Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/659

 having no pecuniary or commercial purposes to serve beyond those of the public interest, because (with the exception of a moderate fee to the Committee for their attendance) the whole of its receipts are devoted to the interests of shipping, to the extension of the society's staff of surveyors, who are now stationed at all parts of the United Kingdom and in many places abroad, the improvement of the Register Book and other matters of public importance.

It is impossible to speak too highly of the value of this great institution. It had its failings, and I recollect that, a quarter of a century ago, I made various attacks upon it through the public press; and, on the ground of its maintaining certain rules for classification, which I conceived were unsound in principle, I declined to classify any of my ships with the society. But all these rules have been long since altered; and when I look back to that time and compare the quality of ships then launched to those of the present day, it is impossible to question the great value of the services this institution has rendered to the country. A ship that would have had an A 1 class assigned to her forty years ago, would now be considered barely seaworthy.

Here we have another instance of the valuable work done in this country without Government aid or interference in any shape or form. A few individuals, for their own protection as well as for the protection of the public, associate themselves together, and, by their organisation, do perhaps more to save life and property at sea than all the laws which have been passed having that object in view. For the success of this valuable institution, its members, and I must add, the public, are greatly indebted to Mr. Thomas Chapman,, who has been its chairman almost from its commencement in 1834, and who has devoted the best years of his life, sparing neither time nor labour to raise it to its present high position, while displaying a tact and sound judgment throughout in the management of its affairs rarely to be met with, combined with an honesty of purpose which must ever command respect and admiration. Nor