REASONS Humbly Offered to the Honourable the House of Commons, AGAINST Buying any Foreign Bottoms into ENGLAND for the future, or for laying such a Tax on them as may be greater than free Ships of this Kingdom pay.  
FIrst, It has Caused since the said Act a visible decay of Building Ships; as for instance, In Ipswich where many Ships used to be Built for the Coal-Trade, there hath not been one Built these Three years; and at Alborough, Dunwich, Walderswick, Woodbridge and Harwich, many Ships have belonged to the Coal-Trade and now there is not in all these places above One Ship, a small Pink and a Dutch Buss or two excepted.  
And whereas the places above mentioned, before the Act commenced, Built yearly stout good Ships, fit upon occasion to serve His Majesty in time of War, now so oft as they are lost or worn out, we are supplied from Holland and other parts beyond the Seas, with slight Vessels built with fir, which enjoys the same privilege in this Trade as the English Ships do, because the Trade is not able to bear the Charge of better Vessels; and besides the decay of good Ships and loss of Building, great numbers of our Builders and Shipwrights; &c. are discouraged and are not able to maintain themselves and breed servants in these Trades as formerly they used to do.  
But it has been Objected by some, That the Building many Ships at home will waste our English Plank and may be a Prejudice to His Majesty in preventing the supply of Stores for the Navy Royal. To this we Answer;  
That we are as well able as the Hollanders to build all such ships for the Coal-Trade with foreign Plank, &c. so that the Plank, &c. of our own growth cannot be Exhausted.  
This will have these following good Effects.  
We shall employ our own Ships in fetching not only Plank but Pitch, Tarr, Hemp, Masts, Canvas, Iron, &c. and export our own Commodities for Payment, which will bring a Revenue to His Majesty, both outward and inward, if an Act were to Prohibit the buying and foreign Bottoms into England, or such a Duty laid on those that should Buy, as would Discourage such Buyer, and Encourage Building stout Ships at home; many hundreds depending on Shipping, will find employment at home, by which means Building and Navigation will flourish, the money expended therein laid out with our Neighbours, would circulate among us, and no body could be Prejudiced by it, but foreigners, who eat the Breat out of our Englishmens mouths, in whose hands the Building Trade now lieth.