From the annual statement of the navigation and shipping of the United Kingdom, we have extracted the foregoing particulars of the tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared from the United Kingdom in 1884, in the Indian and Australian trades distinguishing steamers and sailing ships. As sailing ships cannot make use of the canal, it is quite evident that there must be a use of sailing tonnage to the extent of over two millions of tons a year in the trade between the United Kingdom and her Indian and Australasian possessions. Such a fact is not a little remarkable when we remember that the opening of the canal has shortened the distance to Bombay by 41 per cent.; to Madras, by 35 per cent.; and to Calcutta by 32 per cent.[154] In some cases, the sailing tonnage employed was fully one-half of the whole. The following figures show how the proportions compare for the different provinces of India, as regards entrances into British ports:— ──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────── │ Total. │ Steamers. │ Sailing Ships. ├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────── │ tons. │ tons. │ tons. Bombay │ 336,377 │ 327,039 │ 9,338 Madras │ 74,371 │ 32,251 │ 42,120 Bengal, &c. │ 810,946 │ 426,524 │ 384,222 Ceylon │ 18,373 │ 5,483 │ 12,890 ├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────── Total │ 1,239,867 │ 791,297 │ 448,570 ──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────── The clearances followed much the same course in the same period. Even with India, therefore, about 37 per cent. of all our trade passes by sailing ships round the Cape of Good Hope, instead of going through the canal, thus proving that the shortening of distance and of time is not the only consideration that determines the adoption of one route in preference to another.