Mr. Isaac Stewart. ( 21 May.) 14S MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE djl". in limestone ballast, which they bought, and whenever that was done the ballast office insisted upon the ship taking a pilot, or if they did not take one, they were obliged to pay a certain sum of money in lieu of it; what that precise sum was I cannot exactly say. I beg leave to hand in a schedule of the charge at Dublin for ballast, as compared with the charge at London. CHARGE AT DUBLIN : s. d. To British ships - - - 1 6 per ton. Foreign d° - 26 — AT LONDON: To Coal ships - - - - 1 - per ton. British ships - - - 13 — Foreign ships - - - 17 — and the distance which the ballast is carried at Dublin is not one third of that at London. Do you conceive any advantage to be derived to the trade of Dublin from the pilots provided by the ballast board ?— Yes, I do. Do you think that advantage is procured at too high a money price?— No, I think not. Then, with respect to the charge for pilotage, you do not conceive that the public have any reason to complain ?— The general opinion is, that the pilots are not sufficiently remunerated, and that they even were not supplied with boats such as they ought to be supplied with, they are not any thing like so good as the pilot boats at Liverpool; and I will beg leave to mention a circumstance that occurred last winter with respect to myself; a vessel coming from St. Andrew's, with timber, and bound for Belfast, which had sprung a leak at sea when near Dublin, the master found it necessary to run for that port; the ship came into Dublin harbour about ten o'clock in the morning, but could not find a pilot; no pilot boat being in the bay as there ought to have been, in consequence she was stranded. Have you made any comparison of the amount of charges under the authority of the ballast board, to which the trade of Dublin is subject?— Yes, I have. Have you made any such comparison as between the port charges of Dublin and the port charges of Belfast?— I have. [ The witness delivered in the same, which is as follows:] TRADE OF BELFAST, 1821. From