A correspondent of Thursday's Times, Mr. Ledru Reynolds, • disputes
Lord Gifford's statement in the Edinburgh Court, referred to in the "News of the Week" of our last issue, that a new ship should cost from £20 to £30 a ton, and even a sound old ship £12 a ton. He says that a new and sound wooden ship should never cost above £15 a ton, and even a new and solid iron ship not more than £22 a ton. Also, he quotes the case of one ship which is more than 100 years old, the ' Fortune,' of White- haven, built in 1770, 146 tons register, which, he says, is a good sound vessel, though not now retaining a class ; while another, the Utility,' of Harwich, built in 1785, and therefore ninety years old, is still on the AE letter. Some of our finest ships are, he says, from twenty-five to thirty years old. In fact, according to Mr. Reynolds, hale and hearty old age in a ship and a human being runs up to about the same number of years.
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