SHIPPING GRIEYANCES.
A public meeting of shipowners was held in London on Wednesday "to take into consideration the present ruinous condition of British na- vigation, and to adopt such measures as may be deemed expedient in re- ference thereto." Mr. Duncan Dunbar, presided. There were present six Members of Parliament ; and a host of Mercantile men from the country. The' grievances of the interest represented were expounded by the chairman, Mr. G. F. Young, Mr. S. R. Graves of Liverpool, and others. The-chief of these grievances was the advantage which the pie- sent laws give to foreign shipowners. Mr. Young was very diffuse. He set himself to show that the frcetraders had prophesied enormous in- crease to our shipping, and that this result has not been realized. In eight years before the repeal of the navigation laws British shipping increased 66 per cent. ; in the eight subsequent years British shipping only increased 33 per cent. ; while during the first series of eight years foreign shipping increased 73; and during the second eight years 97 per cent. As to the United States their shipping, as he had predicted, has nearly reached our own in amount, and is cutting us out in our own trade. Then the reciprocity clause has not been acted upon. The con- sequence is that the British shipowners are injured, the consumer is not benefited, and our rivals, perhaps our enemies are daily growing greater. Mr. Graves of Liverpool complained of several things—Lord Campbell's act, our consular system, stamp-duty on polices of assurance, and the nonperformance of the reciprocity clause. The practical remedy suggested was the enforcement of the reciprocity clause which would place foreign shipping on the same footing in Eng- lish ports, as English ships are placed in foreign ports.
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