ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT EASTERN.
COMING after the statements which we have already made as to the kind of materials employed in the building of iron ships, and as to the manner of getting up those new and important structures, the report of the surveyors appointed to examine the vessel be- longing to the Great Ship Company affects us with something like a double surprise. For if we may say so, it is the more striking because it is devoid of novelty. We have for some years past, as our readers know, been insisting upon the duty of stripping bare the deterioration which has taken place in the practice and material of trade. We have the satisfaction of believing that our readers impute that persevering endeavour on our own part to no malignant motive, to no desire of injuring any person in his credit or interests, but, on. the contrary, to the desire of re- storing the beat interests of trade itself, and of every person con- nected with it. We believe that adulteration, like the feeding upon bad food, however convenient it may be, however it may tempt by the apparent return of profits greater than those justi- fied in the ordinary calculations of commerce, is in the long run actually less a fraud upon the person who is intended to be the dupe than upon the duper. If three people cheat each other all round, by cutting short the due allowance in a bargain, it is evident that each man, while cheating his neighbour, has been cheated himself. He has spontaneously converted himself from an honest man into a knave, to gain nothing by the tran- saction, except the loss of character, of self-respect, and of the in- fluence to protect his own rights. In the round of commercial frauds, the self-cheating is greater than the cheating by others ; and this principle applies in every instance. But if we have been thus steadfastly engaged in the endeavour to expose malpractices, if we have from time to time brought forward evidence to the truth of statements which we know had startled our readers when they were first made, we ourselves feel an astonishment at the new evidence which unexpectedly turns up, surprise at the un- broken continuity of the disclosures. We cannot refrain from a sense of wonder at the absence of variety. We looked for a break in the series, but each day brings us bad jokes in strict sequel, each worse than the other; and this last contribution from Holy- head is amongst the most astonishing.
The following passages are from a sort of anticipatory report delivered by the surveyors to the Messrs. Leverson and Hawley on behalf of the Great Ship Company.
"In her present state it would be imprudent to send her to sea on a jeugthened voyage. " We are unable at present to arrive at a definite opinion as to the cost of the works necessary for the completion of the ship in all respects in actor- ibince with the contract. The amount must be very large. We are unable to state the amount of damages consequent on the delay in sending her to sea.
" We may remark generally, that, with the exception of a few cabins, the accommodations are by no means equal to the requirements of a first-class passenger steamer, such as Cunard's line or the Royal West India Mail steamers, but are very inferior—materials, workmanship, and furni- ture. * "The decks are not tight, and a great deal of inferior material and work- manship has been used in them."
We subjoin some further passages from the " general remarks on the steamship Great Eastern."
"The decks are of very inferior quality, and some of the planks are shaky and defective, not well fastened nor of sufficient thickness for a ship of her magnitude.
"The beams are of great length, and in many parts wide spaced, and 'evidently not sufficiently supported by pillars and carlings, nor connected throughout with each other and the hull of the ship. " Additional strength is required in the large cargo compartments forward and aft.
"Mooring bollards, leading chocks and blocks,pinracks, belaying pins, topsail bitts, ring and eye bolts, are generally insufficient in number, size, and fastenings. The joiners' work, materials, furniture, and fittings are generally of an inferior description, and very slight ; not at all of a first- class character.
"The shafting to fore capstan very slight for its extreme length, and the levers and shafts of the connecting and disconnecting gear of the capstan are already bent, and have given way through insufficiency. "The steering gear is insufficient, and no spare tiller (of wood). Small rudder pendants must be fitted. "There is no steam power for steering, as required in the contract, nor cargo winches at hatchways. There is no steam power for coaling purposes. The screw shaft is quite exposed, and when the hold is filled with cargo or stores will be quite inaccessible. A substantial protection should be made, so as to prevent danger when in motion. "The five funnels require particular attention to have a sufficient clear- ance' at the decks and woodwork, to obviate the danger from fire to which they are liable. " The waste steam and other pipes are not secured so as to be safe at sea.
"The funnels are only stayed to the combings, and are insecure and dangerous."
We have no means of ascertaining how far this report is con- clusive or final ; we do not know what context might be brought forward to explain it away ; we cannot tell to what extent it amounts to a judgment upon the ship, how far it affects any of the persons concerned, or what the expense involved in the de- -lays, in the alterations, or in the other contingencies suggested by
the surveyors. But certain facts are indisputable. The. Great Eastern is the largest ship that ever has been bnilded ; its total cost must be now advancing far towards a million or more ; the attention. of the world has been challenged to the structure as a triumph of modern science, art, and commerce ; and now we have these statements respecting its completeness, the materials used in some part of the fittings, the fitness for sea, the comfort, the safety ! Whether the report of the surveyors is true or not, it is at all events stated that the Great Eastern, that triumph of commercial enterprise, is in the condition described ; the most eminent commercial men do not scruple to proclaim this extraor- dinary stultification of commercial intelligence, and multitudes are ready to believe the story. Such is the condition to which trade has brought itself in the endeavour to be too sharp for traders.
Instead of sharing certain feelings of rather malicious gratifi- cation at this exposure, instead of hailing evidence which proves that we have been " in the right," and that some people have been desperately in the wrong, we must declare that we receive these disclosures with a feeling of the strongest regret. What- ever faults there may be in this person or in that, we cannot but feel a strong compassion for men to whom, individually, conse- quences are thus brought home which really belong to " the system." It has for some time been the Custom to facilitate operations by making abatements in the apparent cost which cannot be made with safety. Either to out down the amount of capital, or to save the apparent outlay and swell the apparent profits, traders have encouraged a habit—and joint-stock traders have been amongst the greatest sinners in this respect—of reducing the sum which ought to be allowed for " verification," or " margin." The vice goes through every kind of trade. A sharp tradesman ima- gined that he could save in tare and fret, or in waste, forgetting that it is impossible always to keep subordinates so strictly to the mark, that the measurements eked out to each customer should exactly tally with the wholesale weight, that the precise sum, neither more nor less, should be allowed for paper and string in packing, and in short that perfect precision could be sectored in every stage of a commercial operation. It may be done once or twice, or perhaps a dozen times ; but the world must be brought to a much higher standard of intellectual precision before it can be done always ; and by that time, perhaps, we shall neither pack parcels in paper nor be slaves to the present bungling processes of trading operations. Meanwhile, if we do not wish to cheat our- selves as well as our customers, we must continue to allow margin for variations of many kinds. The very sharp trader begins by affecting not to do so. If in practice he finds that he cannot perfectly work out his original intention, he must make the failure to fall, not upon his own profit,—that would be irk- some ; not -upon wages,—that might be difficult; not ostensibly upon the customer, in the pnoe,—that might " turn away custom ; " so he makes it fall upon the body of the thing in ne- gotiation. If it is a house that he has to build, it must be appa- rently of the size contracted for ; it must not cost more. It must be done in the appointed time. But he may make both ends meet by using timber a little thinner, and running up his walls a little faster than is quite safe ; and- what with plaister and gild- ing, a shaky house that may stand until it is finished, has been made to pass for a substantial mansion. If the house is of the kind that goes to sea, the same process is available.
Indeed, it has now been carried so far, that traders themselves begin to disbelieve in the commodities that are exhibited in the market ; and although the greatest names in engineering, science, and trade shall have been assembled to witness the construction of the greatest enterprise which the world has yet seen, still "competent persons sent to inspect the article make the kind of report which we have just quoted. A little more, and we may chance to find ourselves m face of the enemy, with guns that burst, powder that will not explode, and swords that break short at the hilt.
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