Report of (U.S.) commissioner of navigation for 1909.
Lloyd's Register, 1910-11.
CHAPTER X
RUSSIA
In Russia steamship lines were early subsidized with mileage bounties, besides receiving postal subventions; and later the Government adopted the policy of returning the Suez Canal tolls to the subsidized lines. The mileage subsidies are direct bounties avowedly for the encouragement of Russian navigation, and are very large.[[EQ]]
In 1898 a Government commission, appointed to consider and report upon the state of the empire's mercantile marine, declared that Russia was losing a vast sum annually through the lack of a sufficient commercial fleet of her own, and yet no progress seemed to be making toward increasing her tonnage. To remedy this unsatisfactory condition the commission suggested the removal of the duty on ships built abroad for Russia, and the free admission of all material necessary for ship construction.[[ER]]