§ MR. DAVID THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the total net registered tonnage of British steamers in 1891 and last year, giving the percentage of increase during the decade; whether he has any official information showing that the increase was materially affected by subsidies given by foreign governments to foreign steamers, and if he can state the proportion which the net registered tonnage owned by the
§ †See pages 408–426.
546§ White Star and Dominion Lines bears to the total British tonnage, omitting vessels of 100 tons.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds, CentralThe total net registered tonnage of British steamers belonging to ports of the United Kingdom (including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) at the end of 1891 was 5,307,204 tons. The total at the end of 1901 was 7,617,793 tons. The percentage increase in the interval of ten years was 43.5. The answer to the second paragraph of the Question is in the negative, but the question of the effect of foreign subsidies to shipping on the growth of the British mercantile marine is within the reference to the Select Committee on Shipping Subsidies, which I hope will be reappointed shortly. The proportion which the net registered tonnage owned by the White Star and Dominion Lines bears to the total net registered tonnage of the United Kingdom steamers, omitting vessels of under 100 tons, is somewhat less than 3 per cent.