SHIPS MEASURED ACCORDING TO MOORSOM'S SYSTEM. 1. A surtax of 4 francs, in addition to the tax of 10 francs, shall be levied per net register ton on steamers whenever the deductions due to engines have been determined under section a of Clause XXIII of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 defining Rule III. 2. This surtax shall be reduced to 3 francs for every vessel which shall have inscribed upon her papers or annexed to these papers the net tonnage based on the system recommended by the international commission, which shall form the basis for the levying of the tax and the surtax. 3. It is to be understood that ships already measured according to the alternative system suggested by the commission, and particularly those under paragraph b of the above-named clause of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, shall be liable from the present time to only a surtax of 3 francs per ton of net register, provided always that the deductions for engines and fuel shall not exceed 50 per cent of the gross tonnage. VESSELS MEASURED UNDER ANY SYSTEM OTHER THAN THAT OF MOORSOM. 4. Gross tonnage of ships not measured under Moorsom's system shall be brought into accordance with that system by the application of the Danube scale of factors, and their net tonnage shall be determined according to section a of the above-named Clause XXIII of the Merchant Shipping Act. These vessels shall pay, over and above the tax of 10 francs, a surtax of 4 francs per ton on their net tonnage. PROVISION COMMON TO ALL SHIPS. 5. The surtax of 3 francs per net register ton shall be progressively reduced in the proportions hereinafter specified according to the development of the annual tonnage of ships passing through the canal, and shall cease altogether so soon as the said tonnage shall have reached in any one year 2,600,000 net register tons, when the original maximum tax of 10 francs per ton only shall become applicable. The above-named diminution of the surtax shall be on the following scale: So soon as the net tonnage shall reach 2,100,000 tons within one year the company shall levy in the following years the surtax of 2 francs only. When the net tonnage shall have reached 2,200,000 tons within one year, the year following the surtax shall not exceed 2 francs per ton, and so on; so that each successive annual increase of 100,000 tons shall entail a successive diminution of 50 centimes of the surtax for the year following, and when during any one year the net tonnage shall have arrived at 2,600,000 tons the surtax shall be entirely abolished, and the original tax not exceeding 10 francs per ton shall be reverted to. It is further to be understood (a) that whenever the increase of net tonnage within any one year shall exceed 100,000 tons the surtax during the year following shall be diminished by 50 centimes per ton in respect of each excess of 100,000 tons; (b) that once the surtax shall have been diminished or abolished as provided above no increase or reimposition shall be allowed even if the amount of net tonnage passing through the canal should fall off; and (c) that January 1 (new style) shall be taken as the commencement of each year for the purposes of the surtax. TRANSPORTS, VESSELS OF WAR, AND VESSELS IN BALLAST. 6. Vessels of war, vessels constructed or chartered for the transport of troops, and vessels in ballast shall be exempted from all surtax; these shall pay no higher dues than the maximum tax of 10 francs per net register ton. After the commission had expressed the above opinion in its nineteenth meeting, the first delegate of Turkey made the two following declarations, having been thereto authorized by his Government: 1. That the authority to levy a surtax of 1 franc given to the company in 1871 for a special purpose is withdrawn; and 2. That no modification for the future, of the conditions for the passage through the canal shall be permitted, whether in regard to the navigation toll or the dues for towage, anchorage, pilotage, etc., except with the consent of the Sublime Porte, which will not take any decision. on this subject without previously coming to an understanding with the principal powers interested therein. The delegates of Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Turkey, France, Greece, and Russia declared at the twentieth meeting of the commission that they were authorized by their Governments to accept the provisions of the arrangement herein before contained. The delegates of Holland declared that they were likewise so authorized by their Government, but under the reserves which they have already made on certain points. This report is drawn up and signed at Constantinople this day, December 18, 1873 (28th Chewal 1290). For GermanyGILLET. HARGREAVES. (Signed) For Austria-Hungary G. DE KOSJEK. L. ZAMARA. E. F. NICOLICH. For Belgium CAM. JANSSEN. For Spain JOACHIM TOGORES. A. RUATA. For France A. D'AVRIL. RUMEAU. For Great Britain J. STOKES. PHILIP FRANCIS. For Greece A. A. H. ANARGYROS. For Italy E. COVA. F. MATTEI. ALEX. VERNONI. For Holland JANSEN. RICHARD S. KEUN. For Russia B. E. STEIGER. KORCHIKOFF. For Sweden and Norway O. VON HEIDENSTAM. For Turkey EDHEM. M. SALIH. H. MADRILLY. The Secretary, CABATHEODORY. APPENDIX XI. HISTORY OF THE MEASUREMENT OF TONNAGE OF VESSELS USING THE SUEZ CANAL.1 The franchise of the Suez Canal Co. authorized it to collect a maximum toll of 10 francs ($1.93) per "ton of capacity" from all vessels passing through the canal. This toll was to be the same for every class of ship and was to apply without discrimination to vessels of all nations. The exact meaning of the expression "ton of capacity" was not defined. During the construction period of the canal no one gave any consideration to this question. First period (1869–1872).—In 1868, when the canal was to be opened to navigation, the canal company appointed a special commission to decide upon the various questions arising in the actual operation of the canal. This commission decided that, in the absence of any international rule for the determination of the tonnage of vessels, it would be best to base the toll to be charged on the net tonnage of ships as given by the ship's papers, without discrimination as to the flag of ships. The heart of the question relative to the ton of capacity and ton of official measurement of the various nations was not examined into. Second period (1872-1874).—The canal company first charged tolls upon this basis. The receipts proved less than the financial necessities of the company required. An examination was then made to see if this method of charging tolls complied with the terms of the franchise. General inquiries were made and a new commission, made up of well-known and able men, was formed to go to the bottom of the matter, and to decide what standard should be used in determining the tonnage of ships. As a result of its studies, the commission decided that the English gross tonnage of ships, expressed in terms of the English standard capacity ton (100 cubic feet) was the best measure of the usable capacity of ships. In accordance with this opinion, a new tariff was put in force for the collection of canal tolls July 1, 1872. Preliminaries to the International Commission of Constantinople.—This action gave rise to lively recriminations throughout the maritime world. The interpretation thus placed by the canal company on the terms of its franchise was violently attacked. Some Governments took up the matter in behalf of their citizens and addressed the sovereign power that had granted the franchise, with a view to obtaining an exact definition of what had been meant by "ton of capacity." The question ceased to be a scientific one, and became a diplomatic one. It is unnecessary to go into the pressure that was brought to bear on the Ottoman Porte, on both sides. Urged first one way and then the other way, the Porte decided, after a fruitless effort to settle the question himself, to refer it to an international commission to be assembled at Constantinople. In the invitation to participate addressed to the other powers, the Porte treated the measurement of tonnage in the Suez Canal merely as a particular case of the more general problem to be submitted to the deliberations of the commission. The problem before the commission was to be "the determination of a standard ton which would serve both as a unit for commercial transactions and also as a unit on which to collect the tolls to which navigation is subject." The principal powers made explicit reservation in taking up the program thus outlined. The delegates were instructed that the commission should limit itself to the consideration of the case as it applied to the canal company. The English Government claimed that the ques 1 This is Part II of a monograph on "The Measurement of Vessels," by Lieut. V. Beret, published at Paris in 1905 by the Societe Anonyme de Publications Periodiques. Part I of the monograph contains a history of vessel measurement. The translation of Part II was made by Capt J. R. Slattery, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, Nov. 10, 1911. 61861°-13-26 393 |