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1903.) MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE, RECORD, 29 combined passenger and freight service, and heavy freight ser- vice. As regards the first, New York will have an easy lead. It is the natural port for "ocean greyhounds," and no other port would find it profitable to make a high bid for this part of the Atlantic trade. It would be the height of folly for England or Canada to subsidize an ocean service from Halifax for the special convenience of the few rich people who want to cross the At- lantic in five days. The real problem for Great Britain to solve is how to maintain her commercial prestige on the Atlantic against all rivals, American and German. Before that problem can be solved it is necessary to ascertain where the most danger- ous attack will be made. It will not be in the "greyhounds," nor in the ordinary passenger service so much as in the freighit service. What is to be feared, from the English point of view, is the new type of combined fr eight and passenger steamer, such as the Celtic, which makes about fifteen knots an hour on a very moderate consumption of coal. The Atlantic liner of the future will carry 20,000 tons of freight and several hundred saloon pas- sengers at about $60 per head, and the combine evidently in- tends to build ships of this class as quickly as Harland & Wolff of Belfast can turn them out. To compete with the combine it will be necessary to have similar steamers. Three separate services are essential--ship building, ship owning, and freight collecting. Of the three, the last may present considerable dith- culty to the Cunard and other British lines. But the Pennsyl- vania railroad has already had a little disagreement with Mr. Gould over his attempt to create a new route to the Atlantic sea- board, and in the event of a decided quarrel the co-operation of an independent steamship line on the Atlantic might be wel-. come to an anti-Morgan railroad. ~ American shipping companies would do well to realize that their British rivals, such as Elder, Dempster, and Allan & Co. are not entirely dependent upon the contingencies of American tailroad management. The British ship owner has a strong-' hold of his own which before the end of the century will coun- teract Mr. Morgan's supremacy in New York and Philadelphia. For a considerable part of the American northwest the natural eastward outlet is through Canada, and as the Canadian rail- roads. show a greater percentage of increase in traffic this year than the American, it seems certain that United States exports are finding their way through Canada in increasing quantities.. The Grand Trunk and the Canadian Pacific railroads can: move freight with all reasonable speed and they have equal facilities. for billing through to Europe. Their ports are not equal. to New. York by any means, but they are less expensive. Any-.: body who has looked into the transatlantic shipping prospects will admit that in the future there will be a serious diversion of American exports to Canadian ports. Returning once more to the Cunard contract, the most lenient criticism must be that it is a practical confession of ab- sence of business capacity on the part of the British government. As has already been pointed out, the necessity for it would never have arisen if British mail and steamship contracts had been so managed as to give the government a proper hold over the steam- ship companies. Even now that has not been done, and nobody knows when it will be done. 'The Cunard contract is a curious. mixture of old and new ideas. The subsidy of £150,000 a year is a return to the policy of protecting British shipping. The loan for building two new fast ships is an in- novation. It establishes a novel relationship between me the government and the steamship companies. It places the king of England in the position of a lien holder over a commercial undertaking. As security for the advances to be made toward the building of the two new ships, not only the ships themselves but the whole of the fleet and the general assets of the corpora- tion are pledged. The government will have a substantial inter- est in the business. If the cost of the two new "greyhounds" is placed at £1,500,000 it will almost equal the existing paid- a capital of the company, which is £1,600,000.. That will give the British government (nominally the king) a half interest'in the enlarged fleet. Events are conceivable in which additional ad- vances might have to be made and the government interest in . the company would be increased. But, as things now ate, the British taxpayer is not represented. on the) board of. directors, although a single appointment would, have strengthened popular a confidence in the arrangement. The gentlemen who compose the king's cabinet seem to have forgotten to ask for such an | not hold wind. A mixture of two-thirds oil and one-third Stock- | _ holm tar applied to canvas gives it a yellow tint and is claimed to" "preserve sails, and also to enable them "to hold" the wind, Last : summer I watched a race between two Portuguese lobstermen, -- appointment. Should Uncle Sam become a partner in a steam- ship business, he may be safely trusted to avoid a similar error. The Cunard contract commits the British Empire to the prin- ciple of state ownership of commercial shipping. The great. re- public should hesitate to follow this example, It is true, of course, that the step taken by England is a very small one, and one that can be easily explained away officially. There is in it, however, the germ of economic revolution. Carried to its logical conclusion the