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10 MARINE REVIEW. MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, O. Chicago office, (branch), No. 726 Phoenix building. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance. Single copies 1ocents fo Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on app cation. ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1892. 1891. 1890. 1892. 1891. | 1890. No. vessel passages 12,580] I0,I9I| 10,557 35559 4,207 3,389 Ton'ge, net regist'd|10,647,203|8,400,685|8,454,435||7,712,028|8,698,777 See Days of navigation.. 223 225 228 365 365 395 Lintered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. ANOTHER member of congress,Representative B.F.Ritchie of Ohio, Toledo district, has begun an effort to secure a change in the law governing arrival and departure of vessels at lake ports, so that a report will be made to officers of the customs every time a vessel puts into or departs from an American port. A bill which Mr. Ritchie has introduced with this end in view is numbered H. R. 5,488, but it is in all respects the same as a measure that failed of passage in the last congress, because of objections to it begun by General Manager Carter of the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, who claimed that officers of the boats of his company, as well as those of other passenger and freight boats making numerous stops at intermediate ports, would be subjected to annoyance by the passage of such an act. In view of the fact that the reports required to be made to customs' offi- cers can be made by the owner or agent of the vessel, thus allow- ing the ship to depart without any more delay than at present, it would seem that the slight objections that exist with reference to this bill should not again be raised against it. 'The measure was originally prepared by Secretary Keep of the Lake Carriers' Association, and the wording of it permits of the report being made by "master, owner or agent," so that it can not be claimed that vessels will be delayed in hunting up officers of the customs in small ports. Delivery of the reports can be entrusted to dock agents. Under the present laws, which permit of vessels taking on and discharging cargo in many cases without making a report of any kind, there is no possible way of securing reliable statistics of the lake commerce as a whole, or of even any one port. 'The only statistics that are correct are those of the St. Mary's Falls canal, kept by the canal officers. The newspapers of the lakes should give earnest support to this bill, unless the shipping in- terests bring forward a better methcd of obtaining the statistics of lake commerce, that are so necessary in connection with all legislative matters. MR. WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE, Jr., of Detroit is making a _ Strong effort in support of the proposed widening of the Lime- Kilns crossing. This is one of the improvements that was spe- cially recommended at the annual meeting of the Lake Carriers' Association in Detroit last month. Mr. Livingstone has assur- ance from United States Senator James McMillan and several of the members of congress from Michigan that they will do every- thing they possibly can to get an appropriation, so that this work can be begun next summer. He has also induced several of the leading owners in Cleveland to write to their representa- tives in congress regarding the appropriation. The cost of in- creasing the width of the Lime-Kilns channel, in which the aggregate commerce is greater than that of any other channel on the lakes, is only trifling as compared with the first cost of the work, and the necessity for the improvement was shown on two occasions last season, when lake business was threatened with entire suspension, on account of collisions in the cut, Sa SECRETARY KEEP's knowledge of congressional affairs has on many occasions served the Lake Carriers' Association well, and his action, a few days ago, in going before the river and harbor committee with the raft towing question, was another move in the right direction. The river and harbor committee js sure to havea hearing during the present session of congress, Its members have shown a disposition to treat the shipping in- terests fairly. If this committee will, then, take jurisdiction of the matter, as they have done in the case of obstructions in navigable channels, it will be much easier to have the proposed legislation incorporated in the river and harbor bill, than to de- pend upon a separate measure, that would very probably be de- layed until late in the session and eventually crowded out. Now let the managers of the association see that the river and harbor committee is fully informed as to the relief which the vessel owners ask from the raft towing evil, and secure the passage of the necessary legislation before the opening of another season. Iv seems to be the general impression that if the charge for unloading iron ore at Lake Erie ports is reduced at all, the re- duction will amount to only 3 cents, of which 2 cents at least will result from lower wages to be paid to dock laborers. There are wheels within wheels in the dock business, but the greatest evil of all is the heavy rebate paid to furnaces on direct shipments. There is certainly nothing consistent in charging vessels 16 cents a ton for the work of unloading ore cargoes and giving furnaces a rebate of 12 cents a ton on ore not stored. THERE seems to be little question of the passage by congress of the bill (H. R. 4,364) extending the benefits of the marine hospital service to embrace crews of life saving stations. The measure has been favorably reported to the house by the committee on commerce, and if that committee can secure a day for a hearing it will undoubtedly pass. FIFTY-FOUR pages of the Jan. 26 edition of Engineering of Tondon are devoted to reading matter and illustrations descrip- tive of the Manchester ship-canal. 'The illustrations are among the finest ever published by the great London Journal, and the edition asa whole is well worthy of preservation by any en- gineer. Conditions Essential to High Speed. There are various standards by which the speeds of ships are judged. We have the trial speeds, which may be determined by a series of runs over a measured mile, or by runs over various distances in smooth water at sea; we have runs for a certain length of time in ordinary weather at sea; and finally, we have the average speed which a ship can maintain, year after year, over the whole of her voyages in all seas and all weathers. 'The last-named is the kind of speed now being taken into account in the building of transatlantic passenger ships. Among the conditions essential to high speed as thus defined, are: (1) Great size of ship; (2) a form suitable for driving easily at high speeds over heavy seas without shipping heavy water, or lifting the propellers sufficiently to cause racing; (3) deep draught of water; (4) steadiness in a seaway; (5) great strength of structure and of machinery; (6) a large proportion of boiler power, so as to -- enable a full supply of steam for the engines to be easily kept; Gira full and well-regulated supply of air to the furnaces.--From a paper by Dr. Elger. Mr. Frank Owen, superintendent of the Ogdensburg Tran- sit Company (Central Vermont Line), says of the statement at- tributed to him in some of the papers, that a new package freight _ line would be established by his company: 'Ihe Central Vermont Line have not chartered any steamers to my knowledge, nor have I intimated that they have done so."