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8 MARINE REVIEW. Canada's Premier Discusses Canal Matters. It would seem from recent newspaper interviews with Canada's new premier, the Hon. Mr. Laurier, that the Liberal government, which has just. taken office, desires and 'intends to signalize its admin- istration by a renewal of close neighborly relations with the United States. In one of these interviews Mr. Laurier is thus quoted on the canal question : "The American fleet on the lakes now numbers many large steamers. There are many vessels of 4,000 tons, and I hear that your ship yards are turning out vessels of even 6,000 tons. The day of small steamers like that of the wooden sailing ship has passed. Between Buffalo and Duluth there is a channel now practically com- pleted, that is deep enough to accommodate vessels of 20 feet draft. We in Canada are aiming to make a channel of the same depth from Lake Erie through the Welland canal, and the canals below Kingston to Montreal, but the task is a formidable one, owing to the immense expense involved. -Up to date we have spent about $60,000,000 on our canals, the major portion on the Welland and St. Lawrence canals, which is a large sum for 5,000,000 of people, especially when it is con- sidered that we haye also contributed very liberally for railroads. It goes without saying that many great benefits would be conferred upon the farmers of the western and northwestern states, no less, of course, than upon the farmers of the Canadian northwest, if these great steamers could load at Port Arthur and Duluth and carry produce - without breaking bulk, as they have to do now at the Welland and again at Prescott, right through to Ogdensburg, Kingston, Oswego, Montreal or Quebec, and carry back merchandise and manufactures for the western settlers at cheap rates. Farm produce is low the world over, owing to the immense production which modern science --the self-binder, the railroad and the compound marine engine--has rend- ered possible, and, so far as I can see, it is not likely to reach its for- mer price for some time, if ever. ""You can not, if I may be allowed to say, help the farmer on this continent by any quack device. You can do it only by cheapening the cost of producing the stuff and by reducing the expense of getting it to European markets. A 21-foot channel from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan to the Atlantic ocean would reduce the cost of what the farmer has to buy from the eastern states and give him lower trans- portation rates for what he has to sell. I suppose, too, that a reduced rate on the lakes and on the St. Lawrence water route would oblige the railroads north, that is in Canada, and south, that is in the United States, to meet it with equally low rates to and from the seaboard dur- ing the season of navigation, so that the farmer far inland from the route would experience equally the good effects. Commissioners have been appointed by the governments of the two countries to consider the question of a deep waterway system, and I am in hopes that a perfectly feasible scheme will shortly be reported--a scheme that will enable the United States to participate in the work and exercise a joint control without in any way compromising the soverei guty of Canada over its own territory. It should be a purely business arrange- ment with nothing political about it." The Fire Hold as a Factor in High Speed. In all late reports from England, engineers who have had to do with the development of high speed in fast war vessels, as well as big passenger ships, and especially those using water tube boilers, have laid great stress on advantages that have been gained through engi- neers giving far more attention than they have in the past to affairs of the fire hold. It would seem that the same policy is being followed by officers of the American Line steamers St. Louis and St. Paul and that the recent record breaking performances of these steamers is attributed mainly to close attention to firing. The New York Tribune of recent date has the following article on the subject: "There has been an epidemic of new record-making among the transatlantic steamships this month. Old and new boats have been distancing all their old performances. On her last trip the American liner St. Paul came shooting over the bar nearly two hours ahead of the schedule established by her sister ship, the St. Louis, the week be- fore. The performance of the St. Louis in its turn had been a sub- stantial reduction on the previous record of the St. Paul. In the same eventful week the Hamburg-American boat, the Furst Bismarck, cut forty-nine minutes from her previous best time on the eastbound trip. _ Envious rivals point out the fact that the route of the Furst Bismarck was by way of Cherbourg, instead of direct from Southampton, which ---- ------ was the case when her former record. was established, and they- say that the Hamburg boat made better time simply because her new route was shorter, but the general opinion seems to be that the distance js about the same either way. The honors have not been confined to the. younger pack of ocean greyhounds, either. The old-time steamer Britannic of the White Star Line renewed her youth and outdid hep ancient record of fifteen years ago by slipping across from Daunt's. Rock to Sandy Hook in three hours and twenty-three minutes less time than she ever did before. "In view of this fast steaming, the natural question arises, 'What is the cause? Why is it that old and new vessels are outdoing their' past performances?' The general consensus of opinion seems to be that it has been due 'to two causes, engine room and fire room, and' favorable weather. In the case of the St: Paul's voyage both of these conditions seem to have been present in a high degree. James Car- negie, the chief engineer of that record-breaker, has the faculty of get- ting the utmost possible out of the small army of engineers, firemen, coal passers and trimmers under his command. "The matter of firing,' said an experienced engineer, 'has become a science. It absorbs the: time and attention of the engineer more than the running of the engine. I came oyer on the St. Louis on her last trip, and Chief En-' gineer Walls was never seen on deck or in the cabin. He was below attending to business strictly.' "As to the St. Paul's performance, Mr. Carnegie said: 'Our sue- cess is due, first, to the management of our magnificent ship; but after that in large part to the support I have received from every mem- ber of the engineering staff. They all worked with a will, and in per- fect harmony. My senior first assistant stayed up all night before she: came off the dry dock to be sure that the propeller wheels were set ex- actly right. This is typical of the work done by all throughout the: voyage. We didn't have a single fireman laid off, and the average temperature of the fire-room was only 95 degrees. This was due to' the fine system of ventilation and the fact that the air in the fire room is being continually changed by the suction of the battery of fans' which supply the Howden. draft. Of course, men can do their best work in pure air of that temperature. We have three shifts of engi: neers and firemen, each of which has four hours on and eight hours off. There are six engineers and twenty-two firemen in each shift. IT have arranged with the management for a system of bonuses for firemen and oilers so that they may feel an interest in the work as well as the oticerss: ~ The American consul at Copenhagen reports to the state depart- ment that a young boatswain in the Danish navy has invented a tele- graphic apparatus for communication with a ship at a certain anchor- age without the use of a direct line. An electric battery with one pole in contact with the earth and a telegraphic key and interrupter at the other, constitutes the Bland apparatus, from which a cable is laid to and around the anchorage in a coil from 1,000 to 1,200 feet in diame- ter. A selenoid connected telephone aboard the ship completes the apparatus. The plan has worked successfully, and the young inyen- tor is now at work to get rid of the telegraph key and make the com- munication wholly telephonic. Among the advantages of the new method is that signals in this manner will not, as in case of flags, be visible to an enemy, and that ships moving near the shore can com- -- municate with various stations while passing over the apparatus ar- ranged for the purpose. It is encouraging to note, as an indication of ship building pro- gress in the country, that eastern ship builders have of late been get-: ting an occasional order from foreign countries. Lewis Nixon of the Crescent Ship Yard, Elizabethport, N. J., made a contract a few days ago with the Mexican Imrovement Co. of Tobasco, Mexico, for a small stern wheel passenger and freight steamer. If the Cramps and the Union Iron Works can land the contracts on which they are still fig- uring with the Japanese government, it is quite probable that some - important orders for merchant ships will follow. In a large number of cases the Blue Book of American Shipping: has been sent on approval to ship owners, ship builders, marine engi- neers and others interested in shipping. In every case the price of the: book, which is $5.00, has been remitted immediately. ' Toronto and return--Low rates via the Nickel Plate road routed through Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Tickets sold Aug, 31 and Sept. 1 to 11, returning until Sept. 14. Canada's great fair, 288 Sep 10