The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-02-02 00:00:00

SNIPPING INTEREST.

TONNAGU DUTY.

A numerous and most respectable Meeting of
the British Ship-Owners, was yesterday held, at the
London Tavern, for the purpose of hearing the Re-
port of the Committee appointed to carry into execu-
tion such measures as should be deemed necessary
for obtaining the repeal of the Tonnage Duty.
Jour HILL, Esq. was unanimously called to the
Chair.
Mr. AITCIIESON reported, that the Committee,
since the last General Meeting, had been engaged in
obtaining information and documents respecting the
state of the Shipping Interest; and that the result
had completely conhrmed the opinion expressed in
the Resolution of the last Meeting. The Committee,
in order to obtain the most correct and accurate in-
formation, had applied to several Ship-builders in the
Thames ; and it appeared that, since the conclusion
of the late war, only two ships for the merchant ser-
vice had been laid upon the stocks ; one was called
the /tel.fic, and the other was a ship of 600 tons,
built upon speculation; and that no ship for the
merchant service had been contracted for since that
period. The Committee, in order to ascertain the
real depreciation of the shipping interest had not
only reviewed the opinion of the Brokers, but had
conversed with every person in town concerned in
the sale of ships. The Report proceeded to state
the comparative expences of outfitting ships, the two
first years after the American War and now. Pro-
visions bad increased nearly 89 per cent. and every
article of naval stores used in fitting out ships, in
the same proportion. The premiums upon In-
surance had been considerably advanced, yet the
whole rates of freight had only advanced about 23
per cent. It was with the greatest concern, the
Committee stated, that ships could not now be navi-
gated so as to produce any profit to the owners.
The report added, that Petitions had been presented
to Parliament by the Merchants of the L'orts of Lon-
don, Newcastle,Sunderland, Shields, and other ports
and places; and that their representatives had been
instructed- to support them in Parliament. The
Committee felt it their duty to declare, that the
whole of the investigation had been conducted with
candour, and without any reference to party views.
The public would therefore attribute their conduct,
on all occasions, to the sources from whence they
had sprung. In whatever measures they had adopt-
ed, they had been actuated by an high sense of their
duty to the country, a due regard to its Shipping In-
terest, and the glory and prosperity of the empire.
JOHN HILL, Esq.--., Gentlemen, this is the re-
port which your Committee have thought proper to
lay before you. We have met once a week, and,
besides deliberating among ourselves, we have in our
individual capacity exerted ourselves to the utmost
of our power to obtain such information es was
necessary. We have seen the Minister and his con-
fidential friend, Mr. VANSITTART: we were with
them two hours, and did not fail to impress on their
minds that the present tax was a novelty highly in-
jurious to the Shipping Interest of this country. We
did not fail to state to them, that from the feign of
Richard I. when the laws of Oleron were framed, it
had been the uniform object of the British Govern-
ment to encourage and strengthen the Shipping In-
terest. We did not fail to remind them, that to
the encouragement of the Shipping Interest was to
be attributed the power of the raitish Navy, and that
it was toy the power of the Br:tish Navy the King
owed the security of his throne. Furler, we did
not fail to remind them, that while they, as the
Ministers cf the King, were adopting a course dif-
ferent from that of their predecessors, every other
nation in Europe was giving encouragement to
the source of maritime gteetness. /Pi reminded
them that wh de Bonaparte soar promotx: and eneournm
the fther.:es dad the mer:aast:e and shipping interests of
France, and it,r.par-sw to ra re t powetyid navy so fight
the latlvrto ,twine Ne navy of th;s eautary, it war a subje,ct
of deep concern his Aiaj:sty's at its nuts anon should he par-
rut a condo!' nattily the rrvees:. for me to attempt to
dwell on the importance of maintaining the power
of the British Navy, and the impossibility of doing
so without protecting the Merchant service, would
be to occupy your time unnecessary. Upon this
point, there cannot be a difference of opinien, but
there is a subject to which I cannot avoid referrirg.
An Honourable .Member of the House of Com-
mons lately delivered an opinion, as estraurdinary as
unfounded upon the subject of our present discus-
sion. There can he no man who entertains a higher
respect for the privileges of Parliament than myself,
and I would be extremely delicate in adverting to
any thing that had fallen from one of its Members,
but the same gentleman has made use of similar ex-
pressions out of the House, and I have therefore a
right to animadvert upon them. Hehas declared that
the Ship-Owners had got so much money during the
war, that they ought to be made to disembogue
themselves of part of their wealth, and contribute
largely to the expences of Government during
peace. Ido believe, that if the shipping concerns,
during the war, were fairly taken up and examined,
it would appear, the owners scarce obtained a fair
mercantile profit. If fortunes have been made by
Ship-Owners, they have been made by running great
risques ; but, admitting it to be the case, that dur-
ing the war they did acquire large fortunes, such
a declaration as that to which I have alluded, comes
most ungraciously from the person who made it. ;
for I pretest, I know not an instance of a single in-
dividual, in the kingdom, who has gained more
during the war by contracts and loans, than he has
dune. Is it to be said, because a man has made a
fortune during a war, that it therefore ought un-
justly to be taken from him at the return of peace ?
The Chairman then adverted to certain resolutions
of the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce at
Hull, directly in opposition to those of the Ship-
Owners of London.
Mr. ArrenzsoN, the Secretary, read a letter
from Mr. Voye, the Chairman of the Committee of
Ship-Owners at Hulleinclosing the resolution of the
Chamber of Commerce. Ihe resolution was to
this effect :

"That, in answer to the representations of a meeting of
Ship-Owners in London, of which Mr. John Hill is Chair-
man, it is the opinion of this me :ting, ti at the shipping of
England is not in a de,,resaed state, hut, on the contrary, that
the value of shipping has of late increased considerably, and
is still increa-dng; and that the duty On the tonnage of ships is
neither impolitic in its principle, no injurious in its conse-
quences."

It was signed Wm. Osborne, Chairman.
Another letter was read, containing a resolution
of the Hull-Ship Owners, to the effect, that the ton-
nage duty on ships was au heavy and unjust inrpu

_

• ,