It is matter of considerable regret to the author that his utmost efforts to obtain statistics for the Tyne over a period corresponding to that for which the Clyde figures are available have not been rewarded with success. Many likely sources have been consulted, and several gentlemen connected with the river and its industries have been appealed to, but without any satisfactory result. No systematic record of shipbuilding output has been kept by anyone officially concerned with the river, although in every other respect its progress has been abundantly and accurately chronicled. It is only so recently as 1878 that the _Newcastle Chronicle_ begun the practice of giving, in the systematic and complete manner for which it is now justly noted, the returns of shipbuilding throughout the Kingdom. To this journal the author is indebted for the figures of work done on the Tyne during the years subsequent to 1878. The figures for the Wear have been taken from an article descriptive of that district appearing in the _Shipping World_ for June of the present year. With regard to the Clyde, it is interesting to observe how in the curve the periods of greatest activity, and consequent output, are recurrent every tenth year. Thus at 1864, 1874, and, at all events, 1883, the curve forms decided crests as compared with the general undulations over the intervening years. During the seven years from 1846 to 1852 inclusive the number of steam vessels built on the Clyde amounted to 14 with wood hulls, 233 with iron hulls—total, 247, of which 141 were paddle-steamers and 106 screw-steamers. The tonnage of the wooden steamers amounted to 18,330, and of the iron vessels to 129,270 tons; the horse-power of the engines in the wooden hulls being 6,740, and in the iron hulls 31,590. In 1851, or nearly a decade earlier than the year at which the curve begins, the number of ships produced was 41, with an aggregate tonnage of 25,320. In 1861, a decade later, 81 steamers were built, the tonnage of which amounted to 60,185, and the horse-power of the engines, 12,493. The tonnage for both steamers and ships, however, during that year was 66,800, as shown by the diagram. During the seven years immediately prior to 1862 the extent and progress of shipbuilding on the river were such that 636 vessels, having an aggregate tonnage of 377,000 tons, were launched from the yards of Glasgow, Greenock, and Dumbarton. [Illustration: TONNAGE DIAGRAM. CURVES SHOWING THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TONNAGE OF NEW SHIPPING PRODUCED IN THE PRINCIPAL SHIPBUILDING DISTRICTS SINCE 1860.]