OF AVERAGE, FOR THE USE OF MERCHANTS, AGENTS, SHIP-OWNERS, WITH A CHAPTER ON ARBITRATION. 4155 TO WHICH ARE ADDED APPENDICES CONTAINING SOME OF THE MOST RECENT BY MANLEY HOPKINS, AVERAGE-ADJUSTER. SECOND EDITION. STANFOR LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 1859. 44 THERE BE BUT THREE THINGS WHICH ONE NATION SELLETH UNTO ANOTHER: THE COMMODITY, AS NATURE YIELDETH IT; THE MANUFACTURE; AND THE VECTURE, OR CARRIAGE: SO THAT IF THESE THREE WHEELS GO, WEALTH WILL FLOW AS IN A SPRING-TIDE."-LORD BACON. "THE SURE AND ONLY WAY TO GET TRUE KNOWLEDGE, IS TO FORM IN OUR MINDS CLEAR, SETTLED NOTIONS OF THINGS, WITH NAMES ANNEXED TO THOSE DETERMINED IDEAS. THESE WE ARE TO CONSIDER, AND WITH THEIR SEVERAL RELATIONS AND HABITUDES, AND NOT AMUSE OURSELVES WITH FLOATING NAMES, AND WORDS OF INDetermined SIGNIFICATION."— LOCKE. L 2775 JAN G 1931 ZIVMLOBD TIBBVBA PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. IN preparing a Second Edition of this manual for the press, the opportunity is afforded me of revising it carefully throughout, and of adding to it such fresh matter as is rendered necessary by the changes which time produces. These additions are interwoven with the text, or are given in foot-notes; but in either case they are nearly always indicated as being new. By the last Navigation Acts an important alteration has been made in the rights of seamen and masters of vessels in regard to their wages; and several noteworthy decisions have been given in our courts of law affecting the subject of Average more or less directly. These new data are now mentioned, and four additional appendices are given. One of the latter embraces two decisions of an eminent judge at different times, relating to the same question; and as they appear to involve a strong contradiction, some comment is made upon them in the text. Another Appendix is inserted giving some curious information relative to interest in policies. It is intended to counterbalance an almost over-scrupulousness entertained by some on the subject of value permitted to be insured. As the last pages were passing through the press, a decision was given in Court, mention of which could not with propriety be omitted; forming as it does a pendant to what had been already said about freight as an incident of a ship, and the rights of Abandonees of the latter to freight. A very short summary of Hickie v. Rodocanachi, consequently, forms the last portion of the added matter. Beyond the amplifications mentioned, and some verbal emendations, the general form of the book has not been altered. At the present moment the effects of the great commercial disturbance of 1857 have generally disappeared, and the revival of a sound and profitable trade, without inflation or excitement, is a matter of congratulation to the mercantile classes of our country generally. Unfortunately, one important branch of national activity and investment, the shipping interest, rises more slowly from the late prostration. Owners are inclined to attribute this want of recovery very greatly to the non-reciprocation by foreign nations of those cosmopolitan views of unrestricted trade in navigation to which England and America give the lead. From whatever cause it may spring, the result of a long-continued depression in shipping is very injurious to other classes besides the immediate owners. A too strict economy is enforced in the manning, storing, and sailing our vessels, for the safety of themselves and their cargoes. Owners state that, without the utmost reduction of expenses, they cannot enter into the present strong competition with any chance of avoiding loss. Unhappily, in direct ratio with overstrained economy is the sacrifice of safety. In building new ships, too, science occupies itself in discovering how to construct the largest and fleetest vessels at the least outlay of material and labour. When the competition lies between a highpriced and a low-priced nation, the effects on the productions of the former are very deteriorating. Yet, On referring to pages 305-309 of this volume, the reader will observe the alarming number of losses at sea, and will not have to seek far why this dark list of catastrophes is not curtailed. surely, it is the common interest of owners, merchants, insurers, and navigators, that increased safety should be sought for by every possible means until it is attained; I have been gratified in finding, by the rapid exhaustion of my first edition, a confirmation as to the necessity of a modern work on the subject of Average. I trust that my conscientious endeavours to make the present volume worthy of its position, will entitle it to receive equal favour and to run the same useful course. MANLEY HOPKINS. 4, Royal Exchange Buildings, June, 1859. |