In the Economic Section of the British Association, on Tuesday,
Mr. J. Corry, President of the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom, succeeded in upsetting the equanimity of the experts who listened to his paper. One of them—Dr. W. A. Hunter—called his proposals "barefaced and impudent ;" and although the President and the calmer speakers very pro- perly condemned such language, they evidently thought it more unmannerly than untruthful. Mr. Corry actually proposed that in time of war the Government should guarantee shipowners against war-risks ; that, for instance, in a Russian war, the Treasury should pay all ship-owners to go on with their trade as usual. His argument was that shippers would then trust English ships and not transfer their goods to neutral vessels ; but the effect of his proposal would be that shipowners as a class would make fortunes by war, getting their higher freights without risk, and expending all their worn-out ships in dangerous places, while the taxpayer would be mulcted to fatten them. We certainly shall not endorse Dr. W. A. Hunter's strong expressions, which, if they were imi- tated, would prevent free debate ; but we may say they deserve excuse as involuntary ejaculations.
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