ships may be built as cheaply as in England, iron, and wood, and labour being cheap, England, Italy, and Sweden have an immense surplus tonnage which comes to American ports for employment.

In the annual commercial review, the Economist' supplies the subjoined particulars relating to the employment of the shipping of the United Kingdom during the past year:

Entered. 346,768 340,318 6,450 63,186,548 62,510,702 | 675,846 Cleared. 310,651 303,223 7,428 59,121,151 57,864,853 1,256,298

It is British shipping exclusively that has increased. both the number and tonnage of foreign vessels entered and cleared being slightly less than in the previous year. The entries of British ships in 1878 were 316,887 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 54,218,769 tons, being an increase of 8,222 vessels and 1,081,393 tons as compared with 1877. The clearances were 280,976 vessels of 50,092,885 tons, being an increase of 8,542 vessels and 1,431,211 tons.

The Bureau Veritas' of Paris has published the following statistics, showing the aggregate tonnage of the merchant navies of the principal maritime countries for the year 1877-78. From this document I extract the following figures:

If the figures published by the Bureau Veritas' be examined in detail, it will be seen that the diminution in the tonnage of sailing ships has not extended to all countries. In a single year we see a diminution of 71,000 tons in the tonnage of American sailing ships, a reduction of 533,000 tons in Italian sailing ships, of 71,000 tons under the French, and 221,518 tons under the Spanish flags. No change took place in the mercantile marine of Norway, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, and Turkey, while, on the other hand, under the British flag we find an increase of 170,000 tons, and under the German flag an increase of 39,000 tons.

ency of

maritime

In the number of steam vessels an unimportant Ascendreduction will be observed in the total, but the tonnage British of the British steamships, so far from diminishing, enterprise. shows an increase of 83 vessels and 181,277 tons. In the other merchant navies of Europe we trace a slender increase, while under the flag of the United States we notice a reduction of 65,000 tons, and in Sweden of 9,000 tons. All the recent changes in the tonnage of the mercantile marine of the world have tended to make the ascendency of British maritime enterprise even more conspicuous than before.

As a further illustration of its growth, I may refer to Professor Neumann-Spellart's analysis of the traffic on the Suez Canal since the commencement. 'In 1876 the total tonnage of ships passing through the canal was 3,072,000, or nearly double the average tonnage of the preceding seven years. Of the 3,072,000 tons, 2,344,000, or 76 per cent., were British, the next

Our share

of the

Suez Canal

traffic.

British

invention.

largest amount, 237,000 tons, being contributed by France. In 1877 the total was 3,419,000, an increase of 347,000 tons. The British tonnage was 2,699,000, or nearly 79 per cent. of the whole. The average proportion of British ships during the seven years 1869-75 was only 57 per cent.' And we are gaining ground year by year in an accelerated ratio.

Before the opening of the canal it was predicted that our sailing ships would be displaced by steamers from every port in the Mediterranean.

Those mis

givings are now dispelled by the astonishing success which we have achieved. At present, absolutely no foreign competition is attempted in the steam trade to the East without the aid of a Government subsidy.

Can any single production of human ingenuity and labour be compared for concentrated difficulty and perplexity with a powerful ironclad? Can such vessels be produced in any country of superior quality and at a lower price than in the United Kingdom? Has any invention of modern times surpassed in practical utility the railway, the steamship, the electric telegraph, or the submarine cable? Has not our country been the pioneer in originating these valuable inventions and in extending their use?

157

CHAPTER VIII.

COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN

LABOUR.

answerable

trade.

I Now proceed to discuss the character and conduct Wages not of the British workman, always so severely criticised in a for collapses of time of commercial depression. When trade expands and every available man finds employment, wages inevitably rise, and the workman is disliked because he is in a position to enforce compliance with his evergrowing demands. When trade collapses it is always said, and often most unjustly, that the inflation of wages has been the main cause of our disasters; as if those who control the application of the capital, which constitutes the wage fund of the country, were not responsible for the over-production of textile goods and iron, and for the multiplication of furnaces, factories, and ships. It is owing to this constant and unnecessary augmentation of our manufacturing resources that the market has been overstocked, and that a general depreciation of prices has been brought about.

of trade apparent with pro

If we test the comparative efficiency of British Our loss labour by the amount of our exports, we shall see that we have lost ground chiefly in our trade with the great manufacturing countries, where the supply of countries,

tected