The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-06-07 00:00:00

RESTORATION OF SHIPS TO THE FIRST-CLASS.

If within live years after the expiration of the period for which
it is proposed that ships should stand in the first class, on owner
should make application to the presiding Committee, for the re-
storation of his ship to the privileges of that class, he should be re-
quired to tale down the wales and topsides, with all the in and out
bolts; to take up a Rieke on each aide, and one in the middle of
each deck ; drive out all the tree-nails above the light-water mark,
and some below it ; take out two strikes of plank outside the bot-
tom, and two striae* inside, at such parts as may be pointed out
by the Surveyors, and in that state submit the ship to the special
survey of persons to be appointed by the presiding Committee; and
if the owner should then consent to take out all planks, beams,
timbers, and fastenings that may, on such survey, be objected to,
and replace them with materials of the same species, or of equal
quality, as those of which the ship was originally composed, such
ship to be entitled to restoration to the first class; if a ship of the
first description, for eight years ; if of the second, for six years;
and if of the third, for four years.

ANCHORS, ZARLES, AND STORES.
In order to be considered properly found, your Committee, from
reference to various nautical and competent persons, beg to recom-
mend, that all shins should be provided with at least two, and if
bound to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, or westward of
Cape Horn, with three cables of approved quality and length, either
of iron, hemp, or both, and with the same number of anchors of
proper weight; and that the masts and standing rigging should be
In good order, and the sails in sufficient number and proper condi-
tion.

In the suggestions thus submitted for the establishment of an
emended system ofclassiflcation, your Committee have endeavoured
to follow, u closely as possible, the general bearing of the evidence
laid before them.

In the constitution of the Committee to which they propose to
assign its practical superintendence, It has been their object to pro-
vide for the fair and equal representation therein, of all parties im-
mediately interested.
On the extent of authority which it might be consistent or pm.
dent to delegate to Local Committees, your Committee have ven-
tured no definite proposition, conceiving it a subject which would
be more appropriately considered, when the question of the adop-
tion of the general system shall be decided :—Your Committee,
however, do not hesitate to express their conviction, that it should
be such as to insure a cordial co-operation on the part of persons
interested in the subject, resident at the out-ports ; but at the same
time be so limited, as by no means to interfere with that steady uni.
fortuity of system, on which the efficacy of any amendment must
entirely depend.
In assigning the stations and numbers of Surveyors, it has been
the object of your Committee to regulate them, according to the
magnitude of the duty required, by the relative importance of the
ports placed tinder their supervision ; and to fix the limits of their
districts, with reference to the distance to which it might be practi-
cable for their attention to be efficiently extended.
In the determination of the Scale of Salaries which they have.rc-
commended, your Committee have been anxiously solicitous to
steer a just course between imprudent expenditure end iii.judged
parsimony. To those ports in which, from the number of ships
usually constructed in, or resorting to them, the duties will be ar-
duous, the responsibility heavy, and the consequences of incapacity,
negligence, or want of principle, seriously' detrimental, they have
assigned such salaries as they consider will admit of the engage-
ment of Surveyors of competent professional knowledge; to insure
the efficient discharge of duty, and of respectability of character, io
warrant confidence in their integrity.—ln some, they have been
influenced by the extent of the district confided to them, and the
expense consequent on travelling from place to place within it;
while, in others, they have proportioned the sum to the small ex-
tent f ;the service required, the facility for its performance, the
little responsibility involved in it, or the cheapness of living In
the district in which it is comprehended. But, in the scale of re-
muneration recommended, it is extremely possible that, should the
system be adopted, more extended information as to the circum-
stances on which its amount ,should Ibe dependent, may sliew the
necessity for some alterations, as it is not a point on which the evi-
dence affords data for universal conclusion.
Your Committee, however, cannot forbear urging, In the most
forcible manner, that whatever be the salary attached to the situa-
tion of surveyor, particularly in the principal ports, it should be
sufficient to insure the ',trim of men of intelligence, activity,
firmness, and integrity. It is, they must again repeat, to the
absence of regular and constant professional supervision by properly
selected persons, that the abuse, and evils of existing system
have been principally traced : It Is on the universal and inflexible
application of a vigilant system of survey, that the practical efficacy
of the plans suggested by your Committee must be mainly depen-
dent • and it is obvious, that without such a provision, no reliance
can be placed on the beneficial operation of any project, however
theoretically judicious, ot desirable. In the ultimate decision,
therefore, of this branch of die question, they feel firmly persuaded,
that while the adoption ofsi principle of cautious liberality will be
found to embrace the soundest policy, it will at the same time not
be inconsistent with real economy.
Your Committee WC now brought to that part of their proposi-
tions in which specific suggestions are offered for the future regula.
lion of classification. The unavoidable length to which this Re-
port has already been extended, forbids any elaborate exposition of
the reasons on which, in the detail of their recommendations, they
have felt warranted in the cordial auoption of the sentiments con-
veyed in the evidence, no a subject peculiarly open to conflicting
optnion. On such a subjett, absolute uniformity was not to be ex-
pected ; but the striking concurrence in general principle, exhibited
throughout the testimony adduced to them, while it has been a
source of great satisfactio• se your Committee, has limited this
branch of their labours to the task of modifying, arranging, and
digesting the valuable opinions with which they have been fa-
voured, Into the systematic form in which they have herein pre-
sentedthem._

