son, and this may account in part for this improvement. It is much
to be regretted that the scheme of using the ship for her legitimate
purpose has not been carried out. It is not, however, yet too late. The
Great Eastern was not a success in Dublin, for one reason, that a beer and
spirit license could not be obtained for her. It is said that notice has
been given at the Birkenhead police court that any application for a
license of a similar kind will be opposed. Whether the ship will be as
popular a resort without as she was with a license, we cannot pretend to
say; and we may add that all our predilections are against her degradation
to the status of a floating music hall. The greater her failure as such,
the greater the chance of her being put to a better use; and it may help to
that desirable end if we say here something concerning the way in which she
could be rendered a commercial success as a trader.

It may be taken as proved that the present value of the ship is about
L26,000. Mr. De Mattos gave, we understand, L27,000 for her, and he bought
her by auction. The last sale gives nearly the same figures. If we assume
that there are 10,000 tons of iron in her, we may also assume that if
broken up it would not fetch more than L3 a ton at present rates; but even
if we say L4, we have as a total but L40,000. To break the ship up would be
a herculean task; we very much doubt if it could be done for the difference
between L26,000 and L40,000; her engines would only sell for old iron,
being entirely worthless for any other place than the foundry once they
were taken out of her; as for her boilers, the less said about them the
better. In one word, she would not pay to break up. On the other hand, by a
comparatively moderate further outlay, she might be made the finest trading
ship afloat. There are two harbors at all events into which she can always
get, namely, Milford and Sydney. There are others, of course, but these
will do; and the ship could trade between these two ports. By taking out
her paddle engines, she would be relieved of a weight of 850 tons. The
removal of her paddle engine boilers would further lighten her, and would
give in addition an enormous stowage space. By using her both as a cargo
and a passenger ship, the whole of the upper portion could be utilized for
emigrants, let us say, and the lower decks for cargo, of which she could
carry nearly, if not quite, 20,000 tons. She would possess the great
advan