648  WmAoumgimd Dodfc  gpiiiw

Few  persons  are  aware  of  the  extent  of  petty  thieving  about  the  doeks
in  this  city  ;  but  in  addition  to  this  it  is  very  often  the  case,  that  whole
packaffes  of  goods  are  missing  from  the  docks  after  having  been  dischaiged
from  tne  ships.  And  it  is  not  long  since,  that  an  officer  of  a  ship  was
charged  with  abstracting  a  box  of  gold  of  the  value  of  eight  thousand  dol*
lars.  By  the  establishment  of  public  docks  well  guarded,  and  shut  at
night,  where  no  person  could  carry  any  thing  in  or  out  without  being
examined,  these  things  could  not  transpire.  In  London  no  person  can  go
in  or  out  of  dock  but  those  employed  in  it  without  a  permit,  and  it  requires
the  connivance  of  an  officer  of  the  government  and  the  dock  company  to
enable  any  one  to  abstract  a  package.  At  night  the  docks  are  closed,
and  there  is  no  ingress  or  egress.  Mr.  McCuIloch,  who  is  justly  oele*
brated  for  his  accuracy  in  English  statistics,  has  estimated  that  the  saving
to  London  merchants  from  this  source  alone,  by  means  of  docks  and  ware^
houses,  is  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  annually.  But  suppose  this  to
be  a  large  estimate,  and  that  it  would  amount  here  to  only  one  twentieth
part  of  that  sum ;  still,  here  is  another  clear  saving  of  seventy-five  thou-
sand dollars  annually.