In the performance of this task, year Committee have been
anxious, as far as was consistent with the maintenance of the great
principle of assigning character according to intrinsic merit, to avoid
such minute detail as would unnecessarily
invade the right of pd_
sate opinion, or cramp the fah exercise of discretion on the part of
the shipbuilder or shipowner. They have forborne, therefore, to
offer any recommendation of specific made of construction, or male
of scantlings, not from any question of thsabetract propriety of the
suggestions on that subject, tendered to dismin evidence, but from
a conviction, that the practical inconvenience and injustice it might
produce, would more than eounterbekele any advantage to be ex-
pected from it • they have confined the definitions to those points
which they have considered to be a( 'sniversally-xtimitted im.
portance In the determinshe of quality ; exacting from ships
claiming the higher privileges of more rigid con.
formity with spends ressilatiesa, big pester latitude for
opinion In descending die coy, h tlitibiest class of new ships
they conceive they have niece!, seggeeleil whit mutt be indisPee-
sable to every ship claitnint aniajfeengrying a dry cargo to and
from all parts of the worid.t
Throughout their recomninsdittlesk fide, your Committee have
been anxious, as far as teal elMlllNlybe admitted, to effect as
little change as possible is hoes role of a kilning system which
have not appeared at mhos* ma th I jurist principle they have
anicarourcd undeviating,/ if saajawal Whh fhb view they Ism

