™, 22 THE Marine REVIEW { The Empress of Britain is the first of the two liners which the Canadian Pacific Railway are having built on the Clyde, both of which are to be ready for service next spring. The second, the Empress of Ireland will be launched from the same yard in January next. In the Suez Canal bulletin dated Nov. 12, appears the speech of the President at the banquet given by the Bri- tish directors to their fellow members of the board, to celebrate the majority of the London Committee which was created in 1884. Prince Auguste D' Arenberg replying to the toast of his health said he had 'never missed an opportunity of showing the advantages the company had derived from its cooperation with the London Committee and all their foreign colleagues. They had not forgotten that if it was to the genius of Ferdinand de Lesseps and to the capital he found in France that the Suez Canal owed its existence, it was intended to be and to remain interna- tional. The great highway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea was created for the use of all the nations of the world, who were all treated by them on a footing of absolute equality. Speaking of improvements that had been introduced, he said if the 91 millions that had been spent since 1885 to facilitate the maritime traffic, inde pendently of other expenses, deserved some little grati- tude on the part of their customers, he could assure them that they had resolved not to pause in such an excellent course. Already great works had been commenced to deepen and widen the canal so as to permit Port Said to receive any number of steamers. A sum of 30 millions will be expended to carry out those works. They all knew well the generosity of shipowners. They were aware that their principal aim was to satisfy the merchants who trusted their merchandise to them, and that all other questions only possessed in their. eyes a somewhat se- condary interest. him to prove that, although they never lost sight of the interests and advantages of shipowners. Moreover, it appeared to him to be absolutely impossible to separate the interests of shareholders from those of shipowners, and the attacks on them that had not been wanting of 'late, would not prevent them from rendering the passage through the canal more and more safe, more and more rapid, and less and less costly, by degrees as their receipts would enable them to do. The most glorious and prosper- 'ous undertakings passed sometimes through periods of depression and gloom, even in Egypt. Recently their sky had been obscured by a cloud which took the form of an ugly boat, filled with dynamite. For several days they were embarrassed as to the means of getting rid of that dangerous visitor. They ended by projecting it into the air to a respectable height, and when it came down, they perceived that it was not such a terrible obstacle as it had appeared. The experience they had had with the Chatham served at least to exhibit the merits of their excellent staff, and to find in all those persons with whom they had sought for counsel and opinion a cooperation for which they were profoundly grateful. The explosion of the Chatham also proved that the removal of obstruc- tions in the canal could be promptly effected even under the most unfavorable conditions. Therefore when he saw a journal examine the hypothesis of the blowing up of a ship for the purpose of blocking the canal, and declare that it would be prudent; in order to avert such an even- tuality, to make a second canal, he was somewhat astound- ed. It seemed to him that it would not be much more ' difficult to blow up two ships than one, and the sum that would have to be expended in digging a second canal would not in any way remedy what it was intended to prevent. But on their side it would be easy for The real remedy, as he had already indicated, © was to make the present canal wider and deeper, and to possess the necessary plant to avoid any obstruction. The Baltic and White Sea Conference of shipowners held its first sitting on Thursday, Nov. 16. After some discussion the rules drafted by the committee for the constitution of a permanent association under the name of the Baltic and White Sea Conference were adopted. Copenhagen will be the permanent seat of the association, but the annual conferences which will take place in the autumn will be held at some town to be fixed each time beforehand. Each country is to be represented on the managing committee, consisting of 24 members, in pro- portion to its tonnage engaged in the Baltic and White Sea trades, with a maximum of three members for any one country. Messrs. Salvesen, (Leith), Cairus, (New- castle) and Little, (Hull) were elected the British mem- bers of the committee. M. Carl, of Copenhagen, was appointed president of the association, and W. Cairus, of Cairus Noble and Co., Newcastle, was appointed vice- president. A discussion on the questions of minimum freights for the ensuing Baltic season, and on a uniform Baltic coal charter for the east coast of England and Scotch ports followed. I have made reference in one or two of my recent letters to the enormous amount of shipbuilding now going on in Britain, and this week the London Times' marine insurance correspondent says the attention of the more far sighted shipbuilders is being anxiously directed towards the enormous increase in the output of new cargo-carrying steamers. Dur- ing the last four or five weeks more than 100,000 tons a week of steam tonnage has come up for classification by Lloyd's Register, and it is said that last week showed the record quantity of 120,000 tons. In other words, new steamers are being added to the register at the rate of 5,000,000 tons per annum, or more than three times the normal rate. It is esti- mated that an annual output of only about 1,500,000 tons of new steam tonnage is needed to' supply wastage and the requirements of trade. There is nothing in the present, and prospective state of the shipping trade to justify the immense increase of. tonnage with which the trade is being threatened. The first election of ratepayers to the Clyde Navigation Trust, as reconstituted by recent Parliamentary decisions, took place at Glasgow on Nov. 16. There were in all twelve vacan- cies to be filled, three of which occurred in the ordinary course, and nine being additional owing to the increased representation of the ratepayers. The following were the successful candi- dates in order of the number of votes received: Mr. John W. Primrose, merchant; Mr. Arch Colville, steel manufacturer : Mr. Arch. Robertson, merchant; Mr. F. S. Anderson, ship- owner; Mr. H. Rateburn, shipowner; Mr. R. Calder, timber broker; Mr. Robert Harper, shipowner; Mr. James Rowan, engineer; Mr. J. S. Kinghorn, merchant; Mr. J. S. Dunn, timber broker; Mr. W. S. Anderson, oil refiner; and Mr. G. W. Service, merchant and shipowner, the unsuccessful candidates were Mr. R. J. Dunlop, shipowner; Mr. Robert Moorhead, produce broker; Mr. J. C. Buchanan, shipowner, and Mr. W. J. Kerr, salt merchant. A. Reuter's telegram from Hamburg says that owing to ithe: recent establishment of new steamship lines at Bremen, all the large shipowners here have formed a _ protective combine. A new shipping company has also been formed which, from its origin, will probably bear the name of "The Syndicate Shipping Company." 'The fleet of the new company will for the present consist of ten freight steamers of from 4,000 to 8,000 tons, and it is to be increased by three steamers every year. The ships are to be placed at the disposal of any shipping company belonging to the combine if such shipping firm is attacked from outside, for the pur- pose of fighting the competition on conditions which are equiva- lent to the cost of free transfer ,