Cunard agreement would mean state own- ership and operation of ocean mail steamers. Circumstances may render this advisable for the protection of British national interests, but it is to be hoped that when the subsidy bill comes before congress this' idea will not' bé brought forward, because there i is nothing in its favor from an American point of view. _water.into his sail. Mr. Lipton, expecting the Shamrock and the The British government is the largest ship owner in the world. Its ships are intended for war, but they have to be em- ployed in time of peace and they perform some commercial duties every day. The sea-work.of the navy and the mercantile marine is similar. The British navy supplies the mercantile navy with many officers and sailors. The mercantile marine is. at present under engagements of various kinds to the navy, such as providing armed cruisers in time of war, a plan which is un-- satisfactory because it takes the ships away from their regular' business. and interferes with the rapid conveyance of mails.: There is no special reason why a monarchy: should not own and operate commercial ships. Germany owns: and manages rail- roads,.a more difficult class of property to administer than ocean steamers. -. The government of India finances and operates rail- roads..on a very large scale--how successfully. the writer: does -- not-know. .. The nationalizing idea is quite liable to "take root", in England at any time, and American ship owners should re-: member that if the Morgan combine injures British shipping: to any appreciable extent, the government may be expected to: en-: ter the ocean mail-carrying business. By the making of the Cu-. nard contract England's traditional free trade policy has. been thrown overboard, as far as the mercantile marine is. concerned, and in its place may be found the complete' recognition and 'ac- ceptance: of special relations between the government of Great Britain ant the shipping companies. : 'MARCONI COMPANY IN CORPORATED IN CANADA. | The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of Toronto, L,td., has been incorporated under the Ontario: companies act with a cap- ~ ital of $5,000,c00 to acquire the patent rights in the Marconi system of. wireless telegraphy and any future inventions along the same lines and to invest in the stocks and bonds of any sim- ilar corporation. 'The incorporators are William Barwick, H. C.. Osborne, J. Payne of Toronto; J. N. Greenshields of 'Montreal, and W. R. Green of New York, This company apparently -does not propose to be an operating company, and J. N. Greenshields states that the charter was first obtained in Ontario because the procedure there was more expeditious: Notices have been issued that application will be made next session of the Dominion par-' liament for an act incorporating the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of Canada to carry on a business of telegraphic communica- tion by means of wireless or other system of telegraphy in Can- ada and between Canada and other countries. The organiza--- tion cf the company has been completed as follows: President; Col. F. C. Henshaw; vice-president, G. Marconi; secretary, B. Shepard; directors, A.A. Allan, W. R. Green of New York, and J. D. Oppe, representing the 'English Marconi Ca, J. D. Oppe 'will 'be general manager, with headquarters in Montreal. . The company acquires all the rights for Canada and Newfound- land, including the station at Glace bay and the benefit of the. contract entered into with the Canadian government. The com-- pany has engineers in the field locating sites for stations, and it is expected that stations will be located at Mount Royal, Mon- treal and at Stony Mountain, Man. Negotiations are pending with the 'Canadian government for an annual subsidy for the maintenance of a patrol system on the St. Lawrence river and gulf and the Straits of Belle Isle. A factory for the manufacture of the apparatus will probably be established at either Montreal sor*Toronto: The installation of the wireless telegraph station at Glace Bay, N. S. has been completed and communication has been © inaugurated with the British station at Poldhu, Cornwall, ae YELLOW SAILS FOR SHAMROCK. Editor Marine Review :--Those who regard snow-white sails as an adjunct to the beauty of a yacht will,.no doubt, regret-the - - decision of the Shamrock's owners to furnish their boat with ° yellow -sails.. Mr. Lipton has given orders for a speedv boat-- graceful, pretty, etc., if possible, but--speedy, - _ An old sailor -- once said that everything on board one of these' racing machinés -- ~ was light except the ballast, and Mr. Lipton has now even re- duced the weight of his boat's sails: from 10-02. to'4-0z, duck. | For the benefit of the uninitiated I may explain that 4-oz, 'duck refers to the weight of a square yard of canvas. While a great many yachtsmen are likely to disagree 'with : a @atie, and to declare that my argument does not hold water, I | "must give it as'my opinion that the Shamrock's new sails will | and with the exception of the sail of one of the contestants be-: ing old and thin their dories were well matched, and I then' ob- * served. that he of the light-weight canvas continuously threw © next Defender to be well matched, and not willing to be seen turning the hose upon his sails, is to have them treated as above stated--the best thing to be done under the circumstances. Bet- ~ ter still for the Englishman's chance of success would be a com- ° plete suit of sails of 10-oz. duck, for his present canvas will ' surely show a yellow streak, and not hold the wind.) °) .F. HH. New York, Feb. 17, 1903. : cae * * fot