preferred the Meadow of the characters now In use, as designating
quality, to the ad ion of the ingenious suggestions for their alte-
radon which have been submitted to them_; following the existing
mode, of retaining one letter for all First-Class Ships, and varying
the period of continuance on that letter, according to their respec-
tive qualities. On the came principle, they have at ouce adopted
the avowed intentions of the existing books, as to the number of
years during which the First Class should be continued to ships of
I different description ; the improvement consisting in defining the
actual circumstances which really constitute difference of quality,
and insisting on the facts being ascertained by the personal inspee-
tion of surveyors, instead of the present molt fallacious and unjust
plan, of assuming that difference as the necessary result of con.
'Unction in different ports.
With respect to Indian-built ships, the evidence furnishing very
few data on which a general recommendation could have been
safely offered, your Committee have abstained from proposing any
specific rule; a course which appeared the more prudent, from the
consideration, that (while, under the operation of a vigilant system
of survey, no serious inconvenience could be apprehended, or un-
fairness complained of ) materials for opinion might be collected,
under an amended system of classification, which would In a short
time admit of the formation of regulations generally and safely
applicable.
The same reasoning will apply to Foreign Ships, regarding
which your Committee are precluded, by an entire absence of evi-
dence, from offering any opinion : they can only therefore suggest,
that they should not be classed by letter, till some general principle
can be laid down on which their character may be justly assigned;
and merely propose that in the Interim the Register should record
the age, port of bosuilding, and as many facts as to quality as can
be accurately ascertained and conveniently defined.
In recommending the adoption of the principle of re-admission
to the advantages of the First Class, in cases of extensive and effi-
cient repair, your Committee feel they have only given expression
to a conviction of the propriety of such a regulation, more general '
than is felt on any other branch of the subject. The evidence in its
favour is Indeed equally decided and unanimous ; its abstract jus-
tice is undeniable; its general policy obvious: and while the
almost universal demand for such an alteration bears testimony
to the injustice of matting this justly-founded claim of the ship.
owners, your Committee anticipate with confidence, that the sanc-
tion now given to it by the evidence will remove the mistaken
scruples which have hitherto prevented its adoption ; and that, on
the ground of its evident tendency to promote the construction of
good and durable ships, and to discourage the building of those of
inferior and discreditable quality, this ;min of their recommendation
will, on broad, and even national grounds, be secure of cordial and
general concurrence.
In the consideration of the subject of Second-Class Ships, which
comprise the largest portion of the existing tonnage of the country,
the objects of your Committee have been to elevate the character of
such ships to the standard actually described In their definition
under the existing system, by guarding against the fraud and de.
ception proved in the evidence to have been so strikingly and
extensively prevalent with respect to them, and to secure, to the
fair Shipowner, the benefit of a just discrimination of character,
with the consequent advantages of estimation and employment,
between ships kept in a proper and efficient state of repair and
equipment, and those which are suffered to lapse into decay and
insufficiency, for want of the requisite expenditure to maintain
them in proper condition. It is by means of competition, unfairly
supported by such dangerous neglect, that freights have been fre-
quently ruinously depressed, while valuable property and invalu-
able lives have been, in consequence, exposed to hazard and de-
struction. For the termination of such a system, the principal
reliance of the Committee is placed on the adoption of a regular
system of vigilant inspection ; but to facilitate its application, they
have suggested some general rules, founded on the evidence, whico
they conceive to be at once adapted to the attainment of the object,
arid indispensable to the maintenance of the general character of
British shipping.
For ships of the Third Class, your Committee propose to depend
entirely on survey, requiring no other standard than one which
policy, duty, and humanity, alike dictate, namely, that they should
be in a state to be navigated with safety.
[To be continued.]

IMPERIAL BRAZILIAN MINING
ASSOCIATION.

Yesterday a Meeting of the Proprietary of this Company was
held at the London Tavern, Ilishopsgate-street,
JOSHUA WALKER, Esq. in the Chair.
The CHAIRMAN said that the Meeting was summoned by a le.
quisition which was signed by 10 Shareholders, calling on the Di-
rectors to declare confiscated 500 shares, upon which the call due on
the 2d of February had not been paid.
The CHAIRMAN read several extracts from letters, which stated
that their Secretary, after much trouble, concluded for the purchase
of that rich and valuable Gongoska Miue, chiefs was considered
' to possess the finest ore in the world, and that, having obtained the
legal right, he also possessed the recognition of that right by the
Imperial Government; and that on the 23d of January last he took
possession of the mines, with all the solemnity whichlthe importance
of the acquisition demanded, and the legality required • and he
hoped that in September returns would be made from it. The cor-
respondence further stated that the Secretary had gone to the Com-
pany's estate, Antonio Penaro, upon which was a most valuable
mine—equally valuable, if not more, than that at Gongoska ; end
that he had nearly completed all the arrangements for the working
of those mines ; that the friendliest disposition was manifested on
the part of the Government and the Local Authorities, to assist the
operations of the Company in every way possible calculated to pro-
mote its interests ; so that tradespeople of every description had
come to reside in the vicinity of the mines, and that all necessary
implements for mining had been made from the timber of their
estate ; concluded with the strongest assurances from the Secretary,
of the success which was likely to attend the operations of the
Company.
The CHAIRMAN then said he should now proceed to the busi-
ness for which the Meeting had been convened, and he was happy
to inform them that out of the 400 shares upon which deposits had
not been paid, only 201 remained in arrears ; it now remained
with the Meeting to do that which they were of opinion the circum-
stances of the case required. He concluded by saying he should
be happy to hear any proposition which any Gentleman tl.oughl
proper to make.
Mr. IVALKEII then said, as he was one of those who had signed
the requisition, he begged to observe, that he did so from an equi-
table orinciple; that as the 'concern had every prospect of turning
out a lucrative one, it would not be just that those Shareholders
who had not paid their calls should have an equal benefit with dime
who had. Ile then moved a Resolution to the effect that the shares
those on which the call was due on the 2d of February last, was not
paid on or before the 30th day of June instant, the Director, should
declare conficated.

