The Sun.
London, England, 1803-02-02 00:00:00

MEETING OF' SIIIP':011/1VEPS4

. .
Yaistertnar. tt 'Meeting of the Ship-Owners of.
London took, place at the London Tavern, for the
Purpose of taking into consideration the Report of
the COnithitree appointed to'investigate the various
circumstanced Calculated to shew that the Tonnage
lluty.is oppressive in its.operation.
Mr. HILL, was in the Chair; :and by his desire
the Report was read by the Secretary.
The: -CHA tatstAsr then addressed the . Meeting
in very neat' and appropriate ,speech. To' the
coMitittee the highest praises 'were due for the
.and attivity they had displayed both
in their coileetiVe and individual capacity. They
had:frequently had interviews with Mr. ADD WC..
Tor'hisc`tinficlential Friends ; they had
laboured -most 'assiduously to convince him that
the Tax was of most ruinous nature, and that,
in imposing.. it, he 'Connteraned all the maxims of
policy whieh had regulated the public measures of,
Government. from the earliest tifnes of our History.
'fifty had indeay.outed to impress on his mind the
necessity of giving every encouragement: to the
Shipping Interest, at a time when all the Govern.:'
moots of Europe were aftively employed in encou.
taking commercial enterprise. They had insisted
more paiticalarly on the necessity of this encourage-
nlnt, at a moment when the First Consul of France
vi s. using every effort to revive that spirit of connner-
(jai vity, which the horrors of internal commotion
and the dangers of external warfare, had uspended.
After illustrating these points, the Chairman pro-
eeedtal to allude to certain expressions employed by
airHonourable Baronet (Alderman Corr's), in the
lipase of Commons, respecting the increase of the
Sh!). 'Ping Interest. In alluding to this subject,
he was abundantly sensible that it was not, at
that time, his province to refer to what had
been said in ' the House of Qommons. He had
YOU much :respect for that Honourable Body ever
to entertain a wish of infringing any of their privi.
loges, but the expressions to which he referred had
sera; he. understood; repeated in other places, and
IheteiPe: they were a fair suhje4t of animadver-
' 81°n:--The Honourable'Baronet had said, that the
t'hiPl'ing interest had filled their coffers during the
war, and it was. but falr that they should now
disburse a certain portion of the gains for the
Filh!ic. It these were not the Hon. Baronet's ex.
•
press words., . they, fully conveyed the meaning
which he Meant to convey. It was hardly, he con.
ceived, necessary
,for him-to state to the Meeting,
what
,was a matter of serious experience, that very
little money was obtained by the shipping trade,
nriA that this little was gained at the expence of
Peat risks and numerous dangers.
In corroboration of these general statements, Mr.
lit Lt. said, that while every article employed in .
Shipping had within the last two years increased in
price upwards of 72 per cent. the increase of freight
ilad not been more than zo, so that there was a loss
of about so per cent. for which there was no proved
of obtaining an equivalent.
Here a Letter from the Ship. Owners of Hull was
read on the sohjeet of the 'Resolutions of the Cham-
ber of Commerce. From these ResOlutiOns, which
Tended to countenance the idea that the Tonnage
buty avas not oppressive to: the Trading Interests
of the Kingdom at large, and of Hal! in.particular,
they bad found it necessary to institute a correspon-
dence 'and co.operation with the Ship. Owners of
london, and, in aiming to this deternimation they
Lad met with the concurrence of the whole Shipping
Interest, with the exceptibta of-a few individuals.
- A Motion for a Vote of Thanks to the.Conitnittee,
cave rise to a long desultory conversation, respect.
trig the .expressions which had been employed by
Alderman CURTIS on this subject.'
A Gentleman contended, that the Honourable ,
Ilaronet had included. in 'his statement the Shipping
of the Bast. India Company and this was followed
uP.hy others, who 'argued, that the. East India
Shipping never was included, in an enumeration of
the general Shipping of the Private -Merchants.
Several letters were read from Ship-builders 'of
eminence, .which certainly did very materially in.
Validate the Hon. Baronet's statement. Mr. Hi t.t.
said it had been stated by the Minis ter,rhat the British
Shipping of i Boz greatly exceeded tha tof thepreced.
ing year, but that the Foreign Shipping had conaider_
ably diminished. ;The explanation of this latter cir-
cumstance, was, howeverobv ions. The increase Of
° Foreign Shipping in 'Box, arose froth 'the.num.
here of vessels that entered the Ports of this Country
nits supplies.of wheat. There was another cir-
cumstance likewise to 'be taken into consideration,
.and that was the law passed in 1786 for register.
lng Ships. By the regulations- of that Act, our.
Ships, indeed, immensely incased on paper, but
this was not the fair method Of ascertaining the
afloat amount of Shipping. He concluded with a
few remarks expressive of. the importance of pro.
teding and encouraging our Shipping, 'at a time
when our Trade was the proteEtion of u Commerce
of the. Civilized World.
The Vote of Thanks then passed, as also one to
4he.President, and the Meeting adjourned.

On Saturday the following melancholy and truly
calamitous event happened in. the Medway, ©PP.,Rite to Mr. Horn's Platform, Chatham : Nlessrs.
.1"-dtvard Wright, serjeant at mace and, gaoler of the
city of Rochester; Uriah Nower, son of Mr. Nower,
e'atachmaker Thomas. White, plumber, both ofßo-
Cnetlet ; and G. Piguenet, of Chatham, having made
a shooting patty down the river, in a vessel suitable
to. the occasion, returned about eight o'clock in the
evening, and having lashed their vessel to' another
at anclior, But Off for the shdre in the small boat or
skill; when unfortunately on. pushing off, the boat
Immediately upset ; there were in it, besides the
zthovo, twa lads who went with them to mahage
the 'sails, these reached the vessel. in safety.—
Piguenet; after having swam round the boat some:
distance in search of his friends, and used every exer-
tion for.theii help, at length reached shore, where
be was recovered'. Nrower and 'White were not
seen after the upset of the boat, „arl, Wright sank,
after Itailog twice caught hold of a .rope which
Piguenet liaii giVen hirn.--The btidies 'have since
beeh found;

trE est ions -for -Ber-yr -two ,pe,rsons,..w e
conviCted for exposing to sale in the inazket bAttcr.
Short of weight.