p.266 The precoditions for a significant expansion in world trade were unusually bright in the early 1850s. In Britain the Corn Laws and the Navigation Act had just been repealed. All foreign vessels were now allowed to carry grain and timber to Britain; previously, only those from the exporting country could do so. Steam shipping was about to revolutionize ocean transport, but the predominance of sail was still a fact on long distance trade routes. A remarkable increase in shipping activity took place in the 1850s; the amount of tonnage with cargoes entered into Britain and cleared from British ports increased by 73.3% over the decade, which led a contemporary observer to state that the decade of the 1850s was 'perhaps the most remarkable in the trading history of any country'.