After some desultory observations made by Mr. Denman and
others, as to the propriety of declariny confscate•l the shares of the
defaul!ers, the Resolution passed, substituting the word forfeiture
for confiscation; after which the Meeting broke up.

ANGLO-CHILIAN MINING COMPANY.

Yesterday a Meeting of the Shareholders was held at the London
Tavern. 111 r. R. RAIKES took the Chair.
Mr. ABBOT, the Secretary, read Inc Report, which reptesented
the prospects in South America to be highly promising. They had
obtained three valuable copper mines at a trifling expense. The
course adopted had hitherto been to make purchases of the ore
raised by the natives, and to depend upon superior British skill in
smelting and refining, to realize a considerable profit. The Direc.
tors were sorry to find a disposition to abandon the concern, which
they considered was of the highest promise. The last call of 3/.
per share had only been paid on 6,336 shares, leaving 8,664 shares
liable to be forfeited. The Directors begged to mute, that they held
3,324 out of the 13,000 shares of which the Company was contd.
tuted, and had therefore a sufficient stake to render them truly at.
tentive to its interests. The deposits received amounted to 73,930/.
The disbursements fee the Chilino Establishment amounted to
39,9311. There were other disbursements here, making on the
whole about 50,000/. Their Commissioner, Mr. Caldclough, had
drawn bills upon the Company to the amount of upwards of
44,0001. without sending them advice as to the nature of the trans-
actions. These bills would be presented for acceptance on the 13th
of this month, and it was for 'he interest of the Company that they
should not be dishonoured. They recommended the immediate
payment of the call, in order to enable them to provide for the bills.
Mr. A roircimet addressed the Meeting to caution them how
they proceeded without a clear understanding of all their affairs.
Ale. PELLY, one of the Directors, expatiated on the advantageous
nature of the Company's prospects. Only 10,0001. had been ex.
pended in actual outfits. The Company had been economically
conducted, and he recommended the payment of the drafts upon
them.
It was here stated by the CHAIRMAN, that they had received
advice' of a shipment of copper ore of the value of '20,0001., and
of silver ore to the value of 35,000/., which was expected to arrive
shortly.
Mr. Locx, one of the Directors, said he believed this to be the
best Company that had been brought out. They had sunk scarcely
any money on the spot, and there must he proceeds.
Mr. FIiZeIiFIELD spoke in favour of allowing the Shareholders
to pay up their calls, and ultimately a Resolution was adopted,
recommending the Directors to receive the deposits.
The Report was adopted, and after thanks had been voted to the
Chairman and Directors, the Meeting separated.

The late Lord Ingeatrie had been travelling ou the Con-
tinent for nearly two years, and was, at the time when be met the
lamentable accident which terminated his ezirence, riding on
horseback in what is called the Park, in the neighbourhood of
Vienna. Passing under a tree, his Lordship's hat ass caught by a
bough, and falling on the spirited animal which carried him, terri-
fied the creature so much, as to cause him to start off at full speed :
nor did he stop until he had plunged himself and his Noble ridtr
Into% pit or quagmire, in which they were both suffocated! 11 s
Lordship was in the 24th year of his age.
In the vicinity of Blair Adam, a few days since, as one
of the female servants, in leaving the house, was passing some of
her former fellow-servants, who were at that time occupied in hew-
ing a very large boiler, one of the men, in sport, took her up in hie
arms, and facetiously mid, that as she was now flitting, and this
might be the last time they might all meet, be would " give her •
dip In the boiler." A struggle ensued, they lost their balance,
and, horrible to relate, were plunged into the vessel, which at that
moment was nearly full of boiling water. The injury sustained
was such, that the man died the same evening, and the woman es-
plea nett morning in the Most excruciating %Wm—. File

HIGH NVATER TMI DAY AT LONDON BRIDGE.
M0rning........ 10 min. altar 3 1 Evening.— .... 27 MCI

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