The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-05 00:00:00

TILE DOCK COMPANIES OF LONDON.

The river Thames is called in legal documents "Her
Majesty's Port of London." It is, therefore, a national
property. The Queen is in the position of the collective
nation. An attempt is being made which, if successful,
will have the effect of snaking the Thames " The Dock
Companies' Port of London." It is this which elevates
the opposition made by the wharves to the movement in
contemplation by the Docks out of the position of a
mere private squabble between contending inteseete.
It is really a national question. The Docks made a bar-
gain with the nation. Give us permission to use a por-
tion of your greab water-way, and we will recompense
you by arrangements which wiil greatly facilitate com-
mercial operations. The nation gave the permission,
but at the same time made express stipulation that sot
one single privilege which they possessed as the real
owners of the great water-way should be given up. The
portion of the river in the Docks was still to be consi-
dered as a part of " her Majesty's Port," and, as such
subject to all the rules and regulations to which the
remainder of the river is submitted.
Have the Docks made a bad bargain Certainly not,
as we shall presently show. The Deck shares are con-
sidered at the present moment one of the best invest-
ments for mosey. East and West India Dock stock
was in January, 1841, at 964 ; in 1853 the same stock
was sold at 170. London Dock shares rose in the same
period from 67 to 1281. St. Katharine's Dock shares
experienced a rise from 95i to 100. In the same period
the dividends of the East and West India Dock Com-
pany experienced a rise of 11 per cent., those of the
London Docks a rise of 2 per cent. The business of the
St. Katharine's Dock Company had increased 23 per
cent, during the ten years ending in 1853.
The Dock Companies, then, have made a good bar-
gain. They have created colossal fortunes for the
shareholders, by means of the privileges granted them.
If they could show that they had made a miscal-
culation, that the great expense of the works which
they have erected for the accommodation of the
public has diminished their dividends, and that,
therefore, some modifications of the conditions to
which they agreed is necessary, something might be
urged in their favour. But he the full blush of their
prosperity they come forward and say,, we must have not
only the use of the river Thames, but a property in it.
We consented, when we obtained our deeds of incorpora-
tion, that the water in our docks should be considered a
part of the port of London, but we desire to be freed
from that stipulation. We have made a great deal of
money ; we want to make more. And to do this, we
want to levy a tax which neither the Government nor
the Corporation of London have over thought of levy-
ing. We must have the right of imposing a tax upon
all lightermen who float their lighters upon that portion
of the Thames inside our docks, although the great con-
dition upon which our deeds of incorporation were
granted was that we should not impose such a tax. Al-
though lightermen, presuming on the privilege so jea-
lously precervod to them in all Acts of Parliament rela-
tive to this subject, have, ever since the construction of
the docks, removed the goods of their cuetoiners from
vessels in dock, without charge, to wharves chosen
by the consignees of goods themselves, we wish this
privilege to be abolished. We want, in fact, to fine
merchants for lauding goods on any other wharves than
eaeioeieu eve aumiL teat the only way to get
to our wharves is by the means of that public highway
which we have pledged ourselves to respect.
It becomes, then, as we have said, a question of na-
tienal interest to decide whether the Docks shall be per-
mitted to rescind the solemn agreement they formerly
made. The Dock Companies are great wharfingers.
Their object is to bo the only wharfingers. If they suc-
ceed in their object every merchant wanting to use a
private wharf will have to pay the Dock Companies a
toll, if the vessel, of the cargo of which he has a frac-
tional share, happens tc lie in the docks. Let it be re-
membered
whichbere dt
era
1 Vessel
a
s beinghas already
necessaryp:t
allopa
thoserey
doek
dues
the
company for its pecuniary investment.
A consignee having only a fractional interest in a
cargo can, of course, make no terms as to where the
vessel containing it shall' discharge. The vessel is met
on its entrance into the Thames by touters on steam
tugs belonging to the Dock Companies, who offer the
skipper all kinds of advantages, if he will make use of
the docks ; or, perhaps, a large porties of the cargo
may be consigned to a merchant who has a share in one
of the docks. and has made a stipulation that the goods
shall be landed from the dock in which he has an interest.
In this ease all the other consignees, or at least such
portion of them as wished to have their goods landed
elsewhere, will have to pay the company for permission
to do so. They can only avoid the tax by using the
dock wharves. It is quite clear that such a procoes will
confine the monopoly to the docks, and give their the
exclusive use of the Thames, The rights of the Crown
and the Corporation will thus be practically infringed
upon, and the trade of the portewill be extinguished
under the blighting inflvence of monopoly.—Deily Nam

, 0
It appears that the total number of merchant vassal
of all classes taken up by the Government for war pur-
poses has been 206, of an aggregate burden of 205,338
tons, their average capacity being almost exactly 1,000
tons. In this total the number of railing ships is 105,
the Herefordshire, of 1,676 tons, and the smallest the
of an aggregate burden of 91,026 tons, the largest being
Comelza of 521 tons. Of steam„hips thenumber
ni ise s 101,t
of an aggregate burden of 114,362 tons, 66 having been
furnished
mbayi l
cporni vtraatcet4nadni vdi d3usablys
I.ourb bsi 1 eompaised companies.
Among the former the largest was the Prince, of 2,691
tons ; but the largest now are the Jason and the Golden
Fleece, of 2,500 tons each. The smallest is the Esk, of
359 tons. The ships furnished by eno subsidised com-
panies are 10 by the Peninsular and Oriental, of an ag-
gregate burden of 17,020 tons • 6 by the Royal Mail
,
Steam, of 12,348 tons ; 4 by the African Steam, of
4,008 tons ; 12 by the Cunard Company, of 13,185 tons;
and 3 by the Liverpool South American Company, of
5,007 tons.
The larges othese mail
t f
Himalaya, of 3,550 tons, now a Queen's ship ; and the
smallest is the Rajah of NO tons.