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12 MARINE, REVIEW. Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. Supscriprron--$2.00 per year in advance. Single copies10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Pest Office as Second class Mail Matter. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1895, contained the names of the 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons registerin the lake trade. The number of steam yessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1895, was 360 and theiraggregate gross tonnage 643,260.40; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 309 and their tonnage 652,598,72, so that half of the best steamships in allthe United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1895, was as follows: Gross Number. Tonnage. Bia sVOSSel Stra ercteess. ceeeet ee il versfoseatn ieuccveacesves leooed 1,755 857,735.13 Sailing vessels 1,100 300,642.10 Hira RC cee caterer et cvtrscate as teneeser hitece Seneeccnsccicassese 487 83,081.91 - UE Ota tean ies Ree oh oorcs chats tees Rises 3,342. 1,241,459.14 The gross registered tonnage ef the vessels built on the Jakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: : Year ending June 30, 1891 f 204 111,856.45 si on ae 1892 169 45,968.98 i Se ff TIGR Seep reread 175 99,271.24 es e oe 1894 106 41,984.61 sf i ) 1895 93 86,352.70 RG fred ietkcse eras hes ieee as cp ete hake Gio Adetas azo cuits 347 335,483,98 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (/7rom Oficial Keports of Canal Officers.) St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1895* 1894 1893 1895 ; 1894 1893 No. vessel passages.,........... 17,956; 14,491 11,008]| ~ 3,434 8,302 3,341 Tonnage, net registered...... 16,806,781] 13,110,366] 9,849,754|| 8,448,383} 8,039,175] '7,659,068 Days of navigation.............. 231 254 219 365 365 365 * 1895 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was about VY per cent. of the whole, but largely in American vessels. It would seem that the experience of the City of Duluth in the matter of taxing vessel property is worthy of consideration from boards of equalization and other officials in leading lake cities that haye to do with the question of taxes. About two years ago the legis- lature of Minnesota passed an act of a special kind assessing a tax on vessel property much lower than is charged in some other lake states. On July 1, 1895, there were fifty-eight vessels enrolled with the Duluth collector of customs, and these were nearly all tugs and other small craft, the total tonnage being only 5,485.04 gross. But on July 1, 1896, one year later, the records at the Duluth custom house showed, as a result of the low tax referred to, an enrollment of eighty vessels with a total tonnage of 26,078.73 gross, an increase of nearly 500 per cent. This amount was nearly doubled during July and August, and on Sept. 1, 1895, 51,184.85 tons gross, or 41,786.30 tons net,.was enrolled. Now what is the meaning of this increase in en- rolment and consequent additional revenue at Duluth? It is plain that many vessel owners ayoided enrollment at other points on the lakes, and where it was at all convenient for them to do so they took up en- roliment at Duluth in order to obtain the advantages of low taxes. But it may be said that the Duluth rate was too low and that the ques- tion of raising it is now being agitated. This may be true enuogh, but the fact remains, as we have often claimed, that the lake states enfor- cing high taxes on vessels are following a poor policy, and the county, city or town officials who follow up the this policy with an extreme enforcement of the law are also standing in their own light. It is said that one of the chief merits cf a passenger agent, whether connected with a railway or steamship line, is his ability to exag- gerate matters in a graceful, artistic manner. This is prompted by a statement, printed last week in the Review as well as in other lake papers, regarding the number of passengers carried during the season just closed by the Northern line passenger steamer North Land. It was said that this boat carried, during the past season, 1,600 more passengers than was carried by both boats in 1895. It is quite gen- erally understood that these big steamers, especially the North Land, were very successful during the past season, but a few figures based on the statement just referred to would indicate that some of the claims as to the number of passengers carried are a little overdrawn. At the close of 1895 it was learned from yery good authority that the two boats carried a little less than 17;000 passengers. For convenience sake, let us place the number at even 17,000 and we will have the North Land carrying during the past season 17,000 plus 1,600 op 18,600 passengers. This would be an average of 1,420 passengers per trip, as she made thirteen trips. But everybody knows that on the first three trips in the spring and the last two in the fall the passenger list of the North Land could not have exceeded an average of 500 per trip. This would leave 16,100 passengers to be carried on eight trips during the busy season, or an average of 2,012 per trip. Evidently the merits of the desirable passenger agent are shown in these figures. In less than seven days, counting with the sun, American traye- lers can now make the trip fro1a Southampton to Cleveland, crossing the Atlantic on an American ship and coming west from New York on two railway lines that are among the finest in the world. Mr. J. W. Walton of the Upson-Walton Co., Cleveland, did this recently, and might have beaten the seven day period by five hours if he had not remained over a few hours in New York. His passage from Southampton to New York was on one of the American line ships and from New York west he took the New York Central and Lake Shore roads. He says that one of the Cramps had the ear of Li Hung Chang during the entire voyage, evidently talking for war-ship contracts, but it would seem that the American builders have as yet made little headway in this regard with either China or Japan. Li Hung Chang is undestood to have left one order in Germany for.a war vessel, and the patronage accorded English builders by Japanese concerns having merchant vessels to build is quite important.. There are at present ten large steel twin-screw steamers being built in England for general trade between Japan and London. The owners are the Nippon Yusen Kaisha of Japan. Each of these vessels is to carry over 7,000 tons deadweight and to steam over 12 knots. Three are being built by Napier, Shanks & Bell, five by D. & W.Henderson & Co., and two by Workman, Clarke & Co. If vessel men of Detroit are of the opinion that the shoal in the Detroit river at the foot of Wayne street, on which the Western line steamer Hudson grounded a few days ago, was formed by deposits from city sewers, they will find a certain means of redress from further difficulty of this kind by bringing the matter to the attention of the war department. <A river and harbor act of a few years ago gives to the secretary of war as much authority in the matter of obstructions caused by sewers entering into the Detroit river, or any other highway of commerce, as he has regarding the building of bridges that would obstruct such waterways. Al that is necessary is to make complaint through the United States engineer in charge of the district and have him proceed with an investigation. The feeling of real sorrow that attended meetings in Cleveland last week to take action on the death of William S. Mack and H. J. Webb has resulted in an effort to secure memorials for the families of - these vessel men that will be elegant specimens of their kind. <A pen and ink artist who has shown rare genius in his work has been ev- gaged to inscribe these memorials and to adorn them with portraits of the deceased surrounded by anchors, old style capstans, ete. The list of prominent yessel men who have died since the last meeting of the Lake Carriers' Association in Detroit in January last is unusually large. Aomng them may be mentioned Capt. John Rice of Buffalo, Capt. E. M. Peck of Detroit, Conrad Starke and Capt. John Fitzgerald of Milwaukee, Thomas Quayle, Capt. W. B. Guyles, H. J. Webb and Capt. W. S. Mack of Cleveland. It will probably develop before long that there is more in the ex- periment with the Grummond passenger steamer now running be tween Detroit and Cleveland than appears on the surface. Certain well- known steamboat men on the lakes have for some time past been giv- ing careful attention to the details of day service between Detroit and Cleveland with first-class, high-powered ships, and in this connection they are considering also the possibilities of building up a passenge? business by lake between Buffalo and Detroit. Notwithstanding all that has been said in newspapers around the lakes about the sale of the fast river steamer Unique to representatives of the revolutionary party in Cuba, the Review has a letter from Mr. C. McElroy of St. Clair, Mich., managing owner of the Unique, 7 which he says the steamer has not been sold. He says nothing further regarding the boat's future but it is very probable that she will be found running again next season between Detroit and Port Huron.