A
37
seen. It is not clear upon what authority this decision was
>
based. Up to the present date therefore British-owned
launches have continued to fly the flag (though legally
liable to a fine of £500 for doing so without the registra-
-tion required by the Merchant Shipping Act) and have
claimed and obtained British protection. I am informed
that there were over 13,000 entries of such launches at
the port of Canton in 1906 on the West River with an
aggregate tonnage of 250,000 tons (which gives an average
of 20 tons burden apiece).
5.
The existing state of things
appears to have arisen from a confusion in the use of the
word "Registration". Annexe 'C' of the Treaty of 1902
refers to "Registered Vessels" using the term in the
sense it is used in the Inland Water Regulations of 1898
which, however, did not refer to Board of Trade Registra-
-tion under the Merchant Shipping Act. This annexe to the
*Mackay Treaty" modified the 1898 Inland Water Regulations
and gave them Treaty sanction, thereby giving treaty
sanction to a Registration other than that enforced under
the Merchant Shipping Act. (The Order-in-Council of July
15th., 1904, framed under Article 88 of the Merchant
Shipping Act, however, in referring to registered ships
(clause