* * * Universal Load Lines The text of the
International Load Lines Convention has been published and deserves a hearty welcome. It has been signed by the representatives of twenty-nine countries and will come into force, if ratified, on July 1st, 1932. It provides for the first time uniform loading rules for the ships of all nations. The most important innovations are the rules for protecting deck openings—an urgent matter of safety—and the special load lines for timber ships and tankers. It is well known among seamen that ships carrying timber or oil can safely be loaded more heavily than ships carrying any other kind of cargo. Some seamen even say that timber ships and tankers are safer, because more manageable, when low in the water. The load line agreed upon for these particular vessels is a little higher on the ship's side than the cautious British represen- tatives would themselves have suggested, but a little lower than the foreign representatives considered proper. The foreigners certainly had strong evidence on their side. A universal load line, by ending an inhuman form of competition, ought to be a great help to British shipping.
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