The word is of old commercial use,for a small sum of money formerly paid to the captain or masterof the ship, as his personal perquisite, over and above thefreight charges paid to the owners or agents, by personssending goods in a ship. It was called by the French pot-de-vin du maitre, – – a sort of pourboire,in fact. Now-a-days the captain has no concern with thefreight arrangements, and the word in this sense has disappeared.It has re-appeared in Australia under a new form. In 1893the Victorian Parliament imposed a duty of one per cent.on the Prime, as the Customs laws call the first entryof goods. This tax was called Primage, and raised suchan outcry among commercial men that in 1895 it was repealed.