THE following is a Return, compiled from Parliamentary Documents, of the number of ships which entered inwards, and cleared outwards, from British ports, during the year 1861; that for 1862 not having as yet been published:— Ships. Tone.

The number of British vessels which entered Inwards to all the ports of the United Kingdom, during the year 1861, was . . 29,907 Representing a Tonnage of . . . . . . 7,721,035 The number of Foreign vessels which entered Inwards to all the ports of the United Kingdom, during the same period, was 25,356 Representing a Tonnage of . . . . . . 5,458,554 The number of British vessels which cleared Outwards from all the ports of the United Kingdom, during the year 1861,-was 29,357 Representing a Tonnage of 7,699,497 The number of Foreign vessels which cleared Outwards from all the ports of the United Kingdom, during the same period, w a s . . . . . . . . 26,699 Representing a Tonnage o f . . . . • • 5,716,555 Total . . . 111,319 26,595,641 Thus giving a total of 111,319 vessels, with a tonnage of 26,595,641, which entered inwards and cleared outwards from the different ports of the United Kingdom, during the year 1861. It is hardly possible to realise the enormous commercial transactions represented by such a Tonnage as is here given! These 111,319 vessels had probably on board a million persons. As we stated on a previous occasion, 884 lives were lost from 1,494 shipwrecks in the seas and on the coasts of the United Kingdom, in 1861. But, on the other hand, it is a gratifying fact that, by means of life-boats, the rocket apparatus, shore and ships' boats, and other appliances, 4,624 persons were happily rescued from these disasters—a most encouraging fact, and proclaiming, in accents which cannot be mistaken, that the benevolent exertions which confer such essential benefit on suffering humanity should be pursued with unabated vigour.