Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/507

 From his own showing, no such extraordinary and sweeping measure was necessary, for he admits, in a curious and very incidental manner, that only a very small proportion of the shipowners of this country require to be thus controlled; indeed he states, "I have heard one shipowner say that, if a small number of well-known shipowners were put aboard one of their own vessels when she was ready for sea, we should, in the event of bad weather, see that with them had disappeared from our annals nine-tenths of the losses we all deplore!"

But Mr. Plimsoll, in his general statements, only repeated, though in a more sensational and striking manner, arguments which have for years been used in the House of Commons. There has long been a constant cry from a certain portion of the public for Government interference and control; and in Parliament there are always to be found well-meaning representatives of the people, who think that every evil in this wicked world can be remedied by legislative enactments, or Crown supervision. I may mention one instance out of many, viz.: the Act for testing chain cables and anchors, to which I have already referred, which was forced upon the Board of Trade by the House of Commons. Returns, I am aware, can be produced to show that since this Testing Act came into operation, nine or ten years ago, there have been fewer disasters than before, as the result of inferior ground tackle. But figures can be arranged to prove almost anything; and I shall not stop to examine those which have been pro-*