Mr. Innes commenced his historical review by describing the position of shipbuilding in the latter part of the last century, thus indicating the background against which the origin and development of the British Corporation must be viewed. At that time, many felt that the classification so-cities then in existence had not kept pace with progress and because of this, leading shipowners, particularly the liner companies, were placing i creasing reliance upon the great shipbuilders and engineers of the day. With the help of these pioneers, owners were dispensing with classification and building ships to suit their particular requirements, but the decision of the Government in 1890 to introduce load line legislation completely changed the situation. In this legislation, as originally drafted, the Board of Trade and Lloyd's Register were the only recognized load line authorities, a limitation which might well have had the effect of perpetuate ing indefinitely, the classification rules of those days and grievously hindering further progress.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.