In discussing and fixing the rules of measurement annexed to this report, the commission has been guided by the following considerations, which it also submits to the approbation of maritime powers. SECTION 1. Every trading ship, whatever may be her nationality, ought to be furnished with a certificate of registry declaring (a) the gross tonnage, expressing her total capacity, and (b) the net tonnage, giving her capacity after the deduction made of space recognized as unavailable for earning freight. SEC. 2. This certificate of registry delivered by the competent Government authorities filled in from measurements effected in accordance with the rules proposed by the international commission shall be officially recognized in every country as the true basis for the application of ship's dues and taxes. These dues and taxes shall invariably be applied to the net tonnage of a ship. SEC. 3. Gross tonnage is best arrived at by Moorsom's system, as defined by the rules of measurement adopted by the commission and annexed to this report. SEC. 4. Gross tonnage comprehends the measurement of the whole space below the upper deck, as well as all spaces comprised within permanent constructions above that deck, which are covered and closed in. (For the definition see the annexed rules of measurement.) SEC. 5. To determine net tonnage the deductions from gross tonnage are: (1) General deductions applicable alike to sailing and steam vessels; (2) special deductions applicable to Steamers only. SEC. 6. General deductions refer (a) to the accommodation of the crew (stewards and passengers' servants are not to be considered as part of the crew); (b) to officers' cabins (the captains' not included therein); (c) to cook houses and closets exclusively for the use of the crew, situated either above or below the upper deck; and (d) to covered and closed-in spaces, if there are any, on the upper deck, employed for working the ship. These spaces are to be measured separately, and the sum of them deducted. The sum total of these deductions is, however, in no case to exceed 5 per cent of the gross tonnage, but this percentage may be distributed among the several spaces according to the practice and requirements of different countries. Besides the above-named spaces it was proposed in the commission to deduct further spaces occupied by the captain's cabin, the sail room, and other places used for stowing ropes and other gear; but these latter deductions were not approved by an absolute majority of votes. SEC. 7. The commission recommends the abolition of any system by which the net tonnage of a steamer would be derived from a percentage on her total capacity. SEC. 8. Deductions special to steamers relate (a) to the engine room and boilers; (b) to the shaft trunk in a screw ship; and (c) to permanent coal bunkers. The spaces a, b, and c to be accurately measured. SEC. 9. If the ship has not permanent bunkers, or if she has only lateral bunkers, and her coal is stowed in bunkers shut off from the hold by movable partitions, then the spaces of these lateral and temporary bunkers are not to be measured. In this case the rule to be applied is that in force on the Danube, namely, an allowance is made for the coal space by giving 50 per cent of the space occupied by the engine in a paddle-wheel steamer, and 75 per cent in a screw steamer. (See art. 16 of the rules annexed.) SEC. 10. Ships furnished with permanent bunkers may nevertheless be measured under the Danube rule. In this latter case the net tonnage will be fixed according to the rules of the above paragraph. SEC. 11. In no case (except that of tugs shall the, total of these special deductions of steamships exceed 50 per cent of the gross tonnage. SEC. 12. For tugs when used exclusively as tugs, the special deductions may be made without any limit for space actually occupied by the engine room and coal bunkers. SEC. 13. Provisionally, and until all the Governments have adopted uniform rules for net tonnage, and with the object of attaining in the meantime a certain uniformity of practice, a special certificate may be delivered to any steamer by the competent authority of the country to which she belongs, which certificate shall be recognized officially in foreign ports as establishing the net tonnage upon which dues are to be paid: SEC. 14. In those countries which have adopted Moorsom's system, the above-named special certificate shall be prepared at pleasure either according to the rule applicable to ships with fixed bunkers, or according to the Danube rule. SEC. 15. In countries where Moorsom's system has not yet been, but will be adopted, steamers may be measured under rule 2 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, with the factors 0.0017 and 0.0018. From the gross tonnage thus found the special deductions given by the above sections 6 to 12 shall be made. The annexed special certificate as specified in section 13 shall state the gross tonnage and the net tonnage of the ship, such net tonnage to be determined at pleasure either according to the rule applicable to ships with fixed bunkers, or according to the Danube rule. SEC. 16. Open vessels are not comprised within the proposed international rules of meas urement. SEC. 17. It is recommended that a penal provision shall be enacted to the effect that if any of the permanent spaces which have been deducted shall be employed either for the use of merchandise or passengers, or in any way profitably employed for earning freight, that space shall be added to the net tonnage, and never more be allowed as a deduction. The provisions of the above paragraphs embrace the principles which have guided the commission throughout its labors, and it now desires to express the wish that in order to guarantee in all countries the identical application of those principles, the rules of measurement proposed by it should be adopted either by diplomatic action or by commissioners furnished with full powers, who should come to an understanding upon the means to be employed for putting those rules into execution, and on all necessary details. The commission in approaching the second part of its duties has had, in accordance with the terms employed by the Ottoman Government in their instructions to their delegates, to resolve the following question: Is the system now actually being applied for the levying of dues in the Suez Canal in harmony with the provisions of the act of concession and of the imperial firman according to the interpretation given to those documents by the two vizirial letters addressed to his highness the Khedive? After having examined the act of concession and the documents above mentioned, the commission opened the discussion thereon, and having successively listened to the observations of the delegates of Germany, Austria, Spain, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Holland, Russia, and Turkey, was called upon to deliberate upon a form of resolution presented by the delegates of Great Britain (see the procès verbaux, Nos. 13 to 16). But before taking a vote on this resolution the commission received in its sitting of December 9, through its president, communication of a letter of the same date addressed to him by his excellency Raschid Pasha, minister for foreign affairs. In deference to the recommendation contained in that letter the commission discussed and adopted officially an opinion in the following form, which was accepted unanimously, and which the commission hopes is in harmony with the desire expressed by the Sublime Porte. OPINION. Being invited by the Sublime Porte to express an opinion upon the system of levying dues on the Suez Canal under the concession, the firman of 1866, and the vizirial letters of the 17th Djemazi-ul-Ewel and 6th Djémazi-ul-Ahir 1290, and in conformity with the desire expressed in his excellency Raschid Pasha's letter of December 9, 1873, referring on the one hand to the act of concession of the Suez Canal, which concession is to remain untouched, and on the other hand referring, with a view to the application of the provisions of that act, to the general principles and rules of measurement already laid down by the international commission, the commission is of opinion that the dues to be levied in the canal may be regulated by an arrangement upon the following bases: 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 24 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. |