The U. K. share of steam and motor tonnage of all kinds fell from 41.6 per cent. of the total in June, 1914, 264 per cent. in June, 1938 but ton-nego owned in the rest of the Empire increased from 3.6 per cent. to 46 per cent., so that, taking the Empire ^s a whole, its share fell from 452 per cent. to 31.0 per cent.
If only the tonnage used in international carrying trade is considered, emitting vessels of under 2,000 gross tons, U.S.A. lake tonnage and shins in the U.S.A. coasting trade, the Empire share declined from 52 per cent. in 1913 to 35.5 per cent. in 1938.
Although the total U.K. tonnage has fallen absolutely and relatively and shows serious gaps in the smaller tonnage classes taken as a whole, its composition, the memorandum states, compares favourably with that of foreign countries, For example. 538 per cent. of the tonnage of U.K. vessels is under fifteen years of age as compared with 273 per cent. of foreign tonnage, and only 18.6 per cent. of British tonnage is over twenty years of age against 29.6 per cent. of foreign tonnage. The British Empire owns 58 per cent. of the world's refrigerated tonnage, but the comparison zs regards tanker tonnage is not so good; Empire tonnage forms only 26 per cent. of the world total